Skatetown, U.S.A.
| Skatetown, U.S.A. | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | William A. Levey |
| Produced by | Lorin Dreyfuss (producer) William A. Levey (producer) Peter E. Strauss (executive producer) |
| Written by |
Nick Castle (Screenplay & story) Lorin Dreyfuss (story) William A. Levey (story) |
| Starring |
Scott Baio Patrick Swayze Flip Wilson Maureen McCormick Katherine Kelly Lang |
| Music by |
Miles Goodman Dave Mason |
| Cinematography | Donald M. Morgan |
| Edited by | Gene Fowler Jr. |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.35 million |
| Skatetown, U.S.A. | |
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| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | 1979 |
| Genre | Disco |
| Length | 39:00 |
| Label | Columbia Records |
Skatetown, U.S.A. is a 1979 American comedy film produced to capitalize on the short-lived fad of roller disco.
The film features many TV stars from the 1960s and 1970s, among them Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormick, Ron Palillo and Ruth Buzzi. Patrick Swayze's leading role as the skater "Ace" was his first movie performance. Also in the cast are Sydney Lassick, Billy Barty and Playboy centerfold model Dorothy Stratten.
One evening at a Los Angeles-area roller disco called Skatetown, U.S.A., a rivalry between two skaters (Patrick Swayze and Greg Bradford) culminates in a contest, the winning prize for which is $1000 and a moped. After a game of chicken played on motorized roller skates, the two rivals become friends.
The setting is based on Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace, a disco roller rink which had opened in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard earlier in 1979 and was fleetingly a very popular celebrity hangout. The film includes many short, broadly comedic and slapstick subplots (such as a gag having to do with itching powder) set between long roller skating sequences and musical performances.
Filming was done mostly at the Hollywood Palladium, built in 1940. Its sprawling blond hardwood , chandeliers and soap bubbles blown by a machine from the Lawrence Welk Show can be seen in sundry scenes. Some exteriors were shot on Santa Monica Pier and at nearby Venice Beach. Patrick Swayze, who had roller skated competitively as a teenager and was a trained dancer, did his own skating and stunts in the film. April Allen, Swayze's uncredited roller-skating partner in the movie, had won the world championship in women's free skating seven years earlier.
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