Rollerball

Rating:
Summary: Not your ordinary sports movie!
Review: Rollerball is intense. That depends on how intense you like sports and violence. A mixture of roller derby and ball sports, Rollerball takes place in the not to distant future. The world is united in this game and you'll be shocked to see some taboos, as well.

Starring James Caan as Jonathan E., the best Rollerball player of all time, it shows how an athlete can perform when he's asked/forced to retire. It's not like Jordan and basketball by any stretch of the imagination. You can see John Houseman in one of his finest movie roles as the Houston team owner. See if you can spot Robert Ito.(Quincy)

This movie is NOT for the squeamish. There is a lot of blood and gore, possible deaths, etc. You may want to ask someone who's seen it whether you can stomach the violence.

One of the good parts of the DVD is a featurette about the making of the movie with director Norman Jewison, who admits that this movie was made not to glorify violence, but as a statement against it. END

Rating:
Summary: It's a better social commentary than science fiction film.
Review: "Rollerball" (judged one of the best sports movies of all time by Sports Illustrated) is more than a sports movie (although in 1975 Norman Jewison was only guessing at the thrall in which superstar athletes such as James Caan's Jonathan E could hold the public; fans carry pictures of him to matches as though he were Chairman Mao or Yasser Arafat), more than an action movie (though the stunt sequences during the games rival those of "Mad Max"), and much more than Orwellian science fiction.
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The strengths of the movie lie in the way a society that is run from cradle to grave by corporations (rather than governments) is effectively portrayed as being both class-driven (director Norman Jewison uses the time-honored Hollywood trick of using actors with English accents to play the ruling corporate class, while the Rollerball players have working-class Southern U.S. drawls when they speak at all) as well as completely desensitized from all of humanity's pains through the creature comforts (including those of the recreational pharmaceutical variety) provided by the corporations.
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The public channels what remaining passion for violence that exists in their world through the game of Rollerball, allowing themselves to be deluded into thinking that the carnage going on in their arenas and on their Multivision sets is perfectly excusable becasue it is not perpetrated by men but by machines ("Don't be silly, they're made in Detroit"). There is some question to the validity of the game itself; after the first match shown on film (the quarterfinal game of the season, it seems), the coach of Jonathan's team remarks that they will play New York in the Final. Knowing that they still have a game to play before reaching the Final, this seems not in itself anything more than a coach inspiring the confidence of his team. But by indicating that New York will be the opponent (when presumably New York also has a semifinal match to play) would seem to indicate that the season is pre-scripted, not unlike WWE wrestling or the soccer seasons in the former East Germany.
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And no one, save Jonathan E (the sports greatest and by default most violent player), ever questions the idea that no one is allowed to make even the most basic decision for themselves (men and women don't seem to meet and fall in love; rather, couples are "assigned" to each other).
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In a telling moment, Jonathan and his ex-wife (Maud Adams; in the future all women are models) are talking about the "benefits" of corporate society; she remarks that civilization has always been a crusade against poverty. Jonathan makes the most Libertarian remark I've ever heard in a major motion picture when he believes that the luxuries of corporate society have succeeded in "buying off" its citizens, that the last decision society ever made was to be comfortable rather than free, which then enabled the corporations to take over everything.
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This has always been one of my favorite movies; when I was a kid I enjoyed it because of the action (American audiences have always ben more riveted by the game itself rather than the deeper philosophical meanings to the film), but as I've gotten older and more politically aware I have come to appreciate the underlying nefarious themes behind the game and have thus gained an even greater enjoyment of an already terrific film.

Rating:
Summary: are you kidding me?
Review: I've heard nothing but bad reviews and it looks like they were justified because this movie blows. Plot is pretty weak and the fact that its set in Kazakhstan is even stupider. I think filmmakers just like the way it sounds because its they seem to forget that they are many other soviet republics ( but I guess any time there is any action is all happens in Kazakhstan) . Geez. Naveen Andrews who did quite a good job in Kama Sutra looks like a total dweeb with a wedge haircut. Jean Reno is a caricature of a villain. It also looked like the half of the cast of La Femme Nikita had supporting roles in this movie. And that green light in the final sequence! What the hell were they thinking?! I guess they wanted something artsy but it just looks ridiculous. Oh, and the last straw was that Chris Kline nerd. Not only he is a lousy actor but casting him as a main bad boy who loves adrenaline is the stupidest thing anyone could have done. He has no personality and no charisma. He is bland, bland, bland.

