Roller Boogie Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Roller Boogie Blu-ray Movie Review

"It's the skating isn't it? It's that insane disco music thing!"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown June 8, 2025

Director Mark L. Lester and screenwriters Barry Schneider and Irwin Yablans's high-on-its-own-supply 'Roller Boogie' was originally released on Blu-ray by Olive Films in July of 2015. That edition has since gone out of print. Sandpiper Pictures, though, has acquired the rights to the film, bringing 'Roller Boogie' back to Blu-ray, albeit with so-so video, subpar audio, and the same barebones supplemental package as its Olive Films predecessor. The film stars 'The Exorcist's Linda Blair alongside Beverly Garland, Roger Perry, James Van Patten, Kimberly Beck, Sean McClory, Mark Goddard, Stoney Jackson, Jim Bray, Albert Insinnia, M.G. Kelly, Christopher S. Nelson, Patrick Wright, Dorothy Meyer, Shelley Golden, Bill Ross, Carey Fox, Nina Axelrod and Laurene Landon.

God love the 1970s. An entire genre of film was dedicated to capturing the zeitgeist of '70s teens and young adults, currying favor with what seemed in its day to be exciting, music-fueled subcultures on the verge of springing up and launching out, capturing the world by storm. None of it came to pass, of course, and the result is a collection of films that are woefully dated, chummy and colorful as they might be. Roller Boogie is just one such picture; a film that would be lost in the annals of time were it not for Blu-ray and small labels like Sandpiper Pictures working overtime to preserve the movies of yesteryear. Roller Boogie is good ol' cheesy fun, there's no doubt about, but it's unintentionally funny in all the wrong ways. Far from a classic, it's at best a guilty pleasure, built on the backs of young actors eager to make a star turn in a Hollywood searching for the next breakout hit.

"If I'm old enough to be on my own, then I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I do not want to play the flute. I do not want to go to Juilliard. I do not want to be paired off with Franklin Potter. He is a lecherous jackass! And I never want to hear another string quartet again in my life... I want to win a Roller Boogie contest down at the beach."

Terry Barkley (Linda Blair) is a rich kid whose parents barley know she exists beyond the bubble they've created for her. She loves to party but she's also interested in honing her skills as an accomplished flautist with aspirations of attending Juilliard. But she also wants to roller skate. She catches the eye of a young hotshot Venice Beach boardwalk skater by the name of Bobby James (Jim Bray). He finagles his way close to Terry and, impressed with his persistence, she hires him to teach her the fine art of roller skating. As he teaches and they fall in love, she reveals her wish to win a local skating competition run by a local businessman named Jammer Delany (Sean McClory). Unfortunately, things look bleak for the competition when greedy developers force Jammer to sell, meaning there will be no competition. A determined group of skaters, led by Bobby and Terry, join forces to save their rink and their competition.

Click here to read the rest of Martin Liebman's review of Roller Boogie, which he calls a "cliché-riddled joyride through the 1970s California roller skating scene." Adding, "overdone and unoriginal as it may be, the movie holds up well enough as, now, a classic example of good retro fun, and the movie probably has more value today as a silly time capsule than it did in the good old days of yesteryear when it craved the spotlight of a generation's affection."

Roller Boogie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Roller Boogie's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer struggles; gliding along, pretty as a peach one minute, stumbling and wiping out, sliding along the floor the next. A victim of over-sharpening, you might at first glance assume the film has been given the upper crust treatment. But sit with it long enough and you'll begin to notice the gaps in quality. Colors are striking, as they should be with all the disco fervor and boogie-laced fun, but saturation is inconsistent, with skintones sometimes appearing flushed. They're lifelike on the whole, and primaries certainly pack a punch, but there's a heightened, off-putting ruddiness to the proceedings that doesn't quite hold up to scrutiny. Black levels are deep and satisfying, as is contrast leveling, though darker scenes are too dark, lacking the balance of more adequately lit interior and exterior scenes. Detail fluctuates as well, losing texture clarity in a general softness that permeates the picture. Grain is present and pleasing, though it ebbs and flows without much in the way of reliability. Likewise, delineation is prone to crush, compression artifacts are present throughout (slight as they may be), and several sequences have an unwelcome digitized sheen. On the whole, it could certainly be worse, and it does represent a notable upgrade from the era of DVD, but in 2025, more is expected of Blu-ray, even when it comes to lesser known, nearly forgotten products of decades past.

Roller Boogie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Roller Boogie's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track is rough, no doubt the fault of its source, but wildly disappointing nonetheless. Muddiness and a general lack of crispness is apparent throughout, with dialogue prioritization suffering from undersupported voices, effects lacking pop and precision, and music falling into place, well, all over the place. The mix just doesn't allow the music to sound as good as it should, and it struggles to maintain fidelity. This is one of the more disappointing catalog lossless tracks I've heard and is desperately in need of a remastering... which it's unlikely to get anytime soon.

Roller Boogie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra included on the Blu-ray release of Roller Boogie is the film's theatrical trailer.

Roller Boogie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Roller Boogie is dated, cheesy, corny... but good ol' harmless 1970s camp. It doesn't mean to be, but it sure plays that way forty-five years after the fact, much to the delight, I suspect, of those who relish such guilty pleasure silliness. Sandpiper's Blu-ray is a failure, unfortunately, with merely decent video, subpar DTS-HD lossless stereo audio, and a lack of any significant supplements.