Written by William Harrison
Directed by Norman Jewison

Rollerball was a movie I knew from my youth, at a time when the future seemed to something feared.  We were engaged in the Cold War at the time, and it sort of seemed inevitable that sooner or later life as we knew it would end.  Futuristic films that showed how humanity survived beyond that nuclear holocaust we all figured was coming gave us some hope, even if the future they depicted was equally as bleak in many ways.  Still, there usually were people who were hoping to change it all, and if nothing else, those characters resonated with many.  Watching it again all these years later, with the fears from the Cold War a distant memory, it actually seems all the more prophetic.

Like many other visions of the future in films, the world of Rollerball has become a world that most of us wouldn’t want to live in.  Something known as “The Corporate Wars” and corporations now controls this world.  Gone are things like football and soccer.  The only outlet for most is a sport known as Rollerball.  It’s a mix of roller-derby and motorcross inside an arena.  The sport itself is used by those in charge to channel humans’ natural aggressive tendencies.

James Caan is Jonathan E., the most popular player in the game.  He plays for a team out of Houston, which is the “capitol” of the Energy Corporation.  The corporation is a bit nervous about Jonathan’s popularity and wants him to quit the sport.  They want him to take what they give him and slink away, leaving his rabid fans disappointed, let down, and ultimately ready to surrender their drive for anything better in their lives.  That is the point of them controlling everyone and everything.

Jonathan isn’t too happy with the scenario being presented to him.  He has questions that he wants answered and the executives aren’t too happy about him in more and more ways as he’s trying to take the team to the championship.

At the time this was filmed, the look was very futuristic, from the buildings to the decorating, everything had a look beyond what audiences were used to seeing at the time.  It hasn’t aged all that well in terms of that, plus the studio didn’t put the money into remastering the print either.  I notice the sound seemed muddy at times and the picture usually had a dark look to it that didn’t seem to be caused by the style of filming taken by Director Norman Jewison.

However, the performances and story more than make up for these shortcomings.  Caan might be overplaying the “dumb jock” a bit too much, but he gets crafty when he wants to, making me think that the persona was a bit of a put-on for the corporation as well.  He seems to get the need to play along with the corporation until he can assert the individuality within him – at a time when he’s so popular it’s hard for them to curtail him.  Not that they don’t try, but this is when Caan really shines as he fights off those attempts, from bringing back the ex-wife to the bribery of a new, younger sexual liason.  The corporation changes the rules of the game to intimidate or kill him, but Jonathan doesn’t frighten off easily.  For the 1970’s, both the film and Caan’s performance were pretty darn good.

The supporting cast works well.  As the years passed, John Houseman has portrayed similar roles as the head of the corporation, but here he’s fantastic and it’s a shame not to be able to see him fresh, without the identity of all the parts that were still in front of him.  John Beck is Jonathan’s teammate Moonpie, another dumb-jock, but loyal to his buddy.  His dumb-jock is probably for real, though.  Maud Adams portrays Jonathan’s ex-wife and is fine.

One thing that struck me watching the film in retrospect is the fact that these jocks play on roller-skates, not rollerblades.  In the special features on the disc, I learned that James Caan was originally a rodeo rider at the time this film was made and that was the inspiration for the belt he wears.  The extra features are few but good, well worth watching, including the commentary with Norman Jewison.

Rollerball is a film that holds up well for the years, mostly because of the cast who doesn’t give in to overacting.  It’s a bunch of solid performances in a well-scripted and directed picture that could have gotten a little more care before being slapped on a DVD, but it is what it is.  You’ll enjoy it.


Special Features:

• Commentary by Producer and Director Norman Jewison
• Featurette
• Rollergame