Kansas City Bomber

Description

Baseball has its Bull Durham. Basketball has Hoosiers. Football has Rudy. And the mad sport of the roller game has Kansas City Bomber. Step aside, boys, she's coming through. Disco was in, polyester was cool and the roller game was the hottest thing on wheels when this smash-mouth spinfest elbowed its way onto screens. Raquel Welch plays K.C., a single mom (Jodie Foster plays her daughter) who laces up to earn a living for her family. Real competition venues provide settings. Some true-life roller-game players appear in the film. And Welch adds to the authenticity, navigating the banked oval like a rocket-powered bumper car. Round and round she goes. Where she stops may be the top of the roller world.

Customer Reviews:

Kansaa City Bomber.......2007-05-07

Excellent movie that is on DVD for anyone who loves the sport of roller derby.

It's About Time!.......2007-01-20

I was very surprised to see "Kansas City Bomber" finally released on DVD. It was never released on VHS in North America, only in the U.K. It's a classic that I have not seen on TV for years! It looks great on DVD. The video transfer utilized is clear, and the sound is good too. Although, this movie is not an Academy Award Winner, it has it's own type of charm. It cashed in on the Roller Derby craze of the early '70s. I always liked this movie because Raquel Welch starred in it, and she also did all of the roller stunts for this movie too. There is some historically incorrect information in the synopses located on the back cover. It is mentioned that "Disco" was hot when this movie was released. "Disco" didn't break until 1974, and really blew-up and was in full swing by 1976. This is a small piece of info that should be deleted. All and all, I am very happy with this DVD, and this classic Raquel Welch movie. I recommend it highly for people that like early '70s fare movies.

Raquel Welch.......2007-01-11

Excellent roller-skating pro contests, and very well done by Welch. Even if she had a double, I'll bet she got a lot of bruises in this one--tough job!!! Excellent story, with many true-to-life highlights. The movie tells the story, without dwelling on any maudlin aspects of the business too much.

Bomber Hits Target.......2006-03-04

Racquel in spandex and on wheels is a wow. I had the pleasure of working on this film on location in beautiful Portland, Oregon. I am not giving this film five stars because I appear in it. Kansas City Bomber was a very special film for Racquel. The script by Barry Sandler was written expressly for Ms. Welch. This was also the first film for Jodie Foster who played Racquels daughter. Vetran character actor Norm Alden gave the best performance of his life as Horrible Hank Hopkins.
Racquel plays KC Carr, a roller derby diva who's life is in turmoil. Her relationship with her children is strained as she tours the country with her derby team. Her team mates are at odds with her believing that she is sleeping her way to the top with the owner of the team (Kevin McCarthy). KC must come to grips with life and what she really wants to achieve.
You'll find yourself rooting for KC to find herself, and she does. The film ends with an exciting skate off between KC and Jackie Burdett. The skate off is set up for KC to take a fall so that she can be traded off to another team, but at the last minute KC and Jackie decide to "keep it real". The climatic skate off is filled with thrills as KC wins the title, and resolves to be the roller derby diva she is.
There are not many films on roller derby, however, this is clearly the best.

Crash and burn.......2005-12-26

I was ecstatic when one of my fond childhood memories had finally been released on DVD. How could I have been so incredibly wrong?

I remember Kansas City Bomber serving up an abundance of thrills and chills and gripping drama on and off the roller derby ring, but having recently seen it as an adult it was like a test of endurance to make it all the way to the end of the disc. I'm not trying to be overly dramatic when I say this movie was horrible. If there was an actual screenplay involved it must have been written within a twenty-four hour deadline.

Here's an example of how nonsensical the screenplay is. Early in the movie we hear rumors that KC's roommate/teammate was traded because of it possibly having something to do with KC's lusty relationship with the team owner. KC is appalled at even the mere thought of such a thing and she takes action to confronts the owner head-on. The first thing he says is "Of course that's not the reason I traded her!" and the seccond thing he says is "OK, so maybe I was a bit jealous she gets to spend more time with you than I do",. And KC basically says something like "Well, you could have been a bit nicer about it", as they both carry on with the rest of their happy-go-lucky day. It's simply absurd!! First, why would the owner kick a player off of the team all because it's his lover's roommate--esspecially when he plans to give her her own swanky little nest on the water?? And what happened to KC going to save her teammates position on the team?? Incredibly muddled writing.

The action scenes in the ring would have been great if it weren't for Welch's big, mannish stunt woman overtly and clumsilly hiding her face with a wig and keeping her head facing the ground. There's no second guessing which shots feature Welch mainly because Welch isn't really doing much of anything that resembles action. As a matter of fact much of the roller derby action was handled with corny cartoon buffoonery. This movie makes the WWF look like the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

And then there's KC's seasoned old rival who's bitter towards KC because she knows KC is there to take her crown as the roller queen. It's just a one note performance of a woman grousing and crying in her beer and any scene that begins to give us a glimpse into who this woman is/was quickly turns into a sloppy meaningless fight scene. And all the men in the movie (with the exception of the gentle giant Hank) are relegated to being rude, crude, crotch-grabbing, raping neanderthals.

This is just the shell of a movie. It's also the seed of a GOOD movie. Unfortunately the only thing that grew out of this one is stink weed. And what an insult to Rachel Welch's career to even infer this was the greatest roll of her career. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know the studio's main objective was to find yet another action-packed way of selling Welch's undeniable sex appeal in a tight outfit and THAT they were successful in.

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