Rollerball | John Houseman, Maud Adams | Rollerball: A future that has already arrived.

Rollerball | John Houseman, Maud Adams | A cult movie

DVDs:

Rollerball

	Rollerball John Houseman, Maud Adams MGM (Video & DVD), 1998 average customer review:based on 116 reviews view larger image
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Rollerball: A future that has already arrived.

This movie tells about a future where countries are a thing of the past, and instead, the world is divided into geopolitical Corporations. The public is placated with Corporate provided entertainment, and for those needing violence as the rallying point for their loyalty, ROLLERBALL is offered. ROLLERBALL is a manufactured sport, a hybrid mixture of Motocross; Roller Derby, hockey; arena football; and what the NBA has devolved into; a violent packed war. All in all, a very entertaining game.

A word of caution, a "remake" of ROLLERBALL was recently released, which, save for the "game" and the title, holds no real relation to the original ROLLERBALL, which is more about the devolution of society, and a trading of our independence and individuality in exchange for the allusion of safety and security. Steer clear of the "remake" for even the game itself is poorly portrayed.

Back to the original. James Caan, as our hero, Jonathan E, the greatest ROLLERBALL player of all time, is coming to the conclusion of his career, not out of choice mind you, or due to any loss of ability, but because John Houseman's character, has been ordered to retire Jonathan for reasons not revealed until later in the movie. Houseman's character is a member of the elite and privileged class of this new society, a "Corporation" officer. A member of this class requested and because of the level of privilege afforded them, was able to obtain Jonathan's first wife during their marriage period.

That incident along with his forced retirement, has Jonathan questioning what is happening in society. Jonathan attempts to obtain history books, only to find they have been "digitized" which is a polite way of saying there are no longer originals of books and they have been sanitized or the information restricted.

The game itself is already extremely violent, but to ratchet up the pressure to retire, the powers that be decide to change the rules. The first game, no penalties. When that doesn't get Jonathan to change his mind, even after the airing of his career tribute, the next change is no substitutions or time limit. The End is of course a "Hollywood" type ending. The action scenes are incredible and a number of the actors did suffer real injuries during the shooting.

But the larger message of this film is what is happening to our society today. This was supposedly a futuristic movie. It was shot in the 1970's and takes place sometimes around 2018. I recall at the time I saw it that I believed the future of giant corporations running everything and controlling every aspect of our lives and our politics was well underway. But I have long been deemed paranoid and prone to conspiracy theories. Of course having lived through JFK's, MLK JR's and RFK's asassination, followed by Watergate, probably contributed to my suggestibility to conspiracies. However, even I am surprised at the pace with which this future of Multinationals running the world and controlling everything combined with the blatancy with which our elected leaders are kowtowing to corporate interests over the welfare of their people as become so pervasive. If it continues at its current pace, ROLLERBALL will no longer be a possible future hidden in an entertaining movie, but rather a prophetic film whose message was ignored.

Get this film and show it to your children, your friends, neighbors, and other associated folks. Hopefully, they will see the message and start striking back and remembering what built this great country of ours, individual spirit, a willingness to stand apart, the resolve to risk it all and not rely on others for our welfare.

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A cult movie

In the future you will live horror nightmares , and feel the pression of an overcrowded world , but instead you'll have always Rollerball!
I saw this film from its release in 1975 , and I watched again three months ago . The film hasn't lost just a bit from its initial impact.
The knock out performance given by James Caan supported by a dark story about the fate of these future gladiators will let you thinking about the entertainment as mass media phenomen and the deep implications about the way of living .
Caan obviously is tired , he refuses to keep that job and wants to escape from this show business cycle but you know : the rules are the rules. The conflict is announced and the final combat will be an unforgettable experience.
Good transfer on DVD!
Superb script and dazzling direction!

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Dated But Prescient

Disconcertingly accurate in its future telling. We have "sports" that are little more than people slamming into each other and bashing each other's brains out. Arena football & professional wrestling come to mind. We have a smaller and smaller number of huge companies controlling the vast majority of American life with each year. We have a President who seems like more of a business owner than a political leader of a Democratic society. Companies control the media and the media disseminates the information the government sponsered companies choose to share. In a day of instant information through dozens of mediums, Americans actualy have fewer, not more, viewpoints with which agree or disagree with. We live in an era in which questioning the government in even the slightest most lukewarm manner is seen as unpatriotic and treasonous. This closing of the American mind would do a fascist proud. Rollerball's hero is stymied every time he tries to obtain information. Throughout the movie, you never see a book, newspaper or magazine. Rollerball's future is far from fantasy in the post 9/11 America.

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It's a Dystopia

Rollerball (1975) is, of course, a Dystopia. If you do not want to watch a dystopia, or if you are seeking the thrill of violence without painful emotion, you won't like it. Instead, watch The Terminator (BTW, a great movie).

Thus, Rollerball is like all dystopias a warning of where we might go, and thus at least implicitly of where we already are. Man's perpetual need for violence, and also for security, is finally sated, and this is where it leads us. Spectator sports spectaculors are the crack and the opiate of the masses as well as the vicarious source of a castrati society's manliness.

The movie is a bit dated, of course, in large part because its critiques have been repeated and become cliche, and also because we have grown used to what was then novel (like a heavy dose of spectator sports).

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