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Rollerball | Year: 1974 Actors/Actresses: - Chris Klein - Norman Jewison Icy, sterile, fascist Nadaland The TIME of ROLLERBALL is the very near future. Like Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451, the film describes a society whose citizens have traded individuality...and possibilities freedom provides...for challengeless safety in ignorance and material comfort. Because ignorance is not quite bliss...or strength...the corporate oligarchs of 2018 have provided a singular outlet for passion: Rollerball. This brutal game pits teams of warrior athletes in gladiatorial combat sport comprising lacrosse, basketball and good, old-fashioned gang fights. James Cann plays Johnathan E. the world's number 1 Rollerball champion. John Houseman plays Barholomew, the superficially benevolent fascist FATHER. Director Jewison paces the film well from its action-packed opening to rather predictable conclusion in Johnathan's "messianic" triumph in THE BIG GAME. Where the film engages, however, is in its icy style. The film's climactic expositions and denouments are crafted like the Rollerball game. Only Cann's "violence" seems real and genuinely defiant. Even John Houseman fails to ultimately generate menace because...unlike a military dictatorship thriving on POWER...the corporate fascists thrive on ORDER. And there is no such thing as the PASSION of...or Nietzschean WILL to...ORDER. The OLIGARCHS are bureacrats not soldiers. As Houseman himself admits the Societal Managers envy the Rollerballers their human though "dehumanizing" arena of controlled danger and death masked as entertainment. Whether Jewison intended or not, the CLIMAX of the film is NOT the Rollerball Final, but the night when Johnathan E. refuses to retire and his TRIBUTE NIGHT becomes a testimony to the bankruptcy of the society and leadership that lauds, despises and fears THIS MAN. After a pathetically passionless night of drug- induced stupor and futile efforts to "orgy-out", the lackies of the Corporate Dictatorship stagger into forests TO SHOOT TREES(!) with Jack-in-the-Box rocket pistols. As trees burn...because they cannot "duck"...frustrated pseudo-Rollerballers stumble back to "sleepless" beds because like mini-Macbeths they have burned Burnham woods whose real "plant" life threatens their utterly fruitless sterility. Is this an "exciting" movie? Not in the sense that our own WWA seems to generate excitement boardering on fanaticism. Intellectually, however, the film succeeds. Recall Robert Frost's poem FIRE Johnathaaan! Rollerball is a great film with a terrific cast. James Caan is at his brooding best in the title role of Johathan E. The Rollerball champion and subsequent rebel of his Corporate World. Rollerball, like so many films of the early and mid 70's is by today's standards considered slow. Slow in that it sets a pace and tells a story - in this case an intelligent story that leaves the viewer food for thought, long after the roll of the final credit. Good story telling is measured; a lot of great films came out of this era. Rollerball is a contemporary classic and a re-make of this film is due to come out soon; it will be interesting to see if a story will still exist, one, and two, how they will treat the violence that is so instrumental in telling this story. The only negative that I have is the quality of the DVD picture. The extras are good, there's even an interactive memory 'game', however, there are white spots - dust, throughout the transfer. This film is not so old that the visuals should be this poor. DVD technology is supposed to provide theatre quality at home. MGM is releasing a lot of excellent movies in questionable viewing conditions. One can only infer as to the reasons why. It would would be great to see a special edition of this film, first for a better picture, and second for a current retrospective by both Jewison and Caan. are you kidding me? 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. Buy Rollerball at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Rollerball Search with the Priority Search Engine on Rollerball This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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