Rating of
3/4
Wrestling fans should love this more than non-fans
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/01/08
"Body Slam" is a fictionalized account of the creation of the Rock-n-Wrestling Connection of the 1980's which stars some of the biggest names in pro wrestling at the time, as well as many B-Grade stars, a future "ER" star, a "Bond Girl" and the REAL "Starbuck" from "Battlestar Galactica".
The movie follows "M. Harry Smilac" (Dirk Benedict), an heavily in debt music manager, who inadvertently enters the world of professional wrestling when he helps "'Quick' Rick Roberts" ("Rowdy" Roddy Piper) make a deal, and immediately out of his contract with the vilianous manager, "Captain Lou Murano" (Captain Lou Albano). "Smilac" then signs "Tonga Tom" (The Tonga Kid), who becomes "Roberts" tag team partner.
"Smilac" is also running the fundraising efforts of "Senator Norton Wilshire" running for an election, as well as the up-and-coming rock band "Kicks" (which later in the movie becomes Kick). He also tries to catch the attention of the gorgeous daughter (Tanya Roberts) of one of the women in charge of the election of the Senator, who slowly warms up to him as the movie progresses. "Smilac" also tries to dodge debt collector "Mr. Kim", who is known for his heavy Korean accent, and his two unnamed, non-speaking goons (The Wild Samoans -- Afa and Sika).
After a disastrous fundraiser for "Sen. Wilshire", which "Smilac" promises to sign huge names in the music business, but only signs "Kicks," "Smilac" becomes depressed, and "Roberts" comes to his home to talk with him. During their talk, "Smilac" gets the idea of combining the Rock 'n' Roll business with professional wrestling.
"Smilac" is happy with the success of his creation, but when it comes to "Roberts," who travels with his young neice, and "Tom" he sees even bigger plans -- specificly, the World Tag Team Championship. However, the title is held by "The Canibals -- Ax and Hammer" (The Barbarian and Tejoh Khan), managed by "Murano".
Bent on their destruction, the "Captain" throws "The Canibals" at "Roberts" and "Tom". He even has a war of words on a pro wrestling interview TV show hosted by "Vic Carson" (Charles Nelson Reiley).
For the most part, the acting in this movie is pretty good. Only a handful of the wrestlers, except for Albano and Piper, do a poor job at making their lines believable. Benedict's performance pretty much reminds me of his character in "The A-Team".
A big problem with this movie is the development of the characters, and the development of their relationships -- except for the relationship between "Smilac" and "Candace Vandervegen" (Tanya Roberts). The relationship between "Roberts" and his niece, "Missy" (future "ER" star Kellie Martin) would have been one I'd liked to have seen expanded upon. However, the characters are enjoyable to watch, especially "Smilac", "Tonga Tom and "'Quick' Rick".
Another problem with the movie is character development. They don't give much of a background on any of the main characters or their relationships before the movie joins their "lives". Personally, I would have liked to have known how "Roberts" and "Tom" knew one another if "Roberts" was with "Murano" and "Tom" was a fan favorite (the movie presents pro wrestling as 100% legitimate). One character I wish was more developed was "Tim McClusky" (the late Billy Barty), who was there just to make some funny one-liners more than anything else.
The visuals, for the most part, are pretty good as well, however you can tell where the producers took some cuts to save some money. They also opted for point-of-view camera angles of the wrestlers while in the ring to make it look like you were the one in the ring with them. In my opinion the POV camera angles should have been avoided, especially when all the wrestlers did was mug for the camera. The sound effects in the wrestling matches are horrible, none sound realistic nor are their edited into the scenes well to make it appear their actually hitting one another. It is very noticeable that the sound of the "punches" landing are fake. Also, the editing of the matches are not well done.
The story itself is the most enjoyable part of the movie. It's well written, but doesn't really help the majority of performances.
Despite the flaws, and possibly because I'm a pro wrestling fanatic, I really enjoy this movie. In my opinion, this is one of, if not the best movies focusing on professional wrestling ever made.
If you see this movie on one of the cable movie channels, and are a pro wrestling fan, check this movie out. If you're not a fan, I also recommend that you check it out if you want to see a good "B" movie.
