Bob Ray Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Snag This: Hell on Wheels
Filed under: Documentary », Sports », Cinematical Indie », Trailers and Clips »
Hot chicks! Cool nicknames! Broken bones! Director Bob Ray spent five years documenting a fledgling, all-female roller derby league in Austin, Texas, and the result is Hell on Wheels, an energetic, snappy flick that's both entertaining and informative. Our friends at SnagFilms have made it available for free online viewing.
Dan Policarpo (AKA Roller Derby Dan) birthed the idea of a 21st Century version of roller derby, whose initial popularity peaked decades ago. Women readily responded, and Policarpo picked four that he felt would be good team captains: Heather, Anya, Nancy, and April. After he exited, the four decided to forge ahead with plans for a league, forming Bad Girl Good Woman Productions, even though they had no business experience. After two years of struggle, the first bout is held in front of 350 fans. Soon after that, the four decide to incorporate, which provokes a heated response from the players, who felt that they should have a voice in the business. Eventually things come to a head, a new league is formed (Texas Rollergirls) and emotions become heated.
"You not only get to follow women struggling with the world of business, you get to watch some kickass roller derby," wrote Jette Kernion in her review when the film debuted at SXSW in 2007. "Hell on Wheels follows all sides of the league controversies and offers us glimpses into the lives of the women involved."
After the jump: Watch Hell on Wheels!
SXSW Review: Hell on Wheels
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », SXSW », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
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For years, I've had occasional fantasies about joining one of the Austin all-female roller derby leagues. All the women I've met who do roller derby are cool, and it sounded like fun in a twisted kind of way, like the time a friend of mine told me about a study where women went through firefighter training (I was too late to join, sadly) or triathlon training (I did two Danskins) or another friend who used to play rugby but grew tired of sustaining injuries.
For a brief and shining moment, Hell on Wheels fanned the flames of my roller derby chick fantasies. On the surface, the documentary is about roller derby in Austin, and begins with a brief history of roller derby in an amusing newsreel format (I loved the flying skate). However, the events that occurred during the five years when director Bob Ray followed around the Austin roller derby founders and skaters turned the movie into something a little larger -- it's about women trying to find the best ways to run a business.
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