This movie made me feel bad.

Because I saw was it was doing, I saw the invisibly fascistic society that Norman Jewison had created. I watched the Rollerball scenes in utter terror. I had a strong bead on the cold, calculating piece of social satire Jewison was batting my way.

But in the end, when James Caan is riding around the court and the crowd starts chanting "Johnathan?" Those same emotions that well up when I watch a less dystopian and ironic sports flick kicked into full gear.

This movie played me like a fucking fiddle. I tried to be a smart, discerning viewer. I tried to be better that the decadent, bloodthirsty patsies onscreen. Hell, I was chuckling at the lack of subtlety in how Jewison presented his themes.

And the movie beat me.

Thank God for that.

Portentous bookends of Bach overplay the severity meant to be communicated by this B-picture, in many undoing the whole purpose of a good B. Similarly, its focus on plodding scenes of half-developed anti-corporate commentary in foreground as the actual rollerball scenes are left to wallow in repetitive patterns, thin setup for a self-styled allegory. But even the indirect focus on the game cannot prevent questions about its fundamental contradiction of purpose, a sport whose violent nature primes it for stars and martyrs is meant to be a tool of corporations to promote anti-individualism? And for such a consumerist society run by companies selling a docile populace shit, there's not much shit in the frame ever, all wide rooms with aescetic emptiness. Clunky on almost every level, including its starched action direction, which plays the same three shots (high-angle establishing, long-shot pan-zooms from tripod, tracking around rollerball rink) ad nauseam. Overbearing and undercooked.

We're far ahead in the future (in 2018 to be precise) and the world has changed out of all recognition. The story follows the game 'rollerball' designed to show how individuals don't count in this new world, where all decisions are made on their behalf by The Executive. Jonathan is a rollerball star and the time has come for him to be forcibly retired as his success doesn't fit with this new world view, but he doesn't want to retire...
I rally liked this; it looked very 1970s but had a good story behind it and the story worked. Badmovies.org has it as one of its 228 Best B-Movies, but I'd like to disagree and say its just a good film.

This will without doubt enter a list of best Sports Survival films, but how long can such lists be anyway?
This drags in parts, but the actual game is gold.

Another Norman Jewison film, another heavy-handed morality play! This one involves a future sports league that glorifies violence. While the idea of the game is pretty entertaining, its the only part of the film that really captivates—the tale of James Caan’s character deciding whether to retire is drawn out and overserious considering the campy sports action.

Interesting concept and lay-up but fails terribly on story. Not much logic there

Sure this is a film that is quite on the nose with its metaphor, but to be fair it is a dystopic sic-fi film from the seventies so it really goes without saying. However, should you find yourself dismissing this with the assumption that it is solely a film about people on roller skates beating the crap out of each other, I want to note that it is so much more and while it does have some moments of utter cheesiness (first shower scene) the message and brutality of the closing moments manage to counter any sort of pervious misguidances or narrative failings. Also, Rollerball is a far cooler sport than anything being played now.

Portentous bookends of Bach overplay the severity meant to be communicated by this B-picture, in many undoing the whole purpose of a good B. Similarly, its focus on plodding scenes of half-developed anti-corporate commentary in foreground as the actual rollerball scenes are left to wallow in repetitive patterns, thin setup for a self-styled allegory. But even the indirect focus on the game cannot prevent questions about its fundamental contradiction of purpose, a sport whose violent nature primes it for stars and martyrs is meant to be a tool of corporations to promote anti-individualism? And for such a consumerist society run by companies selling a docile populace shit, there's not much shit in the frame ever, all wide rooms with aescetic emptiness. Clunky on almost every level, including its starched action direction, which plays the same three shots (high-angle establishing, long-shot pan-zooms from tripod, tracking around rollerball rink) ad nauseam. Overbearing and undercooked.

A violent futuristic sport. A corporate world takeover which leaves the world in the hands of greedy executives. A sports star in contemplation and defiance. Most of the sequences are borderline electrifying. The best part of the film is how naturalistic Jewison makes a fictional sport feel through the insertion of rules and consequences in an almost step-by-step manner. Never measures up to the exponentially disturbing force of 1984 or the imagination driven visual thrill ride of THX-1138 (the two films it seems to mirror most), but Rollerball works on the most important of levels: Its an action movie with social consciousness.

BNAT 14 Film # 9

Love ROLLERBALL, seen it many times.

Gets smarter and feels more prophetic all the time.

JOHN-A-THAN, JOHN-A-THAN, JOHN-A-THAN!

This movie made me feel bad.

Because I saw was it was doing, I saw the invisibly fascistic society that Norman Jewison had created. I watched the Rollerball scenes in utter terror. I had a strong bead on the cold, calculating piece of social satire Jewison was batting my way.

But in the end, when James Caan is riding around the court and the crowd starts chanting "Johnathan?" Those same emotions that well up when I watch a less dystopian and ironic sports flick kicked into full gear.

This movie played me like a fucking fiddle. I tried to be a smart, discerning viewer. I tried to be better that the decadent, bloodthirsty patsies onscreen. Hell, I was chuckling at the lack of subtlety in how Jewison presented his themes.

And the movie beat me.

Thank God for that.

We're far ahead in the future (in 2018 to be precise) and the world has changed out of all recognition. The story follows the game 'rollerball' designed to show how individuals don't count in this new world, where all decisions are made on their behalf by The Executive. Jonathan is a rollerball star and the time has come for him to be forcibly retired as his success doesn't fit with this new world view, but he doesn't want to retire...
I rally liked this; it looked very 1970s but had a good story behind it and the story worked. Badmovies.org has it as one of its 228 Best B-Movies, but I'd like to disagree and say its just a good film.

The future envisioned by this 70s sci-fi thriller about a brutal contact sport of the future has not really proved overly prescient; the sport itself seems pretty odd with its roller-skates (not roller blades, roller skates), the computers still have green and black readouts, and the political scenario envisioned doesn’t really look too plausible either. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to be enjoyed here, even if the predictions were pretty ridiculous they still speak to the concerns of the time, much as it is interesting to see the roots of cold war paranoia in the science fiction films of the 1950s. Also, once you get past the silliness of seeing grown men in football gear rolling around on skates, the actual rollerball scenes get pretty exciting as well. It’s also amusing to know that someone like James Caan once looked like a plausible sports star.