Alan Rudolph is best known as the interesting visual stylist responsible for Welcome to L.A. and Remember My Name, and, previous to these, for his collaboration with Robert Altman on Nashville and Buffalo Bill and the Indians. Tonight, Mr. Rudolph and Cinematographer David Myers will introduce both shows of Roadie, and respond to audience questions beginning at 9:10, after the first show.
Roadies are the unsung heroes of rock'n'roll: the stagehands responsible for transporting the equipment from town to town and for ensuring that, come showtime, neither booze nor drugs nor groupies nor feedback can stop the sound from coming through. Roadie is the fantasy story of an overweight lunkhead (rock star Meat Loaf), who hails from Texas with a penchant for unusual inventions, a flair which he inherited from his dad (Art Carney), now on the road to senility.
“Hyperbole and put-down. Classic heartthrob and cornball gags. Mr. Loaf is lucky to make his star debut in a movie that believes in movies, in music, and in rock energy, and likes them all well enough to poke fun at them. Roadie is one of the true comic surprises of the year.
“Meat Loaf doesn't sing in Roadie. He's too busy chasing the rock waif Lola (Kaki Hunter) and wiring up the squawk boxes of her idols, like Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr., the Blondie group, and Alice Cooper and company. He's getting an education on the road from Austin to L.A. to New York (‘Don't you know who Alice Cooper is? Don't you read T-shirts?').... (W)hile everyone is talking about integrating the marriage of rock and country-western into movies, Roadie has done it in the most palatable and entertaining way....” --Tom Allen, Village Voice