fascinating portrait of one cultural niche in a time of incredible looseness and freedom.
10 June 2002
Watching this really brought back memories, having lived

in Venice in the 70's, and Rollerskated the skate bowls

(we were often made fun of and ridiculed by the regulars,

I believe they called us "Rollergaf's" or something like

that) Anyways, this film is an extremely good example of how

radical, pioneering, grungy, dangerous and loose that decade was, which is something the 80's and 90's have tried so hard to erase from history in this Neo-New-World- Order age of Sterile blandness, pointless pursuits and overwhelming restrictions. Of course no-one was aware of it then, it was just reality. Venice and Santa Monica were decayed and run down, rampant with gangs, hard-core crime, and tough characters, but that was just an aspect of what GAVE the

70's it's tremendous character. Does anyone remember when

the Santa Monica Promenade was just an old dusty ghost

town full of closed down businesses with one cheap 49 cent theater? And there were no fences, no heavy restrictions on things, can you imagine kids trying to skate in empty

pools in this high-security, fear-riddled extreme punishment era? Life was in the moment and pioneering at

that time, but no-one thought of it like that. What do we

have now days? Hopelessness.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed