The phenomenon of skateboarding which blossomed in the 70s gets a look in this G rated film about a down and out promoter who sees a bunch of kids doing their skateboard thing and turns them into a team. Allen Garfield stars as the promoter who gets to like the kids no matter how much he first sees them as just a cash cow. Garfield's probably a decent enough guy under ordinary circumstances and considering what he does for a living. But these times aren't ordinary, Garfield is into Anthony Carbone for some bucks and then borrows some bigger bucks to promote the team. The leg breakers will be paying him a call if he doesn't succeed.Which explains the pressures he puts on the kids to win although they don't understand it. Neither does Kathleen Lloyd, team nurse and guardian and all around confidante to Garfield though he levels with her.Leif Garrett who was on the cusp of bubblegum stardom plays one of the kids and Garfield's eventual savior. The rest of the players are skateboarders first and barely handled the dialog.Still it's skateboarding and Leif Garrett that people paid to see and Skateboard gives them their money's worth.

Manny is in debt to Sol, among others, and he has to come up with an idea to make money quickly. Earlier, he nearly ran into some kids who were skateboarding in the road. When he sees one of them outside his window, he pitches the idea of a skateboarding team to Sol, who reluctantly accepts this chance to get his money back and then some.Manny knows nothing about skateboarding. He doesn't even realize there are already teams, and as talented as the kids are, it's hard to believe at first anyone will pay money to see them.A number of problems get in the way of the team's success. One is the need for someone to supervise them, like a parent. So Millicent is hired. Of course, as often happens in sports movies, one of the kids thinks he is too good to follow the rules. Later, the events really look like something worth seeing.I didn't see anything here approaching good acting, but Manny, Millicent and the kids were all easy enough to like. Manny was certainly funny because he was such a loser. And the kids certainly had talent on skateboards if nothing else. The situation was hard to believe but was executed well enough.I seriously question any reference to this being a 'family' movie. The sound went out a number of times, and other times it sounded like words had been substituted, and while tame by today's standards, the sex talk seemed pretty frank.If you're not looking to use your brain and if your expectations are not high, I suppose this was a pleasant enough film.

Skateboarding is a pretty ancient depiction of both skateboarding culture and technology as manufacturers somehow hit upon the new, revived fad that was gaining more interest than it had when skateboards first made an appearance in the late 50s and early 60s. The movie itself is rather stupid, especially when you have Dogtown's Z-boy Tony Alva only playing a supporting role while a wiener like Lief Garret got something of a starring role as a burgeoning member of the skate team. With Alva, they wouldn't have needed stunt men.Manny Bloom is a washed up promoter of many failed opportunities. Owing a large debt to a bookie, he surmises that his only shot at squaring his arears is to promote a skate team. Now, being that this is the early days of skateboarding, Manny seemed like a fellow out of his mind for taking such a big risk on a sport that was still developing, never having had the extreme commercial following it does today. But Manny finds a bunch of misfit skateboarders (boys and girls) that he convinces to join a team with him as manager. As the story rolls along, Manny looks pretty pathetic, and fails to earn any respect from his team, which likewise have their own assorted problems. So, in that Mighty Ducks kind of tradition, he has to work hard with the team, so that they may win the championship that Manny has bet everything on.Though terribly corny, the movie is a rather good look at the early days of skateboarding. More like when the sport modeled gymnastics as competitors in their goofy uniforms and flimsy protective gear rolled around on shiny maple floors with their twenty-four inch boards doing nose wheelies and hand stands. To think, Tony Alva, was part of the skating team (the Z-Boys of Dogtown) that competed against fool skateboarding like that and helped turn the entire skateboarding culture upside down (see the documentary, Dogtown and Z-Boys).

Skateboard is the implausible but engaging story of the LA Wheels, a 'professional' team of adolescents traveling the skateboard circuit (who knew there was one?). Allen Garfield plays their mentor and manager, and he is surprisingly effective as the desperate Manny Blum who needs cash to pay off gangster Antony Carbone. Kathleen Lloyd provides a touch of class as his assistant coach and the kids of the skate team seem to be having fun. An excellent family film that goes out of its way to eschew profanity, Skateboard has a happy ending for everyone, including the hoodlum.