Raquel Welch broke her wrist doing some of her own stunts, in this movie where action is all-important, and plot non-existent. In 1972, by her own admission, Raquel Welch was a sex goddess who hasn't turned serious actress -- and "Kansas City Bomber" changed nothing. Raquel said in an interview at the time, that when she was growing up in La Jolla, CA, she would sometimes strap on a pair of skates and clank all the way from her porch to her garage and back. When she was 7, she put the skates away and didn't skate again until a year ago when she began readying herself for "Kansas City Bomber." Raquel reported to a banked oval track built for her on a Hollywood lot, where she skated 5 hours a day for 3 months. Her tutor was famous skater Paul Rupert who skated along beside her, coaching her and teaching her the basics of 5 strides on the banked track, how to take falls (fall backwards -- if you fall forwards you could break a wrist), and everything else she needed to know.
There is almost no time for any love interest in this movie, what with the all the Roller Games and bruising grudge matches. Whatever its dramatic shortcomings, and there are many, "Kansas City Bomber" does offer Raquel looking good even in pads, some authentically seedy roller skating locales, and real heroes and villains of the banked track. Sharp-eyed fans will recognize real-life Roller Games players from the L.A. Thunderbirds: tall John Hall, and big blocker Danny "Carrot Top" Reilly; the games announcer even mentions the names of top jammer Ralphie Valladares, and Ronnie "Psycho" Rains (with a beard), and "Little" Richard Brown -- who is still skating (now in Roller Jam) almost 30 years later! The game they play is some hybrid of Roller Derby and Roller Games that does not exist in real life. It lends a surreal atmosphere which is appropriate. Raquel's nemesis on the banked track is Helena Kallianiotes, a Belly Dancer in "Head" (1968). Try suspension of disbelief, and you will enjoy this movie forever ("and forever is a long, long time!")
There is almost no time for any love interest in this movie, what with the all the Roller Games and bruising grudge matches. Whatever its dramatic shortcomings, and there are many, "Kansas City Bomber" does offer Raquel looking good even in pads, some authentically seedy roller skating locales, and real heroes and villains of the banked track. Sharp-eyed fans will recognize real-life Roller Games players from the L.A. Thunderbirds: tall John Hall, and big blocker Danny "Carrot Top" Reilly; the games announcer even mentions the names of top jammer Ralphie Valladares, and Ronnie "Psycho" Rains (with a beard), and "Little" Richard Brown -- who is still skating (now in Roller Jam) almost 30 years later! The game they play is some hybrid of Roller Derby and Roller Games that does not exist in real life. It lends a surreal atmosphere which is appropriate. Raquel's nemesis on the banked track is Helena Kallianiotes, a Belly Dancer in "Head" (1968). Try suspension of disbelief, and you will enjoy this movie forever ("and forever is a long, long time!")