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Kansas City Bomber
Kansas City Bomber is a 1972 American sports drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Jerrold Freedman and starring Raquel Welch, Kevin McCarthy and Jodie Foster in her second appearance in a feature film. PlotThe film is an inside look at the world of Roller Games, then a popular league sport-entertainment, a more theatrical version of roller derby. The story focuses on K.C. Carr, who has just left her former team in Kansas City, Missouri, to start her life as a single mother over again in Portland, Oregon, with a team called the Portland Loggers. Loggers' owner Burt Henry is clearly interested in her, and he and K.C. date. Henry has a rather ruthless side to him: he trades away K.C.'s best friend and roommate on the team, and when he sees that star male skater "Horrible" Hank Hopkins (Norman Alden) is interested in her, he manipulates the audience into booing Hopkins, causing him to go crazy and lose his job. Henry's endgame is to set up a match race between K.C. and her teammate and rival Jackie Burdette, with K.C. deliberately losing so that she can join Henry at a new team he's setting up in Chicago. However, K.C. no longer trusts Henry (or his promises to let her bring her children along, a son and daughter) and wins the match race. Cast
ProductionDevelopmentThe film was written by Barry Sandler as a UCLA MA Thesis, with Welch in mind for the lead. "Raquel was a huge star at the time--kind of like the pop culture goddess", recalled Sandler. "I just thought it would be great to see her as a roller derby queen; it seemed like a perfect meshing of pop culture with that role."[1] Although Sandler and Welch shared the same agent, ICM, he was a very new screenwriter and was unsure if the script would actually get read. He delivered a copy personally to the house Welch then shared with her husband and manager, Patrick Curtis. Curtis bought the script in March 1971 for their production company, Curtwel Productions.[2] "She was a huge star at the time, and that meant if she wanted to do it, the movie would get made", said Sandler.[1] "I believe that he had me in mind when he wrote it", said Welch. "The girl is more than a little bitchy."[3] Sandler says the original script was very different from what the movie became:
The film was originally going to be made for Warner Bros., then for United Artists. Eventually Welch divorced Curtis and made the film for her own company in association with Artists Entertainment Complex and Levy-Gardner-Laven. The film was part-financed and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, whose president, James T. Aubrey, was romantically linked with Welch for a time.[4] Over the course of moving from studio to studio, the script was heavily rewritten. Sandler later said if the film had been made at Warner Bros, "they would have stuck to" the original conception:
Raquel Welch discussed her character in detail to the press:
"It's all set up, as everyone knows", said Welch of skating. "It's too bad it couldn't be a more legitimate sport. The skaters have great athletic ability. I'm not much of an athlete ... For the film I had to learn to skate again. I hadn't skated since I was seven."[5] FilmingFilming was to have started in February 1972.[6] Welch practiced skating for several months, training with pro teams, wearing a wig and dark glasses and posing as a journalist looking into a story. In January, a rink was constructed on an MGM soundstage, enabling Welch to practice daily. She broke her right wrist during a speed skating session, forcing shooting to be postponed eight weeks until April.[7] Filming of Kansas City Bomber took place in Portland, Oregon. Two weeks into the shoot Welch suffered a cut lip and swollen face during a fight scene with co-star Helena Kallianiotes. An MGM spokesman said the two actors "got carried away" and Welch "got slugged".[8] Welch later said she also bruised her knees, got a spasm in her trapezius, had some hematomas on her head, and suffered several headaches.[5] The film used real-life stars of the National Skating Derby, Roller Games, as uncredited extras, such as Patti Cavin ('Big Bertha' Bogliani), Judy Arnold (who was a skating stunt double for Raquel Welch's character),[9] Ralph Valladares, Ronnie Rains, Judy Sowinski, Richard Brown, Tonette Kadrmas and John Hall. Real roller derby venues in Kansas City, Fresno, and Portland were also used for key scenes.[10] "The film was fun", said Welch. "I like to be in physical pictures. And the Roller Games is a microcosm of this country, the kind of thing we create."[5] She elaborated:
Welch later said this was the first of her films that she actually liked.[11] SoundtrackThe songwriter Phil Ochs wrote a song of the same title; he had intended it as title song for the film, but it was rejected by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ochs had A&M Records issue the song as a single anyway. He hoped to publicly debut the song at the Los Angeles Thunderbirds' track during a Roller Games television taping at Los Angeles' Olympic Auditorium, for many of the Thunderbirds skaters had appeared in the movie as extras, and announcer Dick Lane had a small speaking role; however, Thunderbirds owner Bill Griffiths Sr. likewise rejected that idea.[12] Don Ellis contributed the score of the film. ReceptionBox officeKansas City Bomber was one of MGM's most successful releases of 1972, along with Shaft and Skyjacked.[13] The success of the film caused the share price of Artist Entertainment Complex to rise.[14] Barry Sandler says the film was profitable and proved lucrative for him.[1] Critical responseRoger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote that:
Arthur Murphy of Variety wrote, "Raquel Welch stars in one of her most effective roles to date. Rugged, brawling action will more than satisfy those who enjoy that type of commercial carnage, while the script explores deftly the cynical manipulation of players and audiences."[16] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and thought it was "more than good fun. It's a gas."[17] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times thought Welch "comes through with a characterization as unexpected as it is persuasive" and said the film "is a well observed slice of contemporary Americana" which "marks Raquel Welch's coming of age as an actress and is a personal triumph for her after surviving more rotten movies than anyone would care to remember."[18] Tom Milne of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that for "a few minutes" the film was "fast, furious and funny", until the "dismally scripted" film turned serious.[19] Joyce Haber called it one of the worst films of 1972.[20] Awards and honorsHelena Kallianiotes was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. LegacyThe film was heavily publicized during filming. This inspired Roger Corman to finance an exploitation film set in the world of roller derbies, Unholy Rollers.[21] Welch sent up the film as part of her Las Vegas act in late 1972.[22] Welch later said she was "good" in the film just as she was good in Myra Breckinridge (1970) and The Last of Sheila (1973), "but being good in a bad film doesn't do anything for your career."[23] In 1978 she said the film was one of the few in her career with which she was happy, the others being L'Animal and The Three Musketeers.[24] After being featured in the film, the World Famous Kenton Club in Portland, Oregon had its "world famous" tagline subsequently added to its title and features memorabilia from the film. See alsoReferences
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