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''Body Slam'' is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Hal Needham, starring Dirk Benedict, Roddy Piper, Tanya Roberts, Sam Fatu and Captain Lou Albano. The film revolves around a down-and-out music promoter who inadvertently becomes a successful professional wrestling manager. After being exiled from the business by a rival manager, he finds success in promoting shows that feature both wrestling and rock music. The film features many well-known wrestlers of the time and references the Rock 'n' Wrestling era of professional wrestling. Hal Needham, who had previously directed the successful ''Smokey and the Bandit'' films, had arguments with the pair that produced and wrote the film regarding his changes to the script, resulting in lawsuits that delayed the film's release. As a result, the film was never theatrically released and was instead released direct-to-video. It was Needham's final film. ==Plot== M. Harry Smilac (Dirk Benedict), once a successful music promoter, is having a hard time attracting talent and booking gigs for his sole client, the rock band Kicks. Behind on his car payments and owing a large amount to a banker, he reluctantly accepts a job finding musical acts for the fundraiser of an unpopular politician. Although not entirely happy with his new gig, Smilac finds a love interest in Candace Vandervagen (Tanya Roberts), the daughter of the politician's wealthy campaign booster. While making arrangements for the fundraiser, Smilac mistakes pro wrestler Rick Roberts (Roddy Piper) for a musician and hires him. Having zero luck as a music manager, Smilac decides to stick with his hunch about Roberts and become a pro wrestling manager, booking matches for Roberts and his teammate Tonga Tom (Sam Fatu). The team is a success but politics come into play when Smilac clashes with Rick's former manager, the villainous Captain Lou Murano (Lou Albano). A day after a disastrous fundraiser featuring Smilac's rock band, Murano and his tag team champions The Cannibals (Sione Vailahi and Tom Cassett) injure Harry and his wrestlers in a nationally televised bout, before blacklisting them from every major arena in the country. Recovering from their injuries and on the fringes of both the music and wrestling industries, Harry decides to take his wrestlers and his band on a cross country road tour of small arenas. Initially he promotes separate wrestling and rock shows, but a scheduling mix-up at a venue causes him to promote a single event featuring both music and wrestling. The show is well received and Smilac schedules an entire tour using the same "Rock n' Wrestling" format. Their tour is a huge success and inspires Harry, Roberts and Tonga to win a hard fought rematch against Murano's Cannibals. ==Cast== *Dirk Benedict as M. Harry Smilac. He was Needham's first choice for the role based on Benedict's work on the television show ''The A-Team''. Although Benedict had previously worked with professional wrestler Hulk Hogan on an episode of ''The A-Team'', Benedict only found out about the scripted nature of professional wrestling through his work on this film.〔 *Roddy Piper as "Quick" Rick Roberts. Piper was best known for his work with the World Wrestling Federation. He would go on to star in other films such as ''Hell Comes to Frogtown'' and John Carpenter's ''They Live''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/piper.html )〕 *Sam Fatu as Tonga Tom. Fatu is a member of wrestling's famed Anoa'i family. His most well known ring name is The Tonga Kid.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Online World of Wrestling )〕 *Kellie Martin as Missy Roberts. Several years after starring in the movie, a 14-year-old Martin mentioned that the film never made it to theaters and called it "kind of a flop." *Tanya Roberts as Candace Vandervagen *Captain Lou Albano as Captain Lou Murano. Albano was already a well-known wrestling manager and veteran of the wrestling business when he played the role in the film. *Afa Anoa'i and Sika Anoa'i as The Samoans. Like Fatu, both are members of the Anoa'i family. The two star as bodyguards in the film in non-speaking roles. However, they also had successful real life wrestling careers as the tag team The Wild Samoans, with Lou Albano as their manager. The duo was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.wwe.com/superstars/halloffame/inductees/wildsamoans/bio/ )〕〔 *Sione Vailahi and Tom Cassett as The Cannibals. Both were professional wrestlers, and infrequently teamed for Jim Crockett Promotions house shows in 1986.〔(Matches fought as a team by Teijo Khan and The Barbarian, from Wrestlingdata.com )〕 Vailahi is best known for his work in World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling as The Barbarian.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Barbarian profile )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Teijo Kahn profile )〕 The duo staged a real fight with Piper and Fatu during the filming of the movie's final match so the crowd of extras would take them seriously.〔 *Charles Nelson Reilly as Vic Carson. Reilly had previously starred in another Hal Needham film, ''Cannonball Run II''. *Billy Barty as Tim McClusky * John Astin as Scotty the car dealer *Wrestling personalities Ric Flair, Freddie Blassie, Adnan Al-Kaissie, Bruno Sammartino and Alexis Smirnoff appear in cameos as audience members during the film's final match.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Body Slam (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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