I actually reviewed Patti Rocks for N.C. State’s student newspaper Technician when it played at the Carolina Theater in Durham back in the Spring of 1988. I knew nothing about the movie. I knew even less about Loose Ends, the 1975 film that director David Burton Morris made with the two leading actors (Chris Mulkey and John Jenkins) playing the same characters. The only hints I had about the film was the Carolina Theater had an actual warning about the language in the film. They weren’t giving out refunds if your virgin ears couldn’t handle the dirty words. There was also a cardboard cutout of star Chris Mulkey in the same pose as the cover of the Blu-ray. I went into the theater with my reporter’s notepad and couldn’t write anything down because I was laughing so hard at the weirdness. How weird did Patti Rocks get?
Billy (Chris Mulkey, Twin Peaks) is working on a tugboat on the mighty Mississippi River going between Minneapolis, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin. Billy’s been living a double life on both ends of the river. In Minneapolis, he has a wife and two kids. When he stays overnight in La Crosse, he hooks up with Patti. It seems to be a great situation until Patti (Karen Landry, Heartbreak Hotel) gets pregnant and wants to keep the baby. This leads Billy to reuniting with his buddy Eddie (John Jenkins, The Cutting Edge) who is still in the auto repair business. He needs Eddie to come with him to convince Patti to get an abortion. He wants to sue her for theft of sperm. Eddie eventually gives in and the two take a long drive into a cold night before Christmas. I can’t say anything more because Patti Rocks is still brilliant.
The interplay between Chris Mulkey and John Jenkins is just perfect. Mulkey is perfect as that asshole that you somehow became lifelong friends with. And when they finally show up at Patti’s apartment, Karen Landry adds so much to the situation when she encounters the two. She plays Patti as a bold woman who has a grasp of Billy and Eddie. It should be mentioned that Karen and Chris were married. Karen passed away in 2015. Karen Landry rocked in this film.
Seven years after my review, I found myself admitted to the School of Filmmaking at the North Carolina School of the Arts. The Dean at the time was Sam Grogg whose company FilmDallas released Patti Rocks. He is credited as Executive Producer. Sam thought I was joking about being a big fan of Patti Rocks. I had a used Beta copy of the film rescued from a rental shop. I couldn’t watch it, so it was art in my living room. After Sam had left the school, I found a VHS copy of Loose Ends in the film archive. It was thrilling to see this “missing” film. Even wilder was a few years later, Chris Mulkey dropped by the school to visit with a pal on the editing staff. I ended up giving him a copy of Loose Ends because even he didn’t have a copy. In case you’re curious about the first film, there’s a high-quality copy floating around the internet. Google it. I’m thrilled that Patti Rocks is out on Blu-ray. I haven’t been able to play my videotape since my parent’s Betamax died in 1992. This small film about two buddies and a woman at the end of the tugboat line remains a jewel. Patti Rocks is an ’80s indie joy.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The transfer is a 4K scan of the original 35mm internegative. This looks much better than my VHS copy. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo. Things sound great so you get all of Billy’s wit and wisdom. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by David Burton Morris and Victoria Wozniak has them talk about the movie as the follow up to Loose Ends. Morris lets us know the composer Doug Maynard overdosed before the film was released theatrically. The movie was shot in 18 days on a budget of $450,000. There’s a hilarious moment when Victoria wants us to know that they’re married. David Burton Morris mentions that Loose Ends is supposed to be part of the Blu-ray boxset. Unfortunately, Loose Ends didn’t get released. I had a chat with Fun City Edition’s Bluesky account person. Turns out there’s a bunch of music that they couldn’t clear for a release. There’s a lot of real radios playing in the background with songs that are more expensive to license than the film cost. But you can find Loose Ends online so it’s best to watch it first before Patti Rocks. Morris talks about how he had planned a third Billy and Eddie movie in North Carolina when Sam Grogg was running the film school. I could have worked on it. Now I’m heartbroken. I could have been an apprentice skunk wrangler.
A New Position (10:17) has Sam Grogg talk about how the film started when Morris showed a movie at Sam’s film festival in Dallas. Morris told Grogg about Loose Ends and how he wanted to do a sequel. Four years later, he brought the script Sam when FilmDallas was rolling. It was freezing and Morris caught walking pneumonia. He gets into how the film got an X-rated from Billy and Eddie’s car talk. Sam had to show the MPAA how many times the F word was used in Scarface and still got an R. He talks about the standee with the pad of the paper that let people write a note to Billy. The theaters did send the pads back to FilmDallas.
The History of FilmDallas (15:25) has Sam Grogg explain his indie production house that lasted in the ’80s. They did extremely well by contributing to get Kiss of the Spiderwoman and Trip To Bountiful into theaters. These two small films had their stars win the Best Actor (William Hurt) and Best Actress (Geraldine Paige) Oscars in 1986. This led to Grogg making a deal with New World Pictures (post-Roger Corman) to set up things. FilmDallas was part of 13 films including Spike of Bensonhurst (also out from Fun City Editions). By the time I met Sam Grogg at film school, FilmDallas only seemed to exist on a few film racks in the film archive.
Theatrical Trailer (3:02) has Patti talking to the camera about Billy’s comments. It’s almost her complete rebuttal to Billy’s beliefs. You shouldn’t watch the trailer until after you see the film.
Image Gallery (3:22) has press photos, behind the scenes shots and posters.
Isolated Music Track lets you watch the film with just Doug Maynard’s bluesy score.
Illustrated Booklet has an interview with John Jenkins. He had been teaching acting at a college all these years.
Fun City Editions present Patti Rocks. Directed by David Burton Morris. Screenplay by John Jenkins, Karen Landry, David Burton Morris & Chris Mulkey. Starring John Jenkins, Karen Landry & Chris Mulkey. Running Time: 87 Minutes. Rating: R Rated. Release Date: September 8, 2026.
Here is my actual review clipped out of the Technician from my first screening. The one thing I screwed up was my handling of Patti in the film. She’s not a letdown. But that’s something I’ve learned with time and strange experiences.
Here’s my Beta tape of Patti Rocks that’s still tucked in my video collection:
