Entry Twenty-Seven: The Unholy Rollers (1972)

The Unholy Rollers (1972)

Dir: Vernon Zimmerman

"Queen of the Jammers!"

I only enjoy three types of sports movies: those that star Nick Nolte (North Dallas Forty), those that use a sporting event as a backdrop for a more interesting plotline (something involving Van Damme, great Shane Black dialogue or Robert Shaw battling Bruce Dern-Sudden Death, The Last Boy Scout, Black Sunday), and those in which the sport involves tough chicks kicking ass and taking names...this movie fits squarely into the latter category.  also, how can you not love a movie that begins with an elderly janitor sweeping filth up from around the passed-out body of a drunk while muttering about how lousy his tips are?

Karen Walker (former Playmate and drive-in queen Claudia Jennings, Gator Bait, Fast Company), is looking for direction in life.  She's recently quit her cat food cannery job after being slapped on the ass one-too-many times by her lecherous boss and gets her kicks by shoplifting from the local supermarket.  On a whim, she decides to try out for also-ran roller derby team Avengers, and is elated when she makes the cut.  With support from her best friend Donna (Candice Roman, The Big Bird Cage) and Donna's rockabilly boyfriend, Greg (Alan Vint, Macon County Line, Badlands), she becomes the Avengers' star Jammer and finds romance (and matching tattoos!) with teammate Nick.  After dealing with team hazing and a rapey doctor, Karen begins making those big roller derby dollars, but her newfound fame alienates Donna and Greg and she discovers that douchebag Nick is secretly married.  She makes Nick fuck her at gunpoint before kneeing him in the balls.  After she disgraces teammate Micky (Betty Anne Rees, TVs The Incredible Hulk), the rest of her team turns on her and destroys her new car.  In the end, frustrated Karen causes pandemonium at a crucial match, severely beating a member of rival team Demons and flashing her "famous tattoo salute" as the cops arrive to drag her away.

Roller derby was a sport of the seventies that's enjoying a bit of a renaissance these days, and if you're a fan, I highly recommend this movie.  I really like Jennings; she's tough, sexy and a naturally good actress.  Unfortunately, she fell into drug problems shortly after making this movie and, just as she was putting her life back together, was killed in a car accident shortly after appearing in Cronenberg's Fast Company in 1979.  For film historians, Martin Scorsese was an associate editor on this film.