SKATETOWN USA (1979)

REVIEW / MOVIES\ SKATETOWN' A DISCO DISASTER

Boston Globe - December 12, 1979

Author: MICHAEL Blowen

SKATETOWN, USA - A film written, directed and produced by William Levey. Starring Scott Baio, Ron Palillo, Kelly Lang, Maureen McCormick, Greg Bradford and Patrick Swayze. At the Sack Saxon and suburbs. Rated PG.

It took writer-producer-director William Levey two days to draft the story for "Skatetown, USA" and he wasted his time. He should have rolled on down to the local roller-disco and boogied the two days away instead of subjecting unsuspecting audiences to this embarrassingly inept disco disaster.

Obviously, Levey wanted to cash in on roller-disco before this tentative trend ended up in a garage filled with hula hoops. He assembled some bubble gum stars from television - Scott Baio of "Happy Days," Ron Palillo of "Welcome Back Kotter" and Maureen McCormick of "The Brady Bunch" - and even threw in Flip Wilson and Ruth Buzzi for any adults suffering from arrested development.

Levey achieved his objective. "Skatetown, USA" is the first roller-disco movie to hit the screen. But he forgot to tie his dramatic laces together. Instead of dazzling us with unforgettable twists, turns, somersaults and light shows, Levey simply records the dreary details of these cinematic stumblebums.

Perhaps this judgment is too harsh for such an innocuous piece of fluff. Actually it does have one redeeming feature. It is only scheduled to play in Boston for a week.