Derby (1949)

"Derby -- The Producer's Cut" is the essential slice-in-time cinema-verite film about the original American family action sport Roller Derby and its stars Charlie O'Connell and Ann Calvello as they dazzle fans across the country with their nonpareil skating and derring-do. The documentary Produced by William Richert, Photographed and directed by Robert Kaylor, follows a common man anti-hero, a young Dayton Ohio factory worker named Mike Snell who dreams about quitting his factory tire job and joining the Roller Derby to save his life and his family. Hailed by the NYTIMES and others as one of the 10 Best Films of the Year, lauded 4 Stars by Roger Ebert, the movie remains the best ever about the sport in the 1970's even as roller Derby Impresario and founder Jerry Seltzer leads the packs of tens of thousands of new skaters rolling world wide. "Amazing," says the CEO Mr. Seltzer. 'ONE OF THE YEARS TEN BEST' Proclaimed the NY Times. "FOUR STARS!" - Roger Ebert -- "DERBY...perhaps tells more about the state of the country today than all the 'Easy Riders' 'Medium Cools' and 'Joes' put together...the film is a kind of guided tour of Middle America -- it doesn't tell whee it's at, it shows where it's at, geographically and spiritually...a riveting piece of cinema-verite America." Oakland Tribune.