Roller Boogie(1979)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

PG
1h 43m

Release Date: Dec 19, 1979 | Limited

4.7

Skaters band together to keep their roller-disco open.

View Advanced Data Watch on

appletv+

Current Showtimes

orround

Wed Jul 22
Thu Jul 23
Fri Jul 24
Sat Jul 25
Sun Jul 26
Mon Jul 27
Tue Jul 28

Director & Top Cast

Mark L. Lester
Director

Linda Blair
Terry Barkley

Jim Bray
Bobby James

Beverly Garland
Lillian Barkley

Roger Perry
Roger Barkley

James Van Patten
Hoppy

Kimberly Beck

Lana

Sean McClory

Jammer Delany

Mark Goddard

Thatcher

Albert Insinnia

Gordo

Stoney Jackson

Phones

M.G. Kelly

D.J.

Christopher S. Nelson

Franklin

Patrick Wright

Sgt. Danner

Dorothy Meyer

Ada

Shelley Golden

Mrs. Potter

Bill Ross

Nick

Carey Fox

Sonny

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

Bobby James (Jim Bray) and his friends (Phones, Hoppy, Gordo, and several others) skate to work on the boardwalk in Venice, California. Meanwhile in Beverly Hills, Terry Barkley (Linda Blair), a genius flautist is also heading towards the beach in her Excalibur Phateon automobile. She also is joined by her snobbish girlfriend Lana (Kimberly Beck).Bobby is skating on the boardwalk with a female friend when he encounters Terry. But she remains aloof and spurns his advances. They later meet at a local skating rink called Jammer's. During a near catastrophic incident where Bobby saves the day, she gives in. Terry wants to pay him to teach her how to skate for the Roller Disco contest. Even though they share a flirty, romantic couples skate, later on she rebuffs him yet again.The next day has both Terry and Bobby getting flack from their respected friends and family. She has had enough and goes to the beach. She finds Bobby there, practices a jump and turns on the charm. He shares with her his dream of becoming an Olympic Roller Skater. They end up making out on the beach. Bobby asks her if she's going to pay for him for sex as well, which garners a mighty slap in return and takes off.Terry goes home and has a row with her mother (Beverly Garland). She wants to give up her dreams of playing Classical Flute at Julliard School and win a roller disco contest at the beach. Her mother is shocked, enough so she needs a Valium. Terry decided to run away. The next morning, she calls and invites Bobby to breakfast where she apologizes. He wants to skate with her, but on his terms: on money; he calls the shots. Through a series of outdoor scenes, we see them work together to form a routine.Unfortunately, Jammer's is about to be sole to a ruthless mob developer. Bobby and Terry are clued into this plot and try to get her father, a lawyer, to help. But he refuses. While Terry is performing at a lush outdoor party, some of the young men sneak up, causing chaos. As a result, a group of distinguished guests falls into the swimming pool. This ruins the concert, as well as the party and its ceremonial cake. Terry gets reprimanded and slapped by her father for her running away, as well as her hanging out with her radical friends. The skaters find evidence, in the form of a tape recording of the invalid ordeal, to kill the deal. Through a wild chase on the streets near the canal zone of Venice, they race to get this to the police on time. They do, the mobsters are hauled up and the Boogie Contest is on. Terry and Bobby skate their routine and win the contest.Later on back at the beach, Terry and Bobby share an unhappy goodbye. Both promise to write each other as she heads off to New York City and he heads off to the Olympics.

Storyline

Beyond ensuring that she makes it into Juilliard as a flautist for the upcoming fall term, wealthy Lillian and Roger Barkley largely neglect their teenaged daughter, Terry Barkley. Although Terry doesn't try to hide the facts from them, her parents have no idea that she hates the flute and the associated music, has no desire to attend Juilliard, and spends all her time on the proverbial wrong side of the tracks with her friend Lana roller skating on the Venice Beach boardwalk with the legions of other roller skaters. There, she attracts the attention of Bobby James, the hotshot skater who rightly believes he is headed to the next Olympics. Terry initially rebuffs Bobby's advances, until she asks him to teach her how to dance so that they can compete in the upcoming roller boogie contest at Jammer's, the local skating rink owned by Jammer Delaney, a former roller derby star. Terry and Bobby's relationship eventually becomes more than just about skating. But the roller boogie contest and by association Terry and Bobby's relationship is threatened when they learn that Thatcher, a cutthroat land developer, has physically threatened Jammer and anyone around Jammer, including the kids at the rink, unless Jammer signs a contract to hand over the roller rink property to him for redevelopment. The situation is even worse for Terry when she learns she has a personal albeit indirect connection to Thatcher. — Huggo Beverly Hills teenager Terry Barkley has a talent for the flute, a scholarship to Juilliard and her whole future planned out - until she falls head over heels for Bobby James, a maniac on skates with all the right moves and his sights set on becoming an Olympic Roller Skater. But Terry may lose more than her bearings when Jammer's, the local roller rink is threatened by a shady development deal - and a ruthless mobster threatens to turn the roller rink into a disco inferno. Will Terry give up her dreams of playing classical flute at Juilliard to team up with Bobby and enter the Jammer's roller disco contest? Will Bobby see his Olympic dreams come true? Will the ruthless mobster really buy Jammer's? Where's the parental supervision? For the answers to these and other burning questions, watch this cult movie. — MGM/UA Home Video

Similar Movies

Behemoth!

Drama, Music

Juan Gabriel: Mi Primer Bellas Artes

1h 55m

Music

Grateful Dead Meet-Up At The Movies 2026

Documentary, Music

Katseye: Wild Hearts

1h 20m

Documentary, Music

K-Pop: The Debut

Don’t Look Back in Anger

Biography, Documentary, Music