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Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: August 20, 2013.
Director: Alan Rudolph
Cast: Meatloaf, Art Carney, Alice Cooper
Year: 1980
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The Movie:
Best remembered, if at all, as a late 70's curio starring rock legend Meat Loaf (a mere couple of years after his massive "Bat Out Of Hell" success), 1980's ROADIE is very much a shaggy dog of a movie. It's main selling point is the soundtrack - as a "film" it has little focus.
Meat Loaf plays Travis W. Redfish - a Texas hick/rock roadie/tech wiz/beer hauling trucker who runs into a 16 year old wannabe groupie on the road named Lola (Kaki Hunter). Sparks fly in a fairly half-assed manner between the two but her real love is rock legend Alice Cooper who Lola is on a quest to lose her virginity to. The rest of the plot is a badly constructed road movie with Meat Loaf following Lola around and getting into various adventures that often involve encounters with famous musicians.
ROADIE isn't a particularly good film by normal standards. Ostensibly a comedy about a Texas hick with a knack for fixing things who works as a roadie for rock bands, most of the humor is overly broad or strained and the romantic angle a dud. There is also a tedious subplot revolving around Travis's family back home in Texas - including his father who runs a fixit shop/general store (played by HONEYMOONERS legend Art Carney). Most of the supporting players like Joe Spano (HILL STREET BLUES) as a road manager with a poorly defined grudge against Travis, aren't well written. And for a movie executive produced by legendary softcore overlord Zalman King ROADIE is surprisingly chaste.
What makes ROADIE worth watching is the music. We get to see and hear some fascinating stuff. Ever wondered about what BLONDIE would sound like tackling Johnny Cash's classic "Ring Of Fire"? Wonder no more (and the answer is surprisingly excellent, by the way). Want to see Roy Orbison and Hank Williams Jr. stop a bar fight by singing "The Eyes Of Texas? It's here. Alice Cooper fares quite well playing himself and has, along with BLONDIE'S Debbie Harry, the most lines in the film (as far as the musical guest appearances go). This film was made at an interesting time in Cooper's career. He was heading into his "new wave" phase so the tracks he performs are a mix of the classic Alice like "Only Women Bleed" and then newer material like "Pain". Then there is the music heard but not seen performed by the artists that made it - like CHEAP TRICK'S unofficial theme song to the flick, the rousing "Everything Works If You Let It". With it's fascinating mix of country, new wave and classic hard rock (but zero disco), ROADIE is a fantastic snapshot of that crossroads that the music industry faced at the dawn of the 80's.
Video/Audio/Extras:
ROADIE hits the asphalt with a decent AVC 1080p 1.85:1 transfer that is stable and with what appears to be a normal grain structure. The print itself has an occasional tendency towards softness and low light but detail is above average. There is some minimal print damage but it is never particularly detrimental to the viewing experience. DNR and noise filtering were not visible to my eye. This a serviceable film-like transfer.
The audio however, is more problematic. Listed on it's audio menu as having a 5.1 DTS-HD-MASTER AUDIO track ROADIE has only a DTS-HD MA Stereo track. The slot for the multichannel track is there - it is simply silent. The lossless stereo track is a solid listen and well mixed, but wether this is an actual defect or not - this music heavy film would certainly benefit from the missing 5.1 track.
Extras consist of an SD original theatrical trailer and an informative and fun commentary track with the film's two writers Michael Ventura and James "Big Boy" Medlin. These guys have generally fond memories of the film and some nice reminiscences of stars like Orbison and Cooper. They do also talk frankly about some of their frustrations with the producers and the business end of the production as well however.
The Final Word:
Recommended for fans of this particular era in the music business and rock and roll comedies in general. Having a tolerance for broad humor helps too. Just don't go in expecting THIS IS SPINAL TAP and you should be fine.
