Rollerball (1975 film)
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| Rollerball | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Norman Jewison |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis Norman Jewison Patrick Palmer |
| Written by | William Harrison |
| Starring | James Caan John Houseman Maud Adams John Beck Moses Gunn |
| Music by | Andre Previn Dmitri Shostakovich Johann Sebastian Bach Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Editing by | Antony Gibbs |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | 25 June 1975 |
| Running time | 129 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Rollerball is a 1975 science fiction film directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay by William Harrison,[1] who adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder", which first appeared in 1973 in Esquire magazine.[2]
Contents |
[edit] The game
In the film, the world of 2018 is a global corporate state, containing entities such as the Energy Corporation, a global energy monopoly based in Houston which deals with nominally-peer corporations controlling access to all Transport, Luxury, Housing and Food on a global basis.
The film's title is the name of a violent, internationally popular sport around which the events of the film take place. It is similar to Roller Derby in that two teams clad in body armor skate on roller skates around a banked, circular track. There, however, the similarity ends. The object of the game is to score points by the offensive team (the team in possession of the ball) throwing a softball-sized steel ball into the goal, which is a cone-shaped area inset into the wall of the arena. The team without possession of the ball is defensive and acts to prevent scoring. It is a full-contact sport in which players have considerable leeway to attack opposing players in order to take or maintain possession of the ball and to score points; in fact, in this overpopulated future, the object of the game in the original short story is to kill off the players. In addition, each team has three players who ride motorcycles to which teammates can latch on and be towed. The player in possession of the ball must hold it in plain view at all times.
Rollerball teams, named after the cities in which they are based, are owned by the various global corporations. Energy Corporation sponsors the Houston team. The game is a substitute for all current team sports and for war. While its ostensible purpose is entertainment, Mr. Bartholomew describes it as a sport designed to show the futility of individual effort.
[edit] Plot summary
The film tells the story of Jonathan E, the veteran star of the Energy Corporation's Houston team, played by James Caan. By virtue of his stellar performance over the years, Jonathan has become the most recognizable Rollerballer in history; civilians all over the world recognize him on sight. This recognition is problematic for the hegemonic corporations. After another impressive performance in Houston's season-ending victory over the Madrid team, Energy Corporation chairman Mr. Bartholomew, played by John Houseman, offers a nice retirement package—including a televised highlight show and an incentive package featuring "privileges", the currency of the society—to Jonathan. It is revealed that Jonathan was married to a woman, Ella (played by Maud Adams), and that the marriage ended when she was promised to an executive.
The film revolves around the struggle of Jonathan to understand why he faces so much pressure to retire; for him, Rollerball degrades into senseless violence. It is announced that the semi-final game versus the Tokyo team will be played with no penalties and limited player substitutions, yet Jonathan refuses to yield and plays in the game; the brutality claims the lives of several players, including Houston's lead biker, Blue, as well as leaving his best friend and teammate Moonpie (played by John Beck) brain-dead.
The corporations hold an emergency meeting to discuss Jonathan's obstinate refusal to retire, and decide that the championship game against the New York team will be played without penalties, player substitutions, or a time-limit, in the hope that Jonathan, if he decides to participate, will be killed during the course of the game.
After much personal introspection, and further delving into the true nature of the corporations that run the world, Jonathan decides he is going to play in the game despite the obvious dangers. Naturally, the final game quickly loses all semblance of order as players are crippled and killed in swift order. The crowd, raucous and energetic at the game's beginning, gradually become more and more subdued as the carnage builds and degrades to a gladiatorial "last man standing" event.
Towards the end, Jonathan is the last mobile member of the Houston team. Two players remain from New York. After a brief and violent struggle, Jonathan dispatches one of the players, then gets possession of the ball, grabs the last, helpless New York player by the collar and prepares to fatally smite him as the crowd, both coaches and Mr. Bartholomew watch in complete silence.
