''Roadie'' is a 1980 American
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Alan Rudolph
Alan Steven Rudolph (born December 18, 1943) is an American film director and screenwriter.
Early life
Rudolph was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Oscar Rudolph (1911–1991), a television director and actor, and his wife.
He b ...
about a truck driver who becomes a
roadie
The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...
for a traveling
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
show. The film stars
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...
and marks his first starring role in a film. There are also
cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
s by musicians such as
Roy Orbison and
Hank Williams Jr.
Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...
and supporting roles played by
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
and the members of
Blondie.
Plot
Travis W. Redfish is a beer-drinking, bar-brawling, fun-loving Texan, who works as a distributor of
Shiner beer. He also helps his father, Corpus C. Redfish with the family salvage company, whose motto is "Everything will work if you let it!" B.B. Muldoon is his best friend and business partner, and the romantic interest of Travis' younger sister Alice Poo.
While B.B. and Travis are making deliveries in their Shiner beer truck, they notice an RV that has broken down on the side of the road. At first, they laugh at the thought of helping the stranded motorists, but then Travis sees wannabee groupie Lola Bouillabaisse smile at him through the rear window of the RV. Travis slams on the brakes and decides to help, hoping to get a closer look at Lola. Lola is a huge fan of
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
and Travis has never heard of "her". Road manager Ace wants Travis to drive them to Austin for a show to be played by Hank Williams Jr., produced by music mogul Mohammed Johnson. After repairing the RV, Travis lets Lola talk him into driving to Austin, where his ability to set up equipment in record time impresses Johnson, who demands that he work additional shows.
Despite his own loathing for Travis, Ace forces Lola to persuade the unwilling Travis to continue working as their roadie, so Ace can get the credit for his work. Lola takes advantage of Travis' dazed state after a bar fight to get him to drive the group to the airport (eluding a police pursuit on the way) for a flight to Hollywood. Travis is angry and homesick when he wakes up and finds himself in Hollywood, but relents when Lola cries. He saves one show by physically threatening the band into playing and, when a Blondie concert is nearly cancelled due to authorities' refusal to provide power, builds a DIY electrical generator that runs on cow dung, gaining him national publicity as the "greatest roadie that ever lived" due to his unusual techniques for fixing equipment. Along the way he clumsily tries to seduce Lola, with whom he has fallen in love, but she rejects his overtures, explaining that she is only 16 and a virgin and is saving her "first time" for Alice Cooper, although she continues to flirt with other musicians whenever she has a chance. But Lola reveals her true feelings for Travis by getting jealous when he spends an evening with
Debby Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
.
Lola and Travis argue, causing him to take her immediately to Alice Cooper's show in New York City, where he plans to leave her so she can fulfill her groupie dreams while Travis goes home to Texas. However, Alice has heard of Travis' reputation and convinces him to stay long enough to fix the problems with Alice's sound system. In return for Travis' services, Alice buys him a bus to drive himself back to Texas and gives Lola VIP treatment, with a front row seat, backstage access, and the promise of a romantic evening. Travis finds out that B.B. and Alice Poo are getting married and is determined to return to Texas for their wedding. Despite Lola's pleading that he stay, Travis leaves her in New York, telling her to pursue her dream as she probably won't get another chance with Alice Cooper.
Travis gets home just in time to see his best friend and sister exchange vows. He then gets a phone call from Lola, who has given up being a groupie and traveled to Texas to be with him, and is waiting at a nearby bus stop. Lola now plans to be a psychic instead. As Travis and Lola start to consummate their relationship in the parked bus, they are interrupted by a UFO suddenly landing in front of them, and Lola uses her psychic power to sense that the aliens' spacecraft is broken and they want Travis to fix it.
Cast
The film featured numerous cameos by the musicians in real bands (
Asleep at the Wheel,
Blondie, and
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
) as members of Alice Cooper's 'band', politicians (such as then Mayor of Austin
Carole McClellan), non-acting show business personalities (such as television composer
Jesse Frederick
Jesse Frederick James Conaway (born June 25, 1948) is an American film and television composer and singer. He wrote and performed the themes to TGIF television shows such as '' Perfect Strangers'', ''Full House'', ''Family Matters'', and '' St ...
