Body Slam (film)
| Body Slam | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Hal Needham |
| Produced by | Mike Curb Shel Lytton |
| Starring | Dirk Benedict Roddy Piper Tanya Roberts Sam Fatu Lou Albano |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Hemdale Film Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Body Slam is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Hal Needham and starring Dirk Benedict, Roddy Piper, Tanya Roberts, Sam Fatu, and Captain Lou Albano. The film revolves around a down-and-out music promoter who inadvertently becomes a successful professional wrestling manager. After being exiled from the business by a rival manager, he finds success in promoting shows that feature both wrestling and rock music. The film features many well-known wrestlers of the time and references the Rock 'n' Wrestling era of professional wrestling.
Hal Needham had arguments with the pair that produced and wrote the film regarding his changes to the script, resulting in lawsuits that delayed the film's release. As a result, the film was never theatrically released and was instead released direct-to-video.[1] It was Needham's final theatrical film.
Plot
M. Harry Smilac (Dirk Benedict), once a successful music promoter, is having a hard time attracting talent and booking gigs for his sole client, the
While making arrangements for the fundraiser, Smilac mistakes pro wrestler "Quick" Rick Roberts (Roddy Piper) for a musician and hires him. Having zero luck as a music manager, Smilac decides to stick with his hunch about Roberts and become a pro wrestling manager,
Recovering from their injuries and on the fringes of both the music and wrestling industries, Harry decides to take his wrestlers and his band on a cross country road tour of small arenas. Initially he promotes separate wrestling and rock shows, but a scheduling mix-up at a venue causes him to promote a single event featuring both music and wrestling. The show is well received and Smilac schedules an entire tour using the same "Rock n' Wrestling" format. Their tour is a huge success, which angers Captain Lou Murano. On a televised appearance, Harry challenges Captain Lou's Cannibals to a match for the World Tag Team Championships on behalf of his wrestlers Rick Roberts and Tonga Tom. After a hard fought match, Rick and Tom have beaten the Cannibals to win the title belts and become the new champions.
Cast
- Dirk Benedict as M. Harry Smilac. He was Needham's first choice for the role based on Benedict's work on the television show The A-Team. Although Benedict had previously worked with professional wrestler Hulk Hogan on an episode of The A-Team, Benedict only found out about the scripted nature of professional wrestling through his work on this film.[1]
- World Wrestling Federation. He would go on to star in other films such as John Carpenter's They Live and Hell Comes to Frogtown.
- Sam Fatu as Tonga Tom. Fatu is a member of wrestling's famed Anoa'i family. His most well known ring name is The Tonga Kid.[2]
- Kellie Martin as Missy Roberts. Several years after starring in the movie, a 14-year-old Martin mentioned that the film never made it to theaters and called it "kind of a flop."[3]
- Tanya Roberts as Candace Vandervagen
- Captain Lou Albano as Captain Lou Murano, mostly based on Albano's own manager persona in the professional wrestling business.[4]Albano would also follow his appearance in this film with a successful secondary career as a character actor.
- Sika Anoa'i as The Samoans. Like Fatu, both are members of the Anoa'i family. The two star as bodyguards in the film in non-speaking roles. However, they also had successful real life wrestling careers as the tag team The Wild Samoans, with Lou Albano as their manager. The duo was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.[5][1]
- extras would take them seriously.[1]
- Sydney Lassick as Shapiro, Harry's lawyer
- Charles Nelson Reilly as Vic Carson. Reilly had previously starred in another Hal Needham film, Cannonball Run II.[9]
- Billy Barty as Tim McClusky, a heel wrestling manager
- John Astin as Scotty, a car dealer
- John Fujioka as Mr. Kim, a loan shark
- Chick Hearn as himself, the guest announcer for the final match
- Wrestling personalities Ric Flair, Freddie Blassie, Adnan Al-Kaissie, Bruno Sammartino and Alexis Smirnoff appear in cameos as audience members during the film's final match.[1]
Production and release
In an interview with
Reception
The film was met with mixed reviews. TV Guide rated it at two stars, describing it as a "raucous action comedy with a certain (admittedly dubious) historical appeal."[11] Mick Martin and Marsha Porter also gave it two stars, calling the film "silly" but saying that it had "a lot of heart."[12] Leonard Maltin gave the film two-and-a-half stars, calling Dirk Benedict's performance "charming" and lamenting that the film was not widely released, saying that it "deserved better."[13] Variety gave the film a positive review, calling it a "pleasant surprise" and "genuinely funny." They praised Dirk Benedict's performance and called the film a "solid comeback" for director Hal Needham.[14]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Kapur, Bob. "Body Slam a blast for Benedict". Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Tama profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
- ^ "KIDSDAY TALKING WITH" KELLIE MARTIN". Newsday. September 23, 1990.
- ^ Mosorjak, Greg (2 June 2009). "Albano book surprisingly coherent and factual". slamwrestling.net.
- ^ "WWE Hall of Fame: The Wild Samoans". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
- ^ Matches fought as a team by Teijo Khan and The Barbarian, from Wrestlingdata.com
- ^ "The Barbarian profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
- ^ "Teijo Kahn profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Cannonball Run II Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
- ^ "The Film Journal". The Film Journal. 89 (7–12): 56. 1986.
- ^ "TV Guide". TV Guide. 37 (9–12): 200. 1989.
- ISBN 0-345-42100-0.
- ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9.
- ISBN 0-8352-2667-0.
External links
- Body Slam at IMDb
- Body Slam at Rotten Tomatoes
- Body Slam review on the When Wrestlers Act podcast, archived from the original on 2014-08-26, retrieved 2014-08-25
