Kansas City Bomber (1972)

The highs, lows and pitfalls of being a roller derby queen are put under the spotlight in the defiantly unglamorous sleeper hit that proved Raquel Welch was a lot more than a pretty face.

The former Hammer sex symbol is terrific as KC Carr, the skating champion, juggling life as a single parent with her career and her dreams of stardom when she joins an unfriendly new team – the Portland Loggers – to replace their ageing star, Jackie Burdette (Helena Kallianiotes), a once-attractive woman fading into extreme depression with the aid of liquor.

KC is basically a good girl, in the game for the money, not the blood. Her two biggest problems are fending off the advances of entrepreneur and team-owner Burt Henry (Kevin McCarthy) and trying to win the acceptance of her teammates on the Loggers.

The fans are shown as they really are: vicious, rabid, quick to change allegiance. Like true addicts of wrestling, roller derby and the like, they are mesmerised by the action and capable of being more violent than the skaters themselves.

Top TV movie director Jerrold Freedman gives the picture a vital documentary feel and captures some hair-raising turns in the sporting sequences, which were filmed at popular roller venues.

Welch’s daughter, Rita, is played by a very young Jodie Foster.

Diane ‘KC’ Carr
Raquel Welch
Burt Henry
Kevin McCarthy
Jackie Burdette
Helena Kallianiotes
Horrible Hank Hopkins
Norman Alden
Trainer Vivien
Jeanne Cooper
Lovey
Mary Kay Pass
Mrs Carr
Martine Bartlett
Tammy O’Brien
Cornelia Sharpe
Rita
Jodie Foster
Randy
William Gray Espy
Dick Wicks
Russ Marin
Len
Dick Lane
Walt
Stephen Manley
Big Bertha Bogliani
Patti ‘Moo Moo’ Cavin

Director
Jerrold Freedman