by Ben Drake

In 1986 Writer/Director Donald G. Jackson burst onto the film scene with "Roller Blade." We discovered it last month in a dumpster outside the editor's apartment and thrilled to this sci-fi action adventure more than once. It takes place in the hazy future where maybe only twenty people and a nice big hot tub are left after some mysterious apocalypse or other. There are maybe eight Holy Sisters who worship a big blue glowing light bulb with a smiley face on it (crank it baby!!!). They are allied with a fella played by Mr. Hutchinson who wears a big cowboy hat and thinks he's a fancy high-falutin' "Yea, Verily"-sayin' gun totin' roller derby sherriff. His assistant is a false Jamaican who dresses like Re-Run. The sherriff has a little Opie-head for a kid named "Little Chris." The bad guys are: three pimply punks called "Spikers," one doubly ressurrected hippie (over thirty, but young at heart), three bums, a hand puppet, Saticoy the big-time evil overlord and a sexy nekked chick in aluminum foil. Saticoy's plot is to steal the Holy Sister's mystical magical mystery power source to power a tiny rocket craft. This craft will take him over a bottomless chasm to Mecca Co., but I don't really understand why he wanted to do that. Such are the shadowy prognostications of evil. Oh well. Pro-skater Suzanne Solari, in the role of Hunter, steals the power source from the sisters; Saticoy has promised her a share in some sort of world domination plan if she's successful. To do so, she infiltrates their ranks, learns their ways, and becomes a sister in her heart. At the critical moment she finds herself unable to complete the perfidious act of treachery and returns the power source to the sisters. Unfortunately, before she can safely replace the power source, it is stolen by Saticoy, who completes construction of the villain-rider, and jets off. Just because, he kidnaps the Sherriff's kid and threatens him a lot, which kills a whole bunch of time. I won't spoil the end, but here's some treats: A chick fight A friendly dog dressed in a nun's habit A hot tub with three friendly Sisters who clean each other up after the chick fight A happy face music maker The BEST sound effects ever made Falco-esque soundtrack A sexy naked chick wrapped in aluminum foil who likes the hand puppet glowing knobs Mohawk-haired punks Classy humour A prominent editor of a magazine which you, reader, are very likely to be reading right now, said of this movie: "'Roller Blade' is a monumental film with all of the humor of 'A Night at the Opera," the special effects of "Terminator," the rock-em-sock-em action of "A-Team' and the drama of 'Yentl.' Donald Jackson just keeps pumpin' out the hits!" Yes, a tour-de-force of cinema, despite its minor technical flaws. If he had the budget of all the above films, who knows what Mr. Jackson could have acomplished!" copyright © 1996 Ben Drake ···>Return to MOVIE REVIEWS

Even the title screen is classy. The nuns skate to the rescue. A touching father-son scene. Donald Jackson says this was his most successful film. More Pictures The Chickfight The happy faces are everywhere Naked hokey-pokey Saticoy The Spikers More Information interview with Donald G. Jackson another interview with Donald G. Jackson more info about Roller Blade