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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Genres:

Comedy | Music | Sport

---

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.

---

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.

---

Connections

Featured in Wrestling with Wregret: Body Slam (2014)

---

Soundtracks

Book Of Love
Written by Warren Davis (as W. Davis), George Malone (as G. Malone) and Charles Patrick (as C. Patrick)
Performed by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons
Published by ARC Music Corp. / Big Seven Music Corp. (BMI)
Produced by Bob Gaudio

User Reviews

Roddy Piper is a better pro wrestler than an actor but his comedic ability shines!!!!

I have seen a majority of Roddy Piper's films and this one I saw long before cable brought tbs and nwa wrestling into my home. I only knew who he was because I had read about him in the wrestling magazines I bought as a kid. Wrestling is like a circus without the animals (at least the real kind lol). I thought the movie was well done for being a low budget film. I was entertained but I have been a Wrestling fan since the days of Bruno Sammartino. I enjoyed the nostalgia of the old school wrestlers and though I am not much of a Dirk Bennedict fan I do remember him from the A Team. The plot made sense and I felt though it was predictable it was still interesting enough to set through more than once. Roddy Piper plays a much more subdued version of his true ring persona and considering he has been wrestling since he was 15 I think he took the bumps well and delivered for his fans. If you hate this film remember a lot of folks grew up watching the pretend sport instead of the drawn out, treat it like a TV show wrestling we see on TV presently. I liked this film much better than the Verne Gagne movie The Wrestler, but it isn't in the same league as the Mickey Rourke film of present day. It examines the wrestlers going after the title much like All The Marbles and leaves you cheering and jeering through out the film.

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)