Indeed, every packed game of the title sport begins with the playing of \u201cour corporate anthem,\u201d and in this version of the future\/present, after a period of world bankruptcy, the corporations have risen to rule. \u201cCorporate society takes care of everyone,\u201d insists Energy Corporation chairman Mr. Bartholomew (a chilling John Houseman), as long as no one interferes with \u201ccorporate decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a world of compromise, in which individuality has been traded for comfort. Or, as Jonathan E. (James Caan) puts it, it\u2019s a choice between \u201chavin\u2019 all them nice things and\u2026 freedom.\u201d Jonathan is the star player of the Houston Rollerball team, and Caan is the right choice for the role, a square-jawed jock type who nevertheless sports a giant chip on his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The game itself is a cross between roller derby, hockey, and a biker rally; like quidditch or whack-bat, it\u2019s basically nonsensical. \u201cStupid game, after all,\u201d shrugs Mr. Bartholomew. \u201cAwful game.\u201d But it\u2019s also a lucrative, popular game, and when we meet Jonathan E., Houston\u2019s championship season is nearly over \u2013 and though he\u2019s the league superstar, Jonathan is being pressured to quit. They\u2019re \u201cafraid\u201d of him, he\u2019s told. But why? He decides to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From our current vantage point, Rollerball <\/em>is most entertaining as a fairly prescient prediction of the direction contact sport entertainment would take in the coming decades. The matches are photographed with \u201cthirty multivision cameras,\u201d a head-spinning system of automated simulcast that isn\u2019t far removed from the dizzying array of visual bells and whistles rustled up for NFL and NBA games. The game play is often brutal and relentless, but (body count aside) not much grizzlier than a UFC bout. It steadily escalates throughout the narrative, as Bartholomew and crew instigate \u201crule changes\u201d (limited substitutions, no penalties, no time limits) to both maximize carnage and scare Jonathan away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These sequences are enlightening, as director Jewison adroitly orchestrates both the mayhem and its response, gauging how quickly and easily the audience\u2019s bloodlust might take over. By the championship game of the big climax, a massive pile-up of bodies and raging fire on the track, the savagery finally stuns them all into silence. As Bartholomew and the suits look on from their luxury seats, stone-faced, the Roman gladiator overtones become apparent: these are athletes shedding blood for the entertainment of the rich. Rollerball <\/em>concludes with what could be read as triumphant note, not unlike Rocky<\/em> the following year \u2013 but this one pulses with cynicism, a hollow victory if there ever was one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was the kind of sports movie that would dominate in the years to come \u2013 films that focused on the triumph of the underdog, while rarely casting much skepticism in the direction of management and ownership (to say nothing of the government). But this wasn\u2019t always the case, and with that jaded perspective in mind (as well as the sartorial style and salty accents of the Houston team), Rollerball<\/em> feels like a closer companion to the decade\u2019s stream of good-ol\u2019-boy pro sports movies, like North Dallas Forty, Semi-Tough, <\/em>and Slap Shot<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That fraternity is sort of unavoidable, thanks to the distinctively \u201870s aesthetic present in the clothing, interior design, and facial hair. The \u201cfuture but now\u201d look and feel gives the picture a strange placelessness \u2013 it\u2019s a movie both in and out of its time. And it not only looks like a \u201870s movie but feels like one, as Jonathan\u2019s hunt for the truth behind his impending ouster situates the film alongside the loner vs. vast conspiracy subgenre of the era (The Parallax View, The Conversation, Three Days of the Condor<\/em>); there\u2019s also a pronounced Eastern influence (and, well, Othering) via the Tokyo finals and the warnings, to the team, of differences in \u201cfighting style.\u201d (Maybe I just had the Bruce Lee movies<\/a> of the era on my mind.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jewison\u2019s go-to naturalism is a strange match for this material, but he grounds it in reality as best as he can, finding muted moments for Caan\u2019s character and enjoying their quiet. I\u2019m not sure Rollerball<\/em> entirely works \u2013 it\u2019s such a strange hybrid of mismatched genres, you\u2019re never quite sure what movie Jewison is making, or if it\u2019s the one he intended. But I\u2019ll add this much: my attention never wandered. ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/rollerball2-1024x533.jpg\")
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