loading...
Rollerball
1975
In the year 2018, Jonathan E is a superstar of a sport called Rollerball, which is a combination of rugby, roller derby, hockey and motorcycle racing. Rollerball is a sport run by the Energy Corporation, one of many such conglomerates running the planet in a time when countries and individual governments are obsolete. The .. Read more
| Starring | James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, Moses Gunn |
|---|---|
| Director | Norman Jewison |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
loading...
Rollerball
In the year 2018, Jonathan E is a superstar of a sport called Rollerball, which is a combination of rugby, roller derby, hockey and motorcycle racing. Rollerball is a sport run by the Energy Corporation, one of many such conglomerates running the planet in a time when countries and individual governments are obsolete. The corporations provide the population with everything that they need--food, a crime-free environment, mood-altering drugs--as long as they don't rock the boat and don't ask too many questions. When Jonathan, the world's greatest Rollerball player, becomes too popular with the fans, the Energy Corporation, led by the sinister Bartholemew, tries to convince Jonathan to retire. Failing that, the company raises the stakes, abolishing the rules of the already dangerous sport in an effort to destroy Jonathan and his immense fan base.
| Starring | James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, Moses Gunn, John Beck, Pamela Hensley, Ralph Richardson, Shane Rimmer |
|---|---|
| Director | Norman Jewison |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish |
| Released | DVD: 24 Jun 2002 Production year: 1975 |
| Format | DVD |
-
Critics' reviews (2)
View all -
In the Big Business-run world of 2018, anti-social activity and political unrest are kept in check by the gladiatorial spectator sport Rollerball, a lethal mix of hockey, roller-derby, motorbike racing and gang warfare. But when loner champion James Caan bucks the system, one requiring the eventual violent death of its star players, after a ten-year display of provocative individual heroism, cynical corporate patriarch John Houseman attempts to kill him by changing the rules. Although the Rollerball sequences are excitingly staged, director Norman Jewison's over-inflated Big Brother fable is dull and obvious when it leaves the skating arena. Little detail is given about the future so the plot is tediously left suspended in a cultural limbo. It also exploits exactly the voyeurism of violence against which it so clearly moralises. But for all its glaring faults, this is a masterpiece compared to the absolutely awful 2001 remake by John McTiernan.
-
A one-point parable, and an obvious point at that, is stretched out over more than two hours of violence in which the rules of the game are not even explained. A distinctly unlikeable film.
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
I liked it. A lot.
I liked this very much. I found it slightly over long but not unbearably so. And I enjoyed the story. I thought it a clever film about violence and bloodlust, vaguely prophetic without being preachy or implausible or stupid. Arguably a piece of science fiction though - like all the best work in that genre - ultimately humanistic.
'I thought that violence for the entertainment of the masses was an obscene idea. That's what I saw coming and that's why I made the film,' says director Norman Jewison.
The best thing about the film is how dated it looks. The retro-futurism is pretty cool and the backdrops and clothes are invariably a pleasure to watch.
Hammer Horror staple Ralph Richardson makes a brief guest appearance. He?s very good. Ultimately though, Caan carries the film supported by a vaguely creepy John Houseman.
The action sequences are pretty bone crunching and - if you get the chance - the documentary that accompanies the film on the DVD is well worth a watch. It debunks some myths about the movie ? no, no one died in the making of it, though there were a few broken bones amongst cast and crew. It also explains some of the thinking behind the story. It certainly enriched my enjoyment of the film.
Unfortunately there's no interview with Caan although almost everyone else involved talks freely and at length. -
Most recent members' review
View all -
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Punk rock American Football
Fundamentally the lure of this film is the gladiatorial combat of the game itself.
There is a soul to the film somewhere but I just can’t quite put my finger where it is. Certainly James Caan is good but perhaps not charismatic enough to be the Rollerball Messiah that he plays, the future world that we see looks pretty tedious and now very old hat and the man versus corporate hegemony element doesn’t really get developed in a satisfactory way.
Possibly the problem here is the clash of high brow (corporate globalism versus the individual, the chaos of humanity versus sterile order) and the low brow (blood spurting heads rolling ass kicking “sport”); a film can be one or the other but it is very difficult to be both at the same time.
Having said that the use of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor is possibly the best use of non original score I’ve ever seen or heard, the game sequences are engrossing and the distopian corporate future is close enough to make one feel uneasy. Funnily enough though it made me want to go and watch Slapshot for some similar pro-sport brutality. -
More like this
View allShowing 1 to 4 of 20
Related user collection
Films I urge everyone to see at least once... (96)
69% from 11 members
Showing 1 to 3 of 96
