Flick Nation Presents … a selection of curated classic movie trailers.
And when we say “classic,” that doesn’t mean the movie was necessarily good, but has endured the test of time. Sure, maybe it’s one of the greatest flicks ever … or maybe it’s a movie that’s so awesome that it should have endured. Either way, consider the next two minutes of your life as homework for your streaming queue.
Roadie is a forgotten 1980 film directed by Alan Rudolph about a truck driver who becomes a roadie for a traveling rock and roll show.
The film stars Meat Loaf, and there are cameos by musicians such as Roy Orbison and Hank Williams Jr., and supporting roles played by Alice Cooper and the members of Blondie. The film was marketed with the tagline “Bands make it rock…Roadies make it roll.”
In 1980, there was no genre hotter than the musical comedy. The Blues Brothers, Smokey and the Bandit Part II, Car Wash, Urban Cowboy. The fact that Roadie exists makes all the sense in the world. But nobody knew what the hell to make of it when it was released. Alan Rudolph was a protégé of Robert Altman but never really captured the master’s style. It was co-written by Zalman King, the guy who would bring us the Skinemax classics Wild Orchid and Red Shoe Diaries.
According to Wikipedia: Mr. Loaf plays Travis W. Redfish, a small-town trucker/inventor whose life is changed by the happenstance breakdown of the truck conveying shifty manager Ace (Joe Spano) and virginal groupie (you read that right) Lola Bouillabaisse to Austin for a must-see gig by Hank Williams, Jr. With his handy inventor’s know-how, Travis (now smitten with Lola, whose stated goal in the movie is to meet Alice Cooper) repairs the van and joins the merry, coked-up band for the rest of the tour, which will later meet up with Cooper, Blondie, Roy Orbison, and multiple Grammy winners Asleep at the Wheel.
One of the most memorable things about Roadie was when the New York Times once memorably called Meat Loaf “Mr. Loaf.” Try not to call him that the next time “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” comes on.
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