RETRO MOVIE REVIEW: ROLLERBALL, 1975

ROLLERBALL, 1975. Directed by Norman Jewison (THE CINCINNATI KID, 1965 and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, 1967). Starring James Caan, THE GODFATHER, 1972 and FREEBIE AND THE BEAN, 1974.

If there’s an old classic science fiction film that holds relevancy today it’s the epic blood sport film ROLLERBALL, a mix of football, basketball, hockey, roller derby, and racing. Set in the near future, during a time when the world is united and corporate controlled. There is no typical run-of-the-mill dystopia futuristic trope in this film. There is no war or famine. The planet and people are clean and healthy. All is good in the world, so long as you play ball with the corporation. Society is blind to their lack of freedom so long as they continue to allow the corporation to make decisions and provide for them. When the masses thirst for war, violence, and conflict, the ROLLERBALL arena is their outlet.

The theme of this film is very scary and familiar. We all know what corporations are running the planet today. People of many different cultures today have no problem getting involved with web-based outlets, social media platforms, and technological gear that require human identities in exchange for their freedom. Corporations know what you’re buying, what you’re watching, and where you’re at most the time. So long as today’s society has the Internet, junk food, drugs (legal or not), and entertainment, that’s enough to keep them sedate and docile. Corporations are masters at pulling the wool over the eyes of the people they provide their habits to.

Then there are those who push back. James Caan plays Jonathan E., a ROLLERBALL superstar. He is the most successful and famous athlete on the planet. With the kind of fame and following that Jonathan E. has, he is more of a threat than asset for the corporation. While at the top of his game, the corporation wants him to retire. Like any big corporation, they want to buy him out. He will live a continued life of luxury if he plays ball. Thing is, Jonathan is a ROLLERBALL player and nothing else. It’s his life. So, he refuses, to the chagrin of the corporation. The corporation can’t have a famous athlete undermining their rule, and they can’t just eliminate him because it would look suspicious, so they keep changing the rules of ROLLERBALL every time he hits the arena in an attempt to get him to reconsider.

While Jonathan continues to rock the ROLLERBALL arena, he tries to figure out why the corporation believes he’s a threat. He lives in a time when the corporation controls information, so it’s not easy to find answers. All books have been “transcribed” to computers and edited. Plus, the computers of the future are no better than what we have today. In a funny yet relevant exchange between Jonathon and a super-computer that holds the world’s information, things go wrong when the search function is not clearly defined. The search yields nothing.

It’s up to Jonathan to prove that people don’t have to be bought or put to sleep in order to live in a corporate controlled world. The finale is an amazing championship death match choreographed with great old-school stunts. His defiance is a symbol to the masses that have chosen to be put to sleep by the corporate machine for too long. But will his rebellion last? Probably not, because people would probably choose to be asleep rather than face reality.

This is an underrated science fiction flick worth checking out!