With a moment's pause, Jonathan releases his opponent, slowly gets to his feet, and painfully makes his way to the goal, scoring for the last time. He "wins" in a game where there is to be no winner.
While Mr. Bartholomew leaves in defeat and (perhaps) disgust, the coaches and fans of both teams start chanting "Jon-a-than!" louder and louder as Jonathan circles the track. As the cheering reaches a climax, the movie cuts to a sudden still of Jonathan, against the same music that opened the film, Toccata from Bach's iconic Toccata and Fugue in D minor.
[edit] Differences from the short story
| "Roller Ball Murder" | Rollerball |
|---|---|
| The track is oval, with a long axis of 50 yards and a short axis of 30 yards | The track is circular, approximately 50 yards in diameter |
| Each team has a goal, which is a cone-shaped area inset into the wall at opposite sides of the track | There is only a single goal. Possession of the ball determines offense/defense |
| Teams consist of twenty players: ten roller skaters, five motorbike riders, and five runners (or clubbers) | Teams are ten strong: three motorbike riders and seven skaters (five skaters + two catchers) |
| Points are scored when a team's runners manage to pass the opposing skaters, pick up a ball and pass it to one of their bikers | Teams score by throwing or placing the ball into the goal, a small, conical, magnetic hole on the outer edge of the track |
| Balls are fired by several cannons (up to four will be in play at once in one game), in the same direction players skate, with the aim of hitting and disabling players from behind. In the last two games of the story, the balls are oblong, to increase the chance of hitting players | There is apparently only one cannon, balls are fired in the opposite direction, are always spherical, and are used for scoring points |
| Games typically last two hours, with no rest periods | Games have three periods of twenty minutes, with rest periods of two minutes in between |
| At the start, games with Jonathan E already have no substitutions and - in practice - no penalties. Other games, which he has heard about but not apparently seen, have no time limits or mixed sex teams | No time limit, no penalties and no substitutions is only in place for the final game |
| Rule changes are presented as being made to satisfy the global audience's demand for more blood during games | Rule changes are made to kill Jonathan E |
[edit] Filming locations
Among the filming locations used was the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle as arena, the then-new BMW Headquarters and Museum buildings in Munich, Germany, appearing as the headquarter buildings of Energy Corporation and at the Olympiapark, Munich.
[edit] Music
The film is noteworthy for its use of classical music for establishing atmosphere, particularly the Toccata from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which is heard during the opening sequence and again during the film's climax, and the Adagio in G minor by Albinoni/Giazotto.
[edit] Other media
- IJK Software based its Commodore 64 game Rocketball (1985) on Rollerball.
- Speedball (1988), developed by the Bitmap Brothers for the Amiga and later ported to other systems, bears many similarities to Rollerball and includes specific references to the film, such as Jonathan E tapping his knuckles before the start of a game.
- In the videogame Rocky Legends, close to the arena in Times Square there is a theater with a large Rollerball billboard with the tagline (In the future...).
- In the cyberpunk manga Battle Angel Alita, Motorball is a popular, bloody sport based on Rollerball.
- The music video for "Rock the House" by the Gorillaz is based on a combination of the films Mr. Freedom and Rollerball
[edit] Listen to
- Roller Ball Murder on MindWebs, WHA radio, 1977
[edit] See also
- Rollerball, a 2002 remake.
- Futuresport a similar film.
[edit] References
- ^ Rollerball (1975) Cast And Crew. MGM.com: Official website of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (© 2000-2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
- ^ "Contents Lists / The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 7. Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Combined Edition, by William G. Contento (2003). Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
[edit] External links
- Rollerball (1975) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Rules of The Game – The evolution of the sport of Rollerball, collecting together all known official rules.
- Virtual Rollerball Stadium – Virtual Rollerball Stadium, Rollerball font and links.
- Rollerball Resource – Resource that includes a detailed hypothesis outlining the Rules to the Game.
- The Physics of Rollerball – An article at SciFi.com.
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Soylent Green |
Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film 1974/75 |
Succeeded by Logan's Run |
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