ABC Afterschool Specials (TV Series) The Skating Rink (1975) User Reviews

What! An ice rink with no hockey?

[bigdinosaur · 7/10 · 1 July 2004]

This is a cute little film about a stuttering farm boy with few friends who becomes a figure skater. Very moralistic but nice wholesome entertainment.

I have to admit I am biased in this case because I am a figure skater (not too good) and I also play hockey (not too good either).

The acting was mediocre, but not bad. Jerry Dexter who plays Pete Degley was rather good...and he skates fairly well also. The stuttering boy, Tucker (played by Stewart Peterson) could have used some improvement...and he obviously couldn't skate very well! Lilly Degley (Devon Ericson) was attractive skated decently and she's appeared quite a few times since, mostly in TV shows. Even with the somewhat lukewarm acting, the story moved well and is totally suitable for all ages. For a low-budget TV production it's a very good family film.

The setting is obviously in the southern U.S. because of the accents and the tone of the musical score. You also get a sense that maybe the story took place in the 40's or so although this is not at all firmly established.

In 1975 when this film was made, hockey had not really become the main attraction of ice rinks yet (hockey skates didn't yet have any ankle support either). Nowadays, very few boys are interested in figure skating so this film will probably not appeal to males. (From a selfish standpoint I am ecstatic over this situation as male figure skaters have an unlimited supply of girls to skate with.)

This film is in my 16mm collection and has begun to fade to red slightly making a decent cinematographic analysis invalid. Sound is mono only.

I've never seen this film on video or DVD, but if you get a chance to watch or record it, it would make a nice addition to a family film collection. I rated this 7 out of 10. It was good, but could have been a lot better with a little extra work.

inspiring and timeless story of the result of hard work and taking chances

[rancook-4 · 23 October 2011]

I viewed this movie after school, and I remember an inspiring story of a young man with a stuttering problem, finding his voice as an ice skater.

What was particularly interesting was the older skater who couldn't skate any more and how he decided to give this young man a chance, and the relationship that developed with the female skater.

It demonstrated the hard work involved in skating, and it truly was rewarding seeing the young man achieve the goal at the end.

Rance Howard and actor who played young man are very convincing. I would love to see this movie again as an adult, as I would like the perspective of how the female skater relates to the young man.

A Triple Lutz

[Bolesroor · 31 October 2004]

"The Skating Rink" was one of ABC's Afterschool Specials... this one reminds me of the type of film I was forced to watch in school as a child. I was the only one in the class with a furrowed brow and open palms, hopelessly asking: "Why?"

This one is about Tuck, a stuttering misfit, born into a farm family and struggling to fit in. Tuck enjoys loitering around the construction site of the titular icehouse on his way to and from humiliation at school. One day the rink owner spots Tuck, taking the boy under his wing, and offering him free ice-skating lessons before the rink even opens. Will this skill help Tuck develop the much-needed confidence and self-esteem he sorely lacks? You do the math, jack.

This was a touching movie in that I actually found myself feeling for some of the characters. There's the depressed farmer Dad who will most likely throw himself into his own thresher one black afternoon, and the lead Tuck was very well-acted by Stewart Peterson. I couldn't find a moral to this one other than "Ice-skating is fun." Or maybe the lesson is that nothing succeeds like pancake makeup, flop sweat, and a woman paid to figure-skate. Yeah, that sounds good. But you're not missing much.