, music producer
Joe Gannon
Joe Gannon is a Philadelphia native, recording producer, director, musical stage lighting and production designer. Gannon's career began as road manager for the Kingston Trio in the band's early days of its greatest success. He later operated and ...
and film editor Eric Gardner) and others, some playing a role and others playing themselves.
*
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...
– Travis W. Redfish
*
Kaki Hunter
Kaki Hunter (born Katherine Susan Hunter; November 6, 1955) is an American actress, architect, and writer, perhaps best known for her role in the trilogy of ''Porky's'' films in the 1980s.
Life and career
Hunter was born in Silver Spring, Maryla ...
– Lola Bouilliabase
*
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the si ...
– Corpus C. Redfish
*
Gailard Sartain
Gailard Sartain (born September 18, 1946) is an American retired actor, often playing characters with roots in the South. He was a regular on the country music variety series ''Hee Haw''. He is also known for his roles in three of the Ernest mo ...
– B.B. Muldoon
*
Don Cornelius
Donald Cortez Cornelius (September 27, 1936 – February 1, 2012) was an American television show host and producer widely known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance and music show ''Soul Train'', which he hosted from 1971 until 1993 ...
– Mohammed Johnson
*
Rhonda Bates
Rhonda Bates (born 1949) is an American actress.
Bates was best known for playing geeky, man-hungry, hillbilly tomboys in TV shows and films of the 1970s. She was a gangly 6'2" tall with a wide toothy smile, curly hair and an unmistakable southe ...
– Alice Poo
*
Joe Spano
Joseph Peter Spano (born July 7, 1946) is an American actor best known for his roles as Lt. Henry Goldblume on ''Hill Street Blues'' and FBI Special Agent Tobias C. Fornell on '' NCIS''. He also voiced the Chuck E. Cheese (at the time Chuck E. Che ...
– Ace
*Richard Marion – George
*Sonny Carl Davis – Bird (as Sonny Davis)
*Ginger Varney – Weather Girl
*Al Mays – Mohammed's Bodyguard
*Cindy Wills – Prom Queen
*
Allan Graf
Allan Lee Graf (born December 16, 1949) is an American athlete, actor, stuntman and director.
A high school All-American football player at San Fernando in Los Angeles, California, Graf played offensive guard for the undefeated national champ ...
– Tiny
*
Merle Kilgore
Wyatt Merle Kilgore (August 9, 1934 – February 6, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and manager. Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, he was raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. At the time of his death, he was the personal manager of Hank Wil ...
– Himself
*
Jack Elliott – Himself (as Ramblin' Jack Elliott)
*
Roy Orbison – Himself
*Hank Williams Jr. and
The Bama Band
The Bama Band is an American country music group composed of Lamar Morris (vocals, guitar), Wayne "Animal" Turner (guitar), Clifford E. "Cowboy" Eddie Long (steel guitar), Jerry McKinney (saxophone), Vernon Derrick (fiddle), Ray Barrickman (bass), ...
**
Hank Williams Jr.
Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...
**Kerry Craig
**Joe Hamilton
**Warren Keith
**Charles Smith
**Dale Stratton
*Alice Cooper and the
Alice Cooper Band
**
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
**
Sheryl Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
**
Fred Mandel
Frederick Lawrence Mandel (born 1953) is a Canadian session musician, keyboard player and guitarist.
Career
Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Mandel became involved in music from an early age. He started playing the piano at four and picked up t ...
**
Davey Johnstone
David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band.
Career
Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in ...
**
Roger Powell
**
Kasim Sulton
Kasim Sulton (born December 8, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton ...
**
John Wilcox
*Alvin Crow and The Pleasant Valley Boys
**Alvin Crow
**D.K. Little
**Pete Finney
**Tiny McFarland
**Roger Crabtree
*Rick Crow and
Asleep at the Wheel
**Rick Crow
**Chris O'Connell
**Bobby Black
**Pat Ryan
**Daniel Levin
**John Nicholas
**Francis Christina
**Dean DeMerritt
*
Blondie
**
Deborah Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
**
Chris Stein
**
Clem Burke
Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...
**
Jimmy Destri
Jimmy Destri (born James Mollica, April 13, 1954, Brooklyn, New York City, United States) is an American musician.
Background
Destri is of Italian descent. His father was a novelist who also wrote screenplays and eventually advertising copy to ...
**
Nigel Harrison
Nigel Harrison (born 24 April 1951) is an English musician. Harrison spent several years as the bassist of the American rock band Blondie during the 1970s and 1980s.
