Hell on Wheels: Top 5 Classic Rollerskating Movies
By Eric Grigs | May 29, 2021
As a child of the 80s, I vividly remember being dropped off at the local roller skating rink for an afternoon of freewheeling fun, devouring Charleston Chews from the snack bar, and emptying my pockets of every last quarter into arcade games when the dreaded “couples only skate” songs were played.
There was a janky method for song requests which required clumsily climbing a carpeted row of stairs as far as you dared in skates toward an elevated DJ booth with your song choice hastily scrawled on scrap paper. Sensing danger and embarrassment halfway up, I’d throw the note the rest of the way to land with all the others littering the area near the booth’s door. From time to time, the DJ would take off his headphones and come out between songs to scoop up the wadded bits and decide which ones were worthy to spin. And when luck was on my side and he played my jam—at the time it was Laura Branigan’s “The Lucky One”—I would skate a little faster around the rink, picking up speed and inevitably wiping out on turns regularly because of the uncontrolled excitement and youthful lack of coordination.
I’m sure other Gen Xers spent many weekends under the glow of neon lighting, with the wind rushing through feathered hair, away from parents and school, surrounded by friends. In the small town of Erie, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, it took a little longer than the rest of the country for the rollerdisco fad to fade away. But that meant I was fortunate enough to not miss out on the dying days of the widespread communal rollerskating experience. Looking back, few things in my adult life give me the same sense of pure freedom and joy.
I’ve heard reports (but don’t quite entirely believe) that as the self-imposed pandemic house lockdown lifts and more people become vaccinated, a resurgence of people dusting off old roller skates is happening—as a way to get outside activity this summer while still safely maintaining some distance, and well...probably feel a sense of freedom again.
If true, it will never be quite as magical as the late 70s and early 80s—you can’t recapture your youth. But when I read that news, I just had to revisit the time by rewatching five essential films about skating culture from the bygone era of satin shorts, knee-high white tube socks, and neon glamour hell on wheels.
Roller Boogie (1979)
It’s one of the more successful films in the teen rollerskating canon—a sequel was even planned. Although by the time development on it began, the roller-disco fad had skated off into the sunset. Also, word on the street is that headlining star Linda Blair went straight to rehab for cocaine addiction after the movie wrapped. The plot sounds like it was scripted by The Muppets, which is probably why it’s one of the more enjoyable entries on this list: Blair plays a rich girl who dreams of winning the Roller Boogie contest and help save Jammer’s roller rink from being shut down. The movie gained a new cult audience when it was played on a loop in American Apparel stores in the 2000s.
Skatetown, U.S.A (1979)
I dare you to watch and not continue humming and singing “Skatetown...going round and round” all day afterward. This is a star studded comedy affair—including Ruth Buzzi, Flip Wilson (and alter ego Geraldine), Judy Landers, Billy Barty, the Brady Bunch’s Maureen McCormick, as well as “introducing Patrick Swayze as Ace” who runs a fierce roller gang called the West Side Wheelers. If you had the time of your life watching him shake his goove thing in Dirty Dancing, you need to see how he lets the good times roll in his competition skate sequence. Released a few months before Roller Boogie, a lot of the comedy feels unscripted—or at least simply relying on dumb teen humor and its very recognizable disco soundtrack. Another thing it shares with Roller Boogie: McCormick was planned to have a larger role but her cocaine habit made her unreliable on set.
Kansas City Bomber (1972)
Raquel Welch’s dramatic turn as K.C. Carr, dreaming of stardom as she elbows her way through the Roller Derby circuit. Was it ever lucrative as a sport, even at its pinnacle? Welch gives it her acting (and skating) all in this story of a competitive athlete struggling to make a career and balance her personal life. She performed a lot of her own stunts—even breaking her wrist training for the film—but when she wasn’t the one on wheels, her double’s wig is very apparent. It received some good reviews and solid box office, but watching it years later it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Even Welch reacted tepidly toward the film in later years, saying “being good in a bad film does nothing for your career.” It drags in parts, and I found myself yearning instead to watch Farrah Fawcett’s brisk roller derby undercover assignment in a Charlie’s Angels episode instead.
Rollerball (1975)
This one’s actually a piece of cinema! James Caan fights a dystopian post-war corporate-run global system meant to suppress free thinking in the year 2018. Shadowy elites run a Hunger-Games-esque televised sport on wheels, where the masses are meant to be kept in line by watching the futile nature of individualism play out in death matches disguised as competitions. A great watch, this sci-fi flick still holds up, commenting on everything from our obsession with national sports to corporations’ control of media—while using booming organs and well-known classical music to chilling effect.
Xanadu (1980)
Most of these skating movies are not cleverly plotted or complex character studies. Where the appeal of these types of movies lies is all the fun of going along for the ride, seeing what unexpected new and bizarre thing is around the next corner. Like the randomly inserted Don Bluth animation sequence, Hollywood royalty Gene Kelly in his last onscreen appearance, and the big finale skating and dance production to the title track performed by Olivia Newton-John and ELO.
Honorable mention: Can’t Stop the Music (1980), the Village People movie directed by Nancy Walker. Not a rollerskating movie, but the opening credits sequence where Steve Guttenberg quits his job and skates through 80s NYC is a time capsule and love letter to the era.
Relive the sound of the skating rink! Play our new Pop Trash Spotify playlist, Roller Boogie Classics.
Eric Grigs is a pop culture writer, artist, and co-host of the Pop Trash Podcast.