"We would like to thank all of our customers for the years of support and allowing us to serve so many of you and your families! We will continue to cherish the many memories and friendships that have been formed through roller skating at Skatetown USA," the Facebook post stated. Many people were open about it." SKATETOWN USA CLOSING After 17 years of operating Skatetown USA Family Roller Skating Facility located at 8730 North Pavilion Drive, West Chester, Ohio, it is with great sadness that we announce that effective May 1st, 2020 will be closing the doors permanently. That was crapola.[7]. Most of this music is diegetic, in that it is shown within the plot as being played either through records spun by the roller disco's "wizard" DJ or performed on the club's stage and hence, is heard by both the characters and the movie's audience. A soundtrack album was released in 1979 by Columbia Records. When was that? Skatetown, U.S.A. is a 1979 American comedy musical film produced to capitalize on the short-lived fad of roller disco.[2]. "Due to the current economic conditions created by the Coronavirus and the state mandates the financial impact on the roller skating business has been too much to recover from, and to keep the high standards of operations that we have provided over the years," the facility wrote on Facebook. The film includes many short, broadly comedic and slapstick subplots (such as a gag having to do with itching powder) set between long roller skating sequences and musical performances. Beginning April 15, Skatetown USA will begin selling all of its equipment and supplies. Patrick Swayze's leading role as the skater "Ace" was his first movie performance. Filming was done mostly at the Hollywood Palladium, built in 1940. There have been no known licensed VHS or DVD releases. [6], I have blocked that movie from my memory, it was so bad... That was that whole time where Xanadu and Roller Boogie and all that crap was coming out. Skatetown USA … McCormick wrote that she fell back into severe cocaine addiction during production, often showing up late for shooting or not coming to work at all. Whatever. Patrick Swayze, who had roller skated competitively as a teenager and was a trained dancer, did his own skating and stunts in the film. ’79? Patrick Swayze's leading role as the skater "Ace" was his first movie performance. Color Bars and Tone 5. Skatetown USA first closed its doors on March 17. UPDATE: Skatetown USA WAS indeed released on high-deifinition Blu-ray on September 24th, 2019 as previously reported. Fine.' Skatetown USA first closed its doors on March 17. [13] On March 6, 2019, a 35mm print was screened for the first time in years at Los Angeles' New Beverly Cinema on a double bill with another 1979 "skatesploitation" film, Roller Boogie. Its sprawling blond hardwood dance floor, chandeliers and soap bubbles blown by a machine from the Lawrence Welk Show can be seen in sundry scenes. It was just bad. No extras were included. The Blu-ray itself was very much a bare bones release with only the movie itself included on the disc. That was one of those things where they sent me the script and I said 'no,' but they just kept calling and offering more money! Directed by William A. Levey, the film features many television stars from the 1960s and 1970s, among them Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormick, Ron Palillo and Ruth Buzzi. Start of film Closing: 1. [Laughs.] Will Harris, "Scott Baio talks Chachi, Bob Loblaw, and Howard Cosell", https://www.amazon.com/Skatetown-USA-Dave-Mason/dp/B000O0NYZE, Mary Pickford Theater, Past Screenings : 2008, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Skatetown,_U.S.A.&oldid=978308554, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox film with unknown empty parameters, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, April Allen as Charlene (Ace's girlfriend and skating partner, uncredited), This page was last edited on 14 September 2020, at 03:45. After a game of chicken played on motorized roller skates, the two rivals become friends. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Static. We would also like to thank West Chester Township officials and the surrounding school districts for the support they have all given Skatetown USA over the years! What is it? I mean, they offered me a lot of money. Opening: 1. And I don’t even know what the story was! Two weeks' work? Some exteriors were shot on Santa Monica Pier and at nearby Venice Beach. Skatetown, U.S.A. is a 1979 American comedy musical film produced to capitalize on the short-lived fad of roller disco. [10][11] 35mm and 16mm full frame prints of the movie (which was shot in 35mm and cropped to widescreen for theatrical release) have been exhibited at film revivals[12] and low quality video copies made from a much faded full frame 16mm print have been in commercial circulation. This will be the first home media release of Skatetown USA as it has never been officially released on VHS, LaserDisc or DVD.EA WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A longtime West Chester roller skating rink is closing its doors for good after 17 years in business. Skatetown, U.S.A.? Following a widely publicized premiere party at Flipper's roller disco in West Hollywood on October 1, 1979[3][9] and billed as the Rock and Roller Disco Movie of the Year,[6] by the time of its release roller disco was a fast-waning fad and the popularity of disco music had peaked (Disco Demolition Night had already happened two and a half months earlier). End of film 2. Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment 2. The film features almost non-stop synchronized music, much by popular disco and pop artists from the mid and late 1970s. The setting is based on Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace, a disco roller rink which had opened in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard earlier in 1979 and was fleetingly a very popular celebrity hangout. This may be owing to home video licensing woes over the soundtrack's many major label recordings. April Allen, Swayze's uncredited roller-skating partner in the movie, had won the world championship in women's free skating seven years earlier. It was later shown on cable television from time to time. Okay. However, by the early 21st century a writer for oddculture.com called the film "a true cult item and one of the best 70s time capsules around. Also in the cast are Sydney Lassick, Billy Barty and Playboy centerfold model Dorothy Stratten.