Life & career
Harrison grew up in Princes Risborough, a small town in the ...
**
Frank Infante
Frank Infante (born November 15, 1951) is an American guitarist and bassist best known as a former member of the new wave band Blondie.
Early career and Blondie
Infante began his music career playing guitar in hard rock and electric blues ...
*
Larry Lindsey – Jerry
*
Marcy Hanson – Groupie
*
Carole McClellan – Sheriff
*
Ray Benson
Ray Benson (born Ray Benson Seifert, March 16, 1951 - October 31st 2022) i Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel as well as an actor and voice actor. He Death In Car Crash Accident
Biography
In 1970, Benson, a native of Philadelphia, formed ...
– Himself
*
Joe Gannon
Joe Gannon is a Philadelphia native, recording producer, director, musical stage lighting and production designer. Gannon's career began as road manager for the Kingston Trio in the band's early days of its greatest success. He later operated and ...
– Spittle Manager
*
Jesse Frederick
Jesse Frederick James Conaway (born June 25, 1948) is an American film and television composer and singer. He wrote and performed the themes to TGIF television shows such as '' Perfect Strangers'', ''Full House'', ''Family Matters'', and '' St ...
– Alice Cooper Roadie
*Eric Gardner – Concert Promoter
Soundtrack
The film's
soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
was released in 1980, earning a four out of five rating from
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
.
Charts
Release
On August 20, 2013,
Shout! Factory released ''Roadie'' on Blu-ray.
Reception
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film one and a half stars out of four, writing, "The tour is an invaluable plot device, since it explains a cross-country odyssey during which our heroes meet all sorts of famous singing stars, including
Hank Williams Jr.
Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...
,
Roy Orbison,
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
,
Asleep at the Wheel, and
Deborah Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
with
Blondie. If the movie had given us more of their songs, this could have qualified as a concert movie. If it had given us more of
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...
, it might have developed into a character study. But ''Roadie'' never makes up its mind. The movie's so genial, disorganized and episodic that we never really care about the characters, and yet whenever someone starts to sing the performance is interrupted for more meaningless plot development."
Giving the film 1 out of 5, ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' wrote, "Director
Alan Rudolph
Alan Steven Rudolph (born December 18, 1943) is an American film director and screenwriter.
Early life
Rudolph was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Oscar Rudolph (1911–1991), a television director and actor, and his wife.
He b ...
attempts to paint a portrait of the backstage world of
rock 'n' roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
but is considerably less successful here than in his other inventive efforts". ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' wrote, "As portrayed by rock heavy Meat Loaf, Redfish is pure delight, innocent and irresistible; in his first starring role he doesn’t sing a note and still steals the movie. Not that there’s much to steal. Coyly billed as 'the story of a boy and his equipment,' the movie has plenty of paraphernalia, but no notion of how to use it. Director Alan (''
Welcome to L.A.
''Welcome to L.A.'' is a 1976 American Drama (film and television), drama Musical film, musical romance film directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Keith Carradine and an ensemble cast. The film focuses on themes of romantic despair and shallownes ...
'') Rudolph has signed on Hank Williams Jr., Alice Cooper and Blondie to lend musical authenticity, yet there is no semblance of a story line, apart from an unlikely love affair between Loaf and a tiresome groupie, Kaki Hunter."
The ''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' wrote, "Alan Rudolph punctuates this straightforward tale with tiresome bar room brawls and noisy knockabout comic moments made bearable only by the occasional celebrity cameo". ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' wrote, "Upon actual viewing of ''Roadie'', I admit to being something less than rollicked, but damned if ''Roadie'' didn't try with all its cornball might."
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for '' The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013. reviewed the film favorably for its DVD release, writing, "Rudolph's predilection for the lush glamour of classic films might make him an odd director for a Meat Loaf vehicle, but 1980's ''Roadie'' (just released on a no-frills DVD) is a marriage made in heaven rather than the shotgun wedding it initially appears to be".
The review aggregate
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gave the film a score of 14% based on 7 reviews.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Alan Rudolph
1980 films
1980 independent films
1980s musical comedy films
1980s road movies
American independent films
American musical comedy films
American road movies
American rock music films
1980s English-language films
Films directed by Alan Rudolph
Films set in Texas
Road crew
1980 comedy films
1980s American films