The Unholy Rollers

1972 "A locker room look at the toughest broads in the world!"
5.4| 1h28m| R| en| More Info
Released: 10 November 1972 Released
Producted By: American International Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Karen wants more action out of life and quits her job at the cannery to become a skater in the roller derby. She encounters friction from the other skaters - especially Mickey, the current number one star of the team. Karen proves herself a feisty competitor but refuses to be a team player. As she skates her way to roller stardom, she incurs the wrath of jealous team members and the owner of the team.

Genre

Drama, Action, Comedy

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Director

Vernon Zimmerman

Production Companies

American International Pictures

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The Unholy Rollers Audience Reviews

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews
Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
SnoopyStyle Karen Walker is tired of the grabby pervert supervisor at her crappy cannery job. She quits and joins the roller derby. She clashes with team leader Mickey Martinez.This is a bit of the exploitation genre. It's cheesy, amateurish, and surprisingly funny at times. There is only so much before it gets boring. The story is nothing special. The acting is strictly amateur hour. Former playmate of the year Claudia Jennings has the prerequisite energy to lead but not much in terms of acting skills. They try for inventive camera work. This is probably better than most exploitation films but that's a slight compliment.
Woodyanders The late, great, sorely missed Claudia Jennings, the one and only breath-takingly beauteous blonde goddess of deliciously down'n'dirty 70's drive-in cinema, is in typically perky, savvy, sexy and splendidly resilient form as Karen Walker, a feisty, recalcitrant former factory worker who becomes an especially tough, ruthless, fearsome and hugely popular roller derby star, greatly adored by fans and vehemently despised by her fellow roller derby players (said players include members of her own team!). Alas, Karen's time in the spotlight proves to be fleeting, due equally to her soon out-of-control over-sized ego and the loutish blue collar audience's unreliably fickle taste for flash-in-the-pan heroines.An authentically grubby'n'grungy grind-house slice-of-rowdy-lowlife character study centering on a terrifically trashy sports phenomenon that was immensely faddish in the early 70's, "Unholy Rollers" sure hits the righteously roughhouse dirtball spot, thanks to Claudia's raw charisma, commanding screen presence and undeniable smoking hot pulchritude. Vernon Zimmerman's fast, spiffy direction, working from a funny, nicely eventful and suitably lowbrow script by veteran schlock movie scribe Howard Cohen (who also wrote such choice cheese as "Deathstalker" and "Space Raiders" for Roger Corman), keeps the picture hopping along at a quick, breezy clip, capturing the funky working class milieu in affectionately vivid detail while still delivering satisfyingly ample amounts of sex, nudity, violence (the dynamic roller derby sequences seriously smoke, going all out with dirty body checks, illegal kicks and punches, volatile umpire and manager brawls, and a truly wild'n'raucous anything-goes gut-busting riot ending -- y'know, the whole gnarly nine yards, baby), and raunchy humor. The top-rate B-movie cast includes luscious blonde 70's exploitation flick perennial Roberta Collins as nasty rival Jennifer, the adorable Candice Roman of "The Big Bird Cage" as Claudia's endearingly ditsy stripper best friend Donna, "Macon County Line" 's Alan Vint as Donna's dim-bulb beau Greg, Jerry Lewis film regular Kathleen Freeman as Claudia's gruff, hard-nosed trailer park white-trash mother, and tough guy character actor Vic Argo in a really amusing bit as Vinnie the trainer. Executive produced by Roger Corman, with sharp, fluid editing by Martin Scorsese and a nifty, jazzy, junky score by Bobby Hart, "Unholy Rollers" makes the grade with flying gaudy colors as a simply super serving of wonderfully wacky'n'tacky 70's exploitation sleaze at its most sensationally snappy and exuberant.
Eegah Guy ROLLERBALL was too pretentious and KANSAS CITY BOMBER was too lightweight. This is the real deal! If you love the lowbrow sport of roller derby or are just a fan of Minnesota-born Claudia Jennings (in her first starring role) then this film is a must-see! Raunchy and violent just like the women-in-prison films that Roger Corman was also pumping out at the time (in fact many of the supporting cast were also appearing in those WIP films). Sure this film has the novelty value of having Martin Scorsese's name in the credits but there's much to enjoy in the film besides looking for his editorial hand with an anarchic non-ending that just seemed perfect.
VerhoHo This is actually a good film. I recommend it for any fans of b-movies/exploitation, or for those who (like myself) remember watching the female roller fights on TV in the 70's and 80's. The plot of this film is very similar to SHOWGIRLS, with an antagonistic, unlikable main character. Believe it or not, the film was edited by the future director of RAGING BULL...