Derby

This documentary follows San Francisco Bay Bombers roller derby star Charlie O'Connell and aspiring skater Mike Snell, a twenty-three-year-old factory worker living in Dayton, Ohio, with his wife and two small children. The sport consists of two teams of five players, attired in helmets and protective pads, skating in a ring trying to advance one team in front of the other through various and often brutal tactics, including vaulting over each other, punching, pulling hair and flipping each other over the ring's railing. Crowds are excited by the mayhem of constant fouling and fistfights, which necessitate constant intervention by several referees. Derby matches between the Bombers' and the Midwest Pioneers' male and female teams are featured throughout the film, including footage of female Bombers team star Ann Calvello. During a break in a derby in Dayton, Ohio, Mike, who is almost always seen wearing sunglasses, approaches Charlie in a dressing room to seek his advice about joining a derby team. After Charlie suggests he go to the six-week training course in Oakland, California, Mike tells his wife Christina that he wants to try to live his dream of being a derby star and plans to leave for Oakland soon, to which Christina demurely acquiesces. Later Christina accuses Mike's teenage brother Butch, who rents a room in the family's basement where he reads Playboy magazines, of refusing to do household chores and stealing the raisins intended for a spaghetti meal. Despite their differences, Christina and Butch join Mike in watching a televised derby game, and are all equally entertained by the spectacle. One evening soon after, Mike tells his friends at a bar that he is quitting his job to try the derby. Meanwhile, Charlie returns to visit his old neighborhood in New York City and the park where he began skating as a child. After introducing his father and wife, Charlie states that when he was seventeen, he was lucky to escape the poverty and violence in the neighborhood to pursue his dream, because many of his friends ended up in jail. That night at Madison Square Garden, Charlie leads his team to victory. Back in Dayton, Mike works at the Dayton Tire and Rubber Co., where he has been employed for over two years assembling tires. Although the foreman suggests that Mike's work is adequate, he laments that the young man often skips work for days at a time. Meanwhile, derby player Lydia Gray and another player chat while driving to their next match, reveling in the fact that their fan base considers them "different" because of what they wear and how they act in the ring. Later, Mike's best friend is interviewed at the friend's home, where the walls are covered with pictures of nude women. Calling Mike a "born bachelor," the friend explains that Mike has had over five girl friends at the same time without his wife's knowledge. On the way to a strip club with Mike, the friend boasts about a small pocket pistol he carries to protect himself from drunkards, while Mike openly pines for a woman who has larger breasts than his wife. While Mike is out, Christina and her friend visit a woman who has been having an affair with both Mike and Christina's friend's spouse. Confronting the woman about "taking turns" with their husbands, they complain that she honks her car horn so loudly that she wakes their children when she tries to entreat the men to come have sex with her. When the accused woman yells caustic retorts at Christina and her friend, a verbal fight ensues. In a hotel room on the road, a male derby player talks about his past. Although he finished high school, without a college education he cannot "keep up with people." Despite the bruises, injuries and pain he sustains while playing the sport, he enjoys the challenge and the money. He then reveals a gun, claiming that the violent and competitive sport creates an atmosphere in which he needs to protect himself from opposing team members. Later at the Snell house, a Vietnam War veteran and friend of the family talks about how confusing battles were in Vietnam because both the enemy and civilians were indistinguishable, in their black pajamas. Yet despite his fear of dying there, he believes that every man's death is a preordained fate and discounts any suggestion that the war put him in any more danger than remaining home. He further suggests that Butch join the military as a way to advance his life, but the normally quiet Butch asserts that he is a "lover, not a fighter" and asks the man if he feels any remorse about killing others. The soldier says no and accuses him of being a "hippie," to which Butch nods in agreement. When the soldier tells Mike that the derby is no way of bettering himself, Mike defends the sport despite knowing his derby pay will be no better than his factory salary. Mike goes on to say that he will be lying to the factory, claiming he is ill to get sick pay while he is in training. Meanwhile, Charlie tours the house he is building from his derby profits. Excited by his impending retirement, Charlie notes that he will enjoy the large pool with a picturesque view after over 15 years of enduring brutal beatings in the derby. Before leaving for training, Mike goes to the hospital to visit his father, an infirm and down-trodden man who is a derby fan and encourages his son to follow his dream. After skipping work to see another derby match, Mike leaves town on a motorbike heading for Oakland and future fame.