Rating:
Summary: A cult movie
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: From Sci-Fiction to Documentary
Review: Dateline Seattle, the Information Technology City: Imagine a banal and soulless world fostered and controlled by neo-fascist multinational corporations in lieu of democracies. Imagine them using bloodsport as a political and social outlet, allegorical to a waning 11th century Roman Empire, to placate the masses already on mood-inhibiting pharmeceuticals.

But wait... We don't have to imagine it. Trasmute the cheesy 70s style to today's style (or lack thereof), and look around. Enron. Halliburton. Phizer. WorldCom. Tyco. HealthSouth. Oil companies. Tobacco companies. European and South American futbol violence. American pro sport violence between fans and players. "Xtreme" sports. Kickboxing. Ultimate fighting.

Let the Toccata and Fugue begin, and remember to take your Soma before you are forced to. It's the end of the world as we know it.

Rating:
Summary: JEWISON SHOOTS - -HE SCORES !!!
Review: Sci-fi Schmi-fi. If you are interested in good filmmaking I recomend spending an evening with Norman Jewison's ROLLERBALL.
There are moments of visionary calibre imagimation throughout the film starting with the stage setting ( similar to the intro to his later film JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR ) set to the merciless Tocata and Fugue and culminating in a series of freeze frame blow-ups to close the last scene. The mood is, like the world the film represents, businesslike and icy cold from the targeting of the last vestige of the natural world on the horizon by hedonic revelers to the hollow sounding cannon and blunt, brassy goal horn that signals a point scored for some corporate sponsered team at the cost of human blood. Appreciating art from past eras rquires viewers to be able to put themseves back there too. (If you can't watch films in the context of the era in which they were made you're in the wrong hobby.) ROLLERBALL is not a masterpiece but it is a very good film especially considering the fairly outrageous themes the director had to make palatable.
Imagine what a total comic book a film like this would be if directed by, say - Stephen Spielberg or worse yet - Tim Burton.
Jewison Shoots - - -He scores.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating speculation of a possible future society.
Review: This is a story dealing with the struggle of one man to stand against society's establishment in a future society dominated by huge mega-corporations. Nation states are gone, bankrupt, and society's needs are met by huge corporate entities that demand complete loyalty and obedience in exchange for material comfort and security.

Wars are no more, and people's need for aggression and conflict are directed to the violent sport "Rollerball" in which the players are routinely killed and maimed. The subtle, underlying purpose of Rollerball is to show the futility of individual achievement, and that individual stature and excellence must always be subordinated to society and the larger organization of the corporation. Players play and then are maimed or killed off, but the game goes on. James Caan is superb as "Jonathan E" the longest-surviving star of the game Rollerball, who seeks to rise above the game rather than either retire from it, or be destroyed by it. John Houseman does his usual fine job playing the consummate establishment "corporate executive"--which is the ruling class. This is a man-versus-establishment story with an interesting twist.

By the way, the cinematography and special effects of this film are quite good even by today's standards. The Rollerball scenes are very well done, and very imaginative.

In some respects the movie is campy, reflective of its 1970s origins, but it still entertains. The storyline moves along briskly, with very few pointless interludes and draggy mid-movie scenes that are so typical of too many movies today. While the film does intend to send a message, it also manages not to take itself too seriously, and is much more fun as a consequence.

By the way, this film is incomparably better than the remake "Rollerball" which recently came out, and don't confuse the two. This is the original, and this is the one to get.

Rating:
Summary: Better than the remake.
Review: Lot of action....good for the time period. This movie was copied alot so you know it has at least SOME substance. I'm not a huge James Caan fan but its funny to see him play an action star. If youve seen it before then hey, why not, go ahead and buy it.