Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Skatetown, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 23, 2019

How quaint. Director William A. Levey's Skatetown, U.S.A. is a directionless motion picture that is much like the skaters depicted in it, ambling about in circles with some rhythm and grace but very little feel for purpose or drive. It's a meandering movie without a traditional plot or narrative structure, one that chooses to focus on the experience while foregoing any depth within the experience. The movie released in 1979 in the Disco era's twilight, a relatively big production focused on a fading fad that four decades later is more of a time capsule than it is a timeless cinema venture. But it's all good. The movie might lack much beyond its rhythm, but there's no mistaking the infectious, if not obviously insignificant, beats and the manner in which the movie carries itself. It embraces the frivolity and it banks on the beats and the skates, as well as some skin and some silliness, to sell itself to audiences that, back then, probably would have rather been in the movie than watching it, never mind considering those today who might see the film as a history lesson rather than an entertainment vessel.

Story is next to non-existent. While there's a skating rivalry between Patrick Swayze, playing a character called "Ace," and Greg Bradford, portraying a character named Stan Nelson, the movie largely focuses on various subplots and secondary and tertiary characters, including a magical DJ (Denny Johnston) who keeps the beat, calls out the songs, and calls attention to the snack bar, which is always more packed than the skating floor. There's a staff medic with a few loose screws, a pair of middle aged skaters looking for love, an aged comedian, and plenty of one-off scenes depicting various individuals skating and dancing. It's a variety show if it's anything, infectious in the moment but sure to be a letdown for anyone looking for fulfillment beyond the flavors.

The movie is obviously reliant almost entirely on its atmosphere, which it creates with relative ease and efficiency. The skating rink setting feels plenty big on screen. It can certainly hold a large number of skaters, evident in the many broadly sweeping shots of individuals gliding around to music, and there's also plenty of space for the key solo performances -- Swayze's and Bradford's -- to allow the camera to follow each man's routine on the floor, both intimately and more expansively with perhaps hundreds of extras cheering them on around the periphery. Both men are infectiously capable. The routines are impressive feats of choreography, strength, and stamina: handstands, splits, spins, and all manner of physical exertion compliment the essential skating elements. And the movie just gets by on the skating alone. The side stories and one-off gags amount to little, playing as arguably unnecessary filler meant to lengthen the runtime and break up the core.

Enjoying Skatetown, U.S.A. ultimately boils down to one item: perspective. In some ways the movie is nearly unwatchable, at least at this length. There's no story of value, the characters are stock, and the filmmaking is solely focused on recreating the rink's atmosphere in the theater. It's been mentioned already, but it bears repeating: this is a variety show crafted for the big screen, all about the music and the movement and anything in between is simply filler. But the movie can also be a joy, a treat, a feast for the eyes and ears and a veritable time machine to another era. The music, the hair, the clothes, the attitudes: it's all so alien but at the same time home to so many familiar themes, like rivalry, love, and lust. It's dated but also timeless and, truth be told, a bit of fun through the proper lens.

Skatetown, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Skatetown, U.S.A. rolls onto Blu-ray with a pleasant, filmic 1080p transfer. The picture shows no signs of unwanted digital tinkering. Grain appears intact and naturally organic. It's complimentary to the textures, which are firm and revealing. Intimate close-ups show pores and hair with satisfyingly clear and robust visual complexity. Clothes, the slick wooden rink floor, and any number of accents around the screen, such as various food items at the snack bar, present with agreeable complexity. Colors are many and adequately vibrant. There's a feel that the picture could squeeze out a little more intensity to the palette, but various neon signs do dazzle with a good amount of pizzazz. There's an underlying dullness to some of the colors, as multitudinous as they may be, due in large part to the somewhat lower lighting conditions inside the rink. Still, there's enough pop to core colors to give the movie some life. Skin tones are fine and black levels are good. There are no serious encode flaws of note. Sony's MOD (Manufactured on Demand) release is a treat, especially considering that this is the film's official home video debut; one couldn't have asked for much better.

Skatetown, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The movie's audio is all about the music. The two-channel DTS-HD Master Audio lossless soundtrack does what it can with the vintage, dated material. Clarity is not bad and spacing is adequate. The lack of surrounds means a lesser feel for immersion into the skating rink, a shame given its size, the number of skaters, and the intensity of music. The lack of legitimately immersive atmosphere is the track's biggest drawback, even over any clarity concerns, just for the inability to more finely and fluidly define the environment, which for all of the movie's silliness and narrative vacuousness would be fun to more fully experience from a sonic perspective. But there's enough raw detail to create a fairly basic, just not involved, landscape. Gaggles of hungry customers at a snack counter, skaters zipping around the rink, or the DJ's microphone reverberation help to create an essential feel for location specifics that do at least find some stretch out to the front edges. Some of the skating effects are tinny and crunchy, such as when a gaggle of skaters zip down pavement outside in chapter two. Inside, on the wooden and slick floor, clarity is improved. Music never finds exacting detail, either, but does present well enough to support the movie's essentials. Dialogue is adequately detailed and finds a natural front center imaged location; there's no feel for voices lost out to the sides. All in all, this is a good track that is limited in its ability to more finely recreate the environment but it does convey the basics well enough.

Skatetown, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sony's Blu-ray release of Skatetown, U.S.A. contains no supplemental content. No "top menu" or "pop up" menus are included. A strange glitch: pressing the "top menu" button during movie playback disables the ability to pause playback, at least on the review Oppo UDP-203 player. It also removes the counter on the front panel and replaces it with "top menu" text. Resetting by pressing stop or opening the disc tray appear to be the only remedies.

Skatetown, U.S.A. Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Skatetown, U.S.A. is a fairly empty film with no direction, unless one counts skating in circles a "direction." There's very little story; the film is more concerned with atmosphere, some skin and some muscles, and music. It's more like a repetitive variety show without a narrative structure. It works well enough as pure escapism but audiences looking for any kind of cinema meat won't find it here. Sony's Blu-ray is unfortunately featureless, but considering this is the first official home video release on any format that's to be expected. Video and audio presentations are fine, the former very good and the latter working with dated material that is conveyed adequately, if not a bit roughly; the lack of greater immersion really hurts the experience. Recommended as a curiosity and a very small piece of home media history.