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| Rollerball | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byBob Peak | |
| Directed by | Norman Jewison |
| Screenplay by | William Harrison |
| Based on | "Roller Ball Murder" (1973 short story) by William Harrison[1] |
| Produced by | Norman Jewison |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Edited by | Antony Gibbs |
| Music by | André Previn |
Production company | Algonquin Films |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 129 minutes[2] |
| Countries | United States; United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5-6 million[3][4] |
| Box office | $30 million[5] |
Rollerball is a 1975 American[6]dystopianscience-fictionsports film directed and produced byNorman Jewison,[7] and starringJames Caan,John Houseman,Maud Adams,John Beck,Moses Gunn andRalph Richardson. The screenplay, written byWilliam Harrison,[8] adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder",[1] which had first appeared in the September 1973 issue ofEsquire.[9]
Set in a "not too distant" future world ruled by acorporatocracy, the film centers on the titular sport — an often-brutal spectacle used to help placate the populace. Jonathan E. (Caan), the sport's top player, finds himself at odds with the ruling powers, when his popularity threatens to hurt their grip on power.
The film was released byUnited Artists on June 25, 1975.[10]Rollerball was a box office success, and critical reviews were initially mixed but have warmed somewhat over time, and the film inspired a wave of similar, dystopian-themed sports films.[11] Aremake of the same name was released in 2002.
In 2018, Jonathan E. is the team captain and veteran star of theHouston Rollerball team. Mr. Bartholomew, chairman of the Energy Corporation — one of a series of corporations that now govern society — and team sponsor, offers Jonathan a lavish retirement package if Jonathan will announce his retirement during an upcoming television special detailing his career. Jonathan refuses, and requests to see his former wife Ella, who had been taken from him some years earlier by a corporate executive who wanted her for himself.
Jonathan goes to a library, where he finds that all books have been digitized and edited to suit the corporations, and are now stored onsupercomputers at large protected corporate locations. Jonathan's friend and former coach Cletus, now an Energy executive, warns him that the Executive Committee is afraid of him, though he cannot find out why.
Rollerball soon degrades into senseless violence as the rules are changed to force Jonathan out. The semi-final match between Houston and Tokyo is played with no penalties and limited substitutions in the hope Jonathan will be injured and forced out. The brutality of the match kills several players and leaves Jonathan's best friend and teammate Moonpie brain-dead, though Houston wins the game.
In ateleconference, the Executive Committee decides that the final match will be played with no penalties, no substitutions, and no time limit in the hope that Jonathan will be killed during the game.[12] Jonathan's popularity and longevity as a player threaten the underlying agenda of Rollerball: to demonstrate the futility of individualism.
Jonathan makes his way to Geneva to access the world's repository of all human knowledge, a central supercomputer known as "Zero," only to find its memory corrupted. Afterwards, Jonathan receives a visit from his former wife Ella, who has been sent to convince him to retire and to make it clear that the coming game will be "to the death". Jonathan realizes his wife's visit was set up by the Executives, and erases a long-cherished movie of the two of them, stating, "I just wanted you on my side." Jonathan decides that despite the dangers, he will play in the championship game against New York.
The final match devolves into a brutal gladiatorial fight. Jonathan is soon the only player left on the track for Houston, while a skater and a biker remain from New York. After a violent struggle in front of Mr. Bartholomew's box, Jonathan kills the skater and takes the ball. The biker charges, and Jonathan knocks him off the bike and pins the biker down. He raises the ball over his head, then pauses. Refusing to kill his fallen opponent, Jonathan gets to his feet and makes his way to the goal, slamming the ball home and scoring the game's only point. Jonathan then takes avictory lap as the crowd chants his name, first softly, then slowly rising to a roar while Mr. Bartholomew hastily exits the stands.
The film is based on a short story, entitled "Roller Ball Murder",[1] published inEsquire, by novelistWilliam Harrison, who joined theUniversity of Arkansas English department in 1964 and established the Creative Writing Program.[13][14]Norman Jewison bought the story and hired Harrison to co-write the screenplay with him (they shared an agent[6]), and made a deal with United Artists.[15]
Rollerball's arena sequences were shot at theRudi-Sedlmayer-Halle inMunich, West Germany. This hall was selected because it was the only sports arena in the world with a near-circular profile, which the production could take over and re-dress for shooting.[citation needed]
The then-newBMW Headquarters and Museum buildings in Munich appear as the headquarters buildings of the Energy Corporation atOlympiapark, Munich. The sequence where Jonathan E. visitsGeneva to consult with Zero the supercomputer concerning corporate decisions uses exterior shots of thePalace of Nations.[16] Scenes were also filmed atFawley Power Station,[17][18][19] nearSouthampton, England.[20] The remainder of the film was shot atPinewood Studios.[21]
The film was shot in35mm with a 1.85aspect ratio but was released in some theaters in70mm with a 2:1 aspect ratio.[3]
As the titular sport was only referred to vaguely in Harrison's original short story, rollerball was created largely by Norman Jewison and his production designerJohn Box,[22] who conceptualized it as a "blend of a roulette wheel and a pinball machine,"[23] combining elements ofroller derby,hockey,football,motocross racing, andjudo.[22] A custom track was designed and created byHerbert Schürmann, who had previously designed thetrack at the 1972 Munich Olympics.[23]
Recognizing their contribution to the film's many crucial action sequences,Rollerball was the first major Hollywood production to give screen credit to its stunt performers. English pro wrestlerMark Rocco was one of the stuntmen, and would later use "Rollerball" as hisring name.[24]
