Body Slam (1986)

A down-on-his-luck music manager for the fictional rock band Kick finds his luck changing when he by mistake also starts managing a successful wrestling duo.

Director:

Hal Needham

Writers:

Shel Lytton (story), Shel Lytton (screenplay)

Stars:

Dirk Benedict, Tanya Roberts, Roddy Piper

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dirk Benedict	...	M. Harry Smilac
Tanya Roberts	...	Candace Vandervagen
Roddy Piper	...	Quick Rick Roberts
Lou Albano	...	Captain Lou Murano
Barry Gordon	...	Sheldon Brockmeister
Charles Nelson Reilly	...	Vic Carson
Billy Barty	...	Tim McClusky
John Astin	...	Scotty
Sam Fatu	...	Tonga Tom (as The Tonga Kid - Sam Fatu)
Dani Crayne	...	Bitsy Vandervagen (as Dani Janssen)
Sydney Lassick	...	Shapiro
John Fujioka	...	Mr. Kim
Afa Anoai	...	The Samoans
Sika Anoai	...	The Samoans
Kellie Martin	...	Missy Roberts

Storyline

M. Harry Smilac is a down-on-his-luck music manager who is having a hard time attracting talent and booking gigs for his band, Kicks (The most recent of the gigs is a Dairy Queen opening!!). When making arrangements for a campaign fund-raiser, he mistakes Rick Roberts, a professional wrestler, for a musician and hires him. At that moment he becomes a wrestling manager and starts to book matches for him and his teammate Tonga Tom. The team is a success, and Harry decides to take his wrestlers and his band on a "Rock n' Wrestling" tour. The tour is a success, and Harry feels what it is like to be a winner again.

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Plot Keywords:

wrestling | love interest | wrestler | wrestling manager | rock band | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Music | Sport

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the filming of final match, the crowd began to heckle the wrestlers because they could clearly see that their blows were faked. At that time, wrestlers publicly maintained that everything that they did in the ring was real. But the wrestlers had to pull their punches for the sake of being able to shoot multiple takes. Suddenly, a fight broke out between Roddy Piper and one of the Cannibals leading to a bloody brawl involving all of the wrestlers. Director Hal Needham, a former stuntman, jumped in to stop them but was tossed out of the ring. The brawl was eventually broken up leaving the audience, cast, and crew stunned. Later that day, Piper revealed to Dirk Benedict that the wrestlers had improvised the fight in order to get the audience to believe that wrestling was real again.

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Goofs

Despite being attacked, the band's music keeps playing as if was meant to be a "live" performance. Despite the instruments being tossed around, the music keeps playing.

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Connections

References The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)

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Soundtracks

My Body Keeps Changin' My Mind
Written by Leslie Pearl & Darryl E. Ross
Performed by Moses Tyson Jr.
Published by Michael O'Connor Music (BMI)
Produced by Darryl E. Ross for Rosswax Music Corp.

User Reviews

Displays an era of Rock N Wrestling

Bodyslam was one of the first films I can ever recall as youngster that made love the sport of wrestling. It's a good little comedy about a guy named Smeliack, a down on his luck music manager, he see's an oppurtunity in professional wrestling with Quick Rick Robbins (Roddy Piper) & Tonga Tom (The Tonga Kid). This film really ushered in the era of Rock N Wrestling back in the mid 80's, it was an awesome time to be a wrestling fan and the film couldn't have come out at a better time. Look for special cameos of Ric Flair, Bruno Samartino, and the late Classy Freddy Blassie.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Body Slam

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,520, 23 November 1986

Gross USA:

$14,926

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hemdale, Musifilm Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color (CFI)