Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Roadie Blu-ray Movie Review

On the roadie.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 21, 2013

Zalman King was an erstwhile actor whom some Baby Boomers may remember for his short-lived series The Young Lawyers, but who, like so many performers, “really wanted to direct”, and who ended up being associated with a number of highly provocative, sexually charged films like Wild Orchid, Delta of Venus and The Red Shoe Diaries. King also co-produced the steamy Adrian Lyne outing 9 1/2 Weeks, And so perhaps King’s first producing effort, Roadie, isn’t that much of an oddity for the “multi-hyphenate” (as Variety loves to call talent with their feet in more than one area of expertise). After all, the film is about the vaunted triumvirate of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. As co-writers James “Big Boy” Medlin and Michael Ventura discuss in their frequently engaging commentary track on this Blu-ray, the late seventies and early eighties were still a time when two unknowns could actually get a deal without having previously written a film and in fact without having even written a word for their proposed project. In the time honored Hollywood tradition, it was a case of “who you know” rather than “what you know”, and a film review of Alan Rudolph’s Remember My Name by Ventura had led to an actual meeting with the director, who in turn introduced them to King. Ventura and Medlin were apparently infamous for hosting bacchanals that the Hollywood elite loved to attend since no paparazzi or press were allowed, and these parties allowed the two to cement relationships to a point where a fairly basic idea—converting the real life adventures of former roadie Medlin into a film—rather quickly became a reality. Medlin had already created an “alter ego” of sorts named Travis Redfish, and the decision was made to flesh out the character (no pun intended, considering it’s played by a fairly hefty Meat Loaf in the film). Travis is a good ol’ boy whose penchant for fixing things hooks him up (in both senses of the word) with a traveling rock group (and their groupie, who aims to become a legend in her chosen field of—work?). Roadie plays slightly like a rock version of The Rake’s Progress, with Travis experiencing an anecdotal set of adventures that sees Travis interacting with a host of real life music stars (circa 1980, anyway) and losing a bit of his naïvete in the process. The film doesn’t really pretend to be much more than a song filled travelogue of sorts, but it features a rather surprisingly affable performance by Mr. Loaf (that is his name, isn’t it?) that anchors the film in a genuinely affecting manner, even if the overall ambience here is decidedly on the cartoonish side.

There’s an aimless quality to much of Roadie which might seem to work against its central conceit of going somewhere—anywhere—but in fact the film is meant to be a kind of pre- Slacker wandering through the vagaries of some herbally and chemically enhanced folks. Travis more or less stumbles across groupie Lola Bouillabaise (Kaki Hunter), even though her “psychic awareness” may have helped to rope him in, and he continues stumbling through one misadventure after another. There’s nothing remotely resembling a traditional plot here, and for those wanting Travis to undergo some kind of “character arc”, or for the film to engage in a traditional three act format, are probably going to be woefully disappointed with Roadie.

Once Travis fixes the camper Lola has been stranded on, which turns out to be part of Hank Williams, Jr.’s traveling entourage, he quickly agrees to forsake his rather eccentric family, including his addlepated inventor father (Art Carney) and harridan sister (Rhonda Bates) and accompany Lola on a trip across the country. That said, Roadie is only partially a road movie, despite its title. The road element serves merely as a bridging sequence to get Travis to his next interaction with various new eccentrics, which includes a glut of real life musicians in cameos, including Williams himself, Roy Orbison, Blondie and Alice Cooper. One potentially fatal misstep the film makes is not utilizing these musicians to full advantage. Only Blondie and Asleep at the Wheel get more than mere lip service (so to speak), and it’s a rather odd decision for a film that seeks to iconize the world of rock, albeit from a backstage perspective.

The film actually manages to maintain a reasonably charming ambience due mostly to the frankly kind of weird charms of Meat Loaf. While he never really managed to parlay his nascent acting career into major stardom, Roadie shows what an affable, easy going presence he is. He has sure comedic timing and he works well with some much more experienced actors. Deborah Harry and Alice Cooper also do surprisingly well in their small roles, and Art Carney is quite funny demonstrating a series of increasingly improbable inventions. The film makes a couple of interesting points in the general inchoate haze of its story. One of the most salient is when Alice tries to educate Lola, who really wants to become his groupie, that “Alice Cooper” is just an act, and that he’s nothing like his stage persona in real life. It may be a disappointing revelation, but it gives Roadie a nodding acquaintance with the truth.

Roadie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Roadie is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. This is another nice looking high definition presentation from Shout!, which continues to mine the world for lesser remembered films and usually does rather well by them. Damage here is extremely minor, relegated mostly to almost minute white specks that dot the landscape from time to time. Color is very nicely saturated and natural looking and contrast is also strong and consistent. Detail pops very well in close-ups, though the film has a typically somewhat softer appearance redolent of its era. Fine grain is just that—fine, at least during the brightly lit daytime scenes. Some of the nighttime or darker interior sequences reveal heavier grain, but everything looks natural and filmic.

Roadie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Someone in the Quality Control chain for this disc better have their resumé updated and ready to send out. While Roadie advertises both a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix and a repurposed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, selecting the 5.1 mix brings up a track which my PS3 actually identified as Dolby Digital 2.0 which contains—nothing. That's right—zip, nada, zilch. The sound of silence. Well, you get the idea. How no one could have noticed this during the disc's production is frankly beyond me, but there you have it. It's especially sad since Roadie is filled with such wonderful music which obviously could have benefited from a surround mix. However, we're here to assess what is on the disc, not what isn't (even if it's advertised to be). The lossless 2.0 rendering is really nicely clear and clean, with excellent reproduction of the music and dialogue. No drop outs or other damage are in evidence. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is quite wide.

Roadie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Writers Michael Ventura and James "Big Boy" Medlin. It's not quite clear to me whether these two were in the same room at the same time, but if they weren't, this is one very well edited piece. They tend to sometimes mention the same thing without referencing each other, which leads me to believe they may indeed have been recorded separately. One way or the other, this is an above average commentary that gets into both of their backgrounds as well as anecdotes about the film itself.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080i; 1:28)

Roadie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you come to Roadie expecting a traditional plot and/or characters, you may find yourself confused if not actually annoyed by the film's deliberate sequential, anecdotal format. As rock gods from days of yore must have said, it's best to just go with the flow with this film and enjoy it for its admittedly small scale charms. The most salient criticism this film probably deserves is that it largely wastes its musical talent (and that includes Meat Loaf himself), an especially odd omission given the fact that the whole movie is about music. But there are some decent little comedic bits here, as well as occasional little nuggets of wisdom. This may be the filmic equivalent of "it's just rock 'n' roll to me", but for some, that should be more than enough. This Blu-ray offers excellent video and even though someone really missed the boat by not including the advertised 5.1 mix, the 2.0 that is included sounds just fine. Recommended.