The game of Rollerball was so realistic that the cast, extras, and stunt personnel played it between takes on the set. At the time of the film's release,Howard Cosell interviewed Norman Jewison and James Caan onABC's Wide World of Sports, showing clips from the film and with the two of them explaining the rules of the game. Audiences who saw the film so loved the action of the game that Jewison was contacted multiple times by promoters, requesting that the "rights to the game" be sold so that real Rollerball leagues might be formed. Jewison was outraged, as the entire point of the movie was to show the "sickness and insanity of contact sports and their allure."[25]
Bach'sToccata and Fugue in D minor is performed on organ bySimon Preston during the opening title sequence and again at the final scene, bookending the film.[26]Adagio in G minor byAlbinoni/Giazotto and theLargo movement fromShostakovich'sSymphony No. 5 are also used to establish tone, mood, and atmosphere for certain scenes in the film. The classical music was performed by theLondon Symphony Orchestra, conducted byAndré Previn, who also wrote the "Executive Party" music for the film and the corporate anthems performed before certain matches.[27]
The film was released in the United States on June 25, 1975. It had its European premiere at theOdeon Leicester Square in London on September 3, 1975, before opening to the public there the following day.[28]
The film earned $6.2 million intheatrical rentals at the box office in the United States and Canada.[29]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 56% based on reviews from 109 critics, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "Its dystopia vision is presented with striking brutality and visual splendor, butRollerball is often undermined by shallow characterizations and a script that delivers social critique without much conviction."[30] OnMetacritic the film has a score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[31]
Most major critics were negative about the film upon its original release.[32]Vincent Canby ofThe New York Times was unimpressed:[33]
All science-fiction can be roughly divided into two types of nightmares. In the first the world has gone through a nuclear holocaust and civilization has reverted to a neo-stone Age. In the second, of which "Rollerball" is an elaborate and very silly example, all of mankind's problems have been solved but at the terrible price of individual freedom. ... The only way science-fiction of this sort makes sense is as a comment on the society for which it's intended, and the only way "Rollerball" would have made sense in a satire of our national preoccupation with televised professional sports, particularly weekend football. Yet "Rollerball" isn't a satire. It's not funny at all and, not being funny, it becomes, instead, frivolous.
Gene Siskel of theChicago Tribune gave the film 2 stars out of 4 and called it "a movie in love with itself" and "vapid, pretentious, and arrogant. Not even John Houseman's fine performance as a villainous corporate director is sufficient to makeRollerball tolerable. The only way to enjoy it, I suppose, is to cheer at the rollerball game's mayhem."[34] Arthur D. Murphy ofVariety, wrote that it "packs an emotional and intellectual wallop" and that James Caan gave an "excellent performance".[3]Charles Champlin of theLos Angeles Times was also positive, calling it "a fresh, unusual and stimulating movie. In its portraying of the vast and essentially statelessmultinational corporations,Rollerball plays off developments which have come sinceHuxley's andOrwell's time."[35]The Hollywood Reporter claimed that it was “the most original, and imaginative and technically proficient peek into our future since2001: A Space Odyssey.”[32]Jonathan Rosenbaum ofThe Monthly Film Bulletin pannedRollerball as "A classic demonstration of how several millions of dollars can be unenjoyably wasted ... this glib fable seems to be aiming at a simplified version ofA Clockwork Orange without any intimations of wit or satire to carry the vague moralistic message."[36]
James Monaco wrote thatRollerball "like most paranoid fantasies offers no hope: If James Caan can't beat the system, who can?"[37]
TV Guide gave the film three out of four stars; it said "the performances of Caan and Richardson are excellent, and the rollerball sequences are fast-paced and interesting."[38] Jay Cocks ofTime said Caan looked "unconvinced and uncomfortable" as Jonathan E.[39]
Filmink said the film "launched the dystopian sports movie genre and a series of rip-offs (Death Race 2000, etc) – most of which, to be frank, were a lot more fun thanRollerball, which could have stood to be a little less important and a little trashier."[11]
In 1977, Caan himself rated the film 8 out of 10, saying he "couldn't do much with the character."[40]
In 1985, IJK Software produced a game calledRocketball for theCommodore 64 computer, with the scoring rules based on the game in the movie. In 1989, Microïds published an unofficial successor calledKillerball for the Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, and MS-DOS.[citation needed]
In 1997, Z-Axis Games was developing an official Rollerball video game adaptation based on the film as part of MGM Interactive video game showcase lineup.[41] The game's promise was to recreate the action of the futuristic game played in the movie, and it was set 10 years after the events of the film in the 2098 Rollerball season, where the player would be in charge of managing their Rollerball teams around the world, made up of Rollerball players with roles such as strikers, enforcers, guard, and other players who compete using jet bikes and magnetic in-line skates.Rollerball: The Video Game was slated to be released for PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo 64 on the first quarter of 1998, but was delayed to mid-1998[42] and then was canceled due to the publisher,MGM Interactive, going bankrupt.
In 2004, I-play developed and published aRollerball game for mobile phones. It is based on the 1975 film, rather than the2002 remake of the same name.[citation needed]
Speedball and its sequelSpeedball 2: Brutal Deluxe were influenced byRollerball,[43] thoughBitmap Brothers co-founder Mike Montgomery denies this, sayingSpeedball's similarities to the film are more of a coincidence.[citation needed]
The developers of the 2022 gameRollerdrome cited the film as a major influence.[44]
A remake film of the same name was released byMGM on February 8, 2002. The film was directed byJohn McTiernan, and starsChris Klein,Jean Reno,LL Cool J, andRebecca Romijn. The film was critically-panned and abox office bomb. William Harrison stated "I've never watched the 2002 incarnation ofRollerball, and have no interest in it."
Heavily influenced by Rollerball and other futuristic, high-contact sports
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1974/75 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
