Tom Rickman (1940–2018)

It not particularly clear what the three screenwriters (Calvin Clements Sr., Thomas Rickman, Barry Sandler) or director Jerrold Freedman were trying to do or say with "Kansas City Bomber". The story seems to squeeze in a number of themes (player exploitation, single mothers, abandoned children, corporate manipulation) but doesn't really say anything about any of them and seems to shy away just when on the cusp of doing saying something worthwhile. The story revolves around lonely, single parent Diane "KC" Carr (Raquel Welch) who dreams of making it big in the world of roller derby. Manipulative team boss Burt Henry (Kevin McCarthy) arranges for her to be transferred to suit his own ends and she ends up in the Portland team where a bitter feud ensues with fading, booze-prone star, Jackie Burdette (Helena Kallianiotes). She befriends the sad and sympathetic "Horrible" Hank Hopkins (Norman Alden), while keeping up a long-distance relationship with her two children much to the digest of her mother, who seems to be the children's carer. Jerrold Freedman does well with the actual roller derby games, showing the kinetics and athleticism of the game and mixing it in with plenty of violence. He manages to imbue these scenes with a genuine tension and captures the pace and spectacle of the sport. Unfortunately he does less well with the "dramatic" elements of the film. None of the relationships strike you as particularly true, with most of the characters coming across as a touch too stock, with few of them displaying any redeeming qualities. There are no real character arcs and there are too many unexplained elements, with too many blanks to be filled in to make the film fully satisfying. Raquel Welch is fine in the lead role and Helena Kallianiotes is very good as the fading star, but it is Norman Alden as "Horrible" Hank who makes the most impression as the simple-minded player trapped in the game, with no way out.… (meer)