Roadie

What can be said about a movie where Meat Loaf plays the most intelligent and sanest character? Maybe that was the one joke of Alan Rudolph's endurance-testing and thoroughly bizarre comedy. The characters here are totally unappealing and Meat Loaf doesn't even sing (except for one brief moment for a characteristic "duel" with the female lead, which is the high point of the movie). The rock star cameos--Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr., Alice Cooper, Blondie--look uninspired, as if Rudolph had no idea what to do with them. Only Debbie Harry and co. seem to be making the most of this mess, but even they look baffled. I have nothing against the "free form" style that Rudolph appeared to be aiming for--a movie with a real "rock and roll" spirit. But Rock and Roll High School (which came out one year before this) and Almost Famous (which came out 20 years later) did this much better mainly because the characters were interesting and likeable and we really cared about what happened to them. In this movie, we get a bunch of drunken, whacked-out rednecks with bad teeth. The final shot of the film sheds some light on the strange 90 minutes that preceded it, and Meat Loaf manages some inspired moments. But all in all, this is just a few notches above the "awful" mark and nothing like Rudolph's restrained later work.

This was a great movie and if you're into American pop music culture and history I think you would enjoy this movie greatly.

Meatloaf stars as Travis W. Redfish, an engineering genius who ends up being a rock and roll roadie and gaining the reputation as the greatest roadie that ever lived. He ends up in this situation when the bus carrying groupie Lola Bouilliabase breaks down on a stretch of road near Travis' home town.

Art Carney is wonderful as Travis' father and junkyard owner and the movie is full of cameo appearances by the likes of Debbie Harry, Roy Orbison, Alice Cooper (who Lola is in love with) and has music from a wide variety of 80's artists.

I was so impressed when I saw this movie I went out and bought the soundtrack, which is a double fold out album with pictures and some background information.

I also liked the movie slogan "The Bands make it rock, but the Roadies make it roll"

I think "Roadie" is deserving of cult-classic status, but unfortunately I don't think very many people saw it. I have not seen it in a video store to buy or rent in over 10 years.

So if you do see it, grab it! (and tell me where you found it!)

This movie, in my opinion has many of the features of a cult classic.

The acting is uneven, the comedy is uneven, and the plot is a cliché.

But the movie is worth watching (as a cult movie,) for a number of reasons.

1) Ecletic and enjoyable sound track including a fun cover of Ring of Fire (and you can't experience too many covers of Ring of Fire.) 2) A mix of different comic elements such as an amusing car chase, and Forest Gump like moments where Redfish is simply in the right place at the right time 3) Great rock and roll cameos 4) Occasional surreal moments, if you like that kind of thing

Another part I found refreshing was doing a rock and roll movie involving a groupie with no gratuitous sex or nudity. I have nothing against those things, but its refreshing to see a movie that had no need for them.

If you take the movie seriously for a minute, or are looking for a consistent style of humor you will be disappointed. You need to be the sort of person who likes off beat movies simply because they are offbeat.

Roadie (1980)

** (out of 4)

Travis Redfish (Meat Loaf) is a man who can fix anything so he's hired by a promoter to become a roadie and make sure a rock and roll show keeps going without issues. Lola (Kaki Hunter) is a virgin groupie who wants to land in NYC so that she can give herself to Alice Cooper (who plays himself). ROADIE was one of many musicals that went down as a major flop back in the day but looking at the picture today you can't help but find it somewhat charming and of course there's all the major talent on display. I think the biggest problem can be spotted in the opening credits when you see that four different people are credited with the story. This "story" appears to have about four different sides and all of them are fighting against one another and in the end you're really left with a movie that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. On one hand, you have a behind the scenes look at a rock show on tour but the thing is so tame that you really do feel as if you're watching something that has been watered down. On another hand you have a groupie getting used to the road but Meat Loaf's character is so full of holes that you have a hard time making any sense out of him. Another problem with the story is that Loaf's character goes "crazy" at times and apparently this is from an earlier UFO abduction but this subplot is just downright annoying. The story goes off in so many directions that you're head will be hurting by the time it's over or you at least be sitting there wondering why they couldn't have just left the spotlight on some of the music acts. Hank Williams, Jr., Blondie, Asleep at the Wheel, Roy Orbison, Jack Elliott and The Pleasant Valley Boys are just a few of the acts that appear and most of them give good performances. We even get a duet between Williams and Orbison, which is certainly worth sitting through. Cooper gets the biggest role of any of the musical acts and he has proved that he can be a very reliable actor and his charm is certain quite high here. One wishes that he had been given even more screen time as he's quite funny here and we also get a couple songs including Only Women Bleed. Meat Loaf also delivers a pretty likable performance as he certainly makes you entertained by his character even though it's underwritten. Hunter is also good in her role. Art Carney appears of Loaf's father but he's sadly wasted. ROADIE is a pretty bad movie due to its bad screenplay but at the same time fans of the musical acts should be somewhat entertained with the music alone. There's a good film somewhere in here but sadly it just goes off in way too many directions.

Roadie is a silly movie, but it has its moments. My husband & I still have our occasional brain locks. We saw this on HBO in about 1980, and hadn't seen it since, but still talked about it. We found it on DVD last month and we laughed and sometimes said oh--didn't Blondie look really good then, and Hank Williams Jr. was kinda tame. We liked it. Some times it is over the top, but most times is kinda sweet and the music is not bad, except the title version of Everything Works if you Let It (there is another version which is not so bad in the movie) by Cheap Trick. Alice Cooper is fun to watch, but not as much fun as Meatloaf, and luckily they got Art Carney to play Dad.