The remake got terrible reviews, so we decided to watch the 1975 original version of Rollerball. Note that with the exception of the general play of the game and the idealistic main character, there is not commonality to these two Rollerballs. James Caan plays Jonathon E, the most famous athlete in a future world where nations, war, and poverty have faded away and six corporations rule everyone’s life. Jonathon has become bigger than the sport and this the corporations cannot allow.
But Jonathon has not become the champion he is without also learning a few things, so we have a sweet scene where he confronts the system, in the form of his ex-wife Ella (the gorgeous Maude Adams, who was taken away from him years before when an Executive desired her), and he tells her people have made the wrong choice: comfort over freedom. She replies that comfort is freedom but from the look on Jonathon’s face we know that we are to to understand that Ella is a captive of the system unable to break free from the blinders imposed by it.
Director Norman Jewison has never been afraid to use blood to make a point and he certainly does so here. Players are as likely, and in the end more likely, to end up as splatter as to walk away. His previous film was Jesus Christ Superstar and he definitely gives Caan’s Jonathon somewhat of a messianic cast, not unlike the apotheosis Keanu Reeves undergoes in the Matrix. Jewison made a Hollywood movie, but one that was obviously influenced by the visual and auditory techniques developed by European directors in the ’60s.
The film has strong performances from John Houseman as the Executive who confronts Jonathon, John Beck as the teammate who is sacrificed to teach Jonathon one final lesson, Burt Kwouk (Cato in the old Pink Panther movies) in a small role as a doctor, and Moses Gunn as Jonathon’s mentor.
If you want to see a good Rollerball, save your $9 from the new release and rent the original.
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