Kansas City Bomber

Kansas City Bomber

     

It was 38 years ago when I first saw this movie. It was playing at my local drive in theater. I only saw this movie once and it was a strain on my memory to recall the story and scenes. All I did remember is that there were a number of rousing roller derby scenes and not much else. It was only now after seeing this movie 38 years later was I made aware of its greatness. A solid, realistic story with a caste of talented actors and actresses who played their roles with grace, perfection, and giving "Oscar-like" performances. If I had to hand out Oscars, my first choice would go to Kaci Carr's (played by Raquel Welch) rival played by Helena Kallianiotes. I would have awarded her with a Best Actress award as, in my judgment, I believed she had the most difficult role to play in this story. She gave an astonishingly solid performance for a relatively unknown actress. The story is about Kaci Carr (Raquel Welch) who plays a divorced mother of two children who struggles to find a balance of the happiness that she seeks in her personal life pitted against her dreams of professional stardom. She is traded from Kansas City to the Portland Loggers where the owner of the Loggers has desires of making her his wife. Kaci feels "trapped" in this relationship and the only way "out" is for her to confront her rival (Helena Kallianiotes) in a five lap derby match with the loser leaving Portland forever. This movie awakened deep seated emotions within me that have been long dormant. I gave this movie a five star rating but the term "it's great" falls short of what I truly felt. I intensely loved the story along with some of its characters. In the final analysis, aren't we all seeking joy and happiness in our personal lives along with success in our work lives?