Rollerball (1975)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Norman Jewison

Writers:

William Harrison (short story "Roller Ball Murder") &
William Harrison (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 June 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Sport

Tagline:

In the not-too-distant future, wars will no longer exist...

Plot:

In a corporate controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of it's powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.

Plot Keywords:

Futuristic | Corporation | Applause | Handshake | Violence

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

James Caan	...	Jonathan E.
John Houseman	...	Bartholomew
Maud Adams	...	Ella
John Beck	...	Moonpie
Moses Gunn	...	Cletus
Pamela Hensley	...	Mackie
Barbara Trentham	...	Daphne
John Normington	...	Executive
Shane Rimmer	...	Rusty, Team Executive
Burt Kwouk	...	Japanese Doctor
Nancy Bleier	...	Girl in Library
Richard LeParmentier	...	Bartholomew's Aide (as Rick LeParmentier)
Robert Ito	...	Strategy Coach for Houston Team
Ralph Richardson	...	Librarian
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Miquel Brown	...	(unconfirmed)
Steve Boyum	...	Biker (uncredited)
Tony Brubaker	...	Blue - Houston biker (uncredited)
Loftus Burton	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Anthony Chinn	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Abi Gouhad	...	Reporter (uncredited)
David Griffin	...	Man Collecting Coats (uncredited)
Alan Hamane	...	Biker (uncredited)
John Harvey	...	Directorate executive (uncredited)
Andy Ho	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Robert Lee	...	Executive (uncredited)
Bob Leon	...	Biker (uncredited)
Angus MacInnes	...	Jonathan's Guard (uncredited)
Mac McDonald	...	Executive (uncredited)
Bob Miller	...	Game Announcer (uncredited)
Bob Minor	...	Rollerball team member (uncredited)
Walter Scott	...	Tuffy (uncredited)
Alfred Thomas	...	Team Trainer (uncredited)
Burnell Tucker	...	Jonathan's Captain of Guard (uncredited)
Danny Wong	...	Biker (uncredited)

Directed by
Norman Jewison

Writing credits
William Harrison		short story "Roller Ball Murder" &
William Harrison		screenplay

Produced by
Norman Jewison	....	producer
Patrick J. Palmer	....	associate producer (as Patrick Palmer)

Cinematography by
Douglas Slocombe

Film Editing by
Antony Gibbs

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Production Design by
John Box

Art Direction by
Robert W. Laing		(as Robert Laing)

Costume Design by
Julie Harris

Makeup Department
Leonard	....	hair consultant
Wally Schneiderman	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
Larry DeWaay	....	supervising production manager (as Larry De Waay)
Ted Lloyd	....	production manager
Dieter Meyer	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kip Gowans	....	first assistant director
Chris Kenny	....	assistant director
Max Kleven	....	second unit director
Peter Price	....	assistant director
Dietmar Siegert	....	assistant director

Art Department
Charles Bishop	....	assistant art director
Michael Redding	....	construction manager
Jack Towns	....	property master

Sound Department
Derek Ball	....	sound mixer
Archie Ludski	....	dubbing editor
Gordon K. McCallum	....	sound re-recordist
Les Wiggins	....	dubbing editor
John Hayward	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Sass Bedig	....	special effects
John Richardson	....	special effects

Stunts
Craig R. Baxley	....	stunts (as Craig Baxley)
Tony Brubaker	....	stunts
Gary Epper	....	stunts
Max Kleven	....	stunt coordinator
Bob Minor	....	stunts
Jimmy Nickerson	....	stunts (as Jim Nickerson)
Chuck Parkison Jr.	....	stunts
Dar Robinson	....	stunts
Roy Scammell	....	stunts
Walter Scott	....	stunts (as Walt Scott)
Dick Warlock	....	stunts
Jerry Wills	....	stunts
Diamond Farnsworth	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Dennis Fraser	....	key grip
Robin Vidgeon	....	assistant camera
Chic Waterson	....	camera operator
Robin Browne	....	photographer: second unit and aerials (uncredited)

Casting Department
Renate Arbes	....	casting: Munich (as Renate Arbes-Neuchl)
Mary Selway	....	casting: London

Costume and Wardrobe Department
John Hilling	....	wardrobe supervisor
Ron Postal	....	james caan's wardrobe

Editorial Department
Terry Busby	....	assistant editor
Brian Mann	....	assistant editor
Amanda Palmer	....	assistant editor

Music Department
André Previn	....	conductor
André Previn	....	musical director

Transportation Department
Don French	....	transportation coordinator (uncredited)

Other crew
Yvonne Axeworthy	....	continuity
Charles Cannon	....	production accountant
Tom Carlile	....	publicist
Peter Hicks	....	skating supervisor
Golda Offenheim	....	production assistant
Julia Pascal	....	secretary to producer
Herbert Schurmann	....	track architect
Brian Smedley-Aston	....	sequences by multivision

Production Companies

• Algonquin

Distributors

• United Artists (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1977) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• United Artists Pictures (1975) (Finland) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1975) (France) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1975) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (Brazil) (DVD)
• Egmont Entertainment (2000) (Finland) (DVD)
• FS Film Oy (2002) (Finland) (DVD)
• Fazer Musiikki Oy/Fazer Video (1988) (Finland) (video)
• Image Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1997) (Finland) (TV)
• Nordisk Film (2000) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (2002) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1993) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  cranes
• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  dollies
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment
• Leonard of London  hair consultant
• London Symphony Orchestra, The (LSO)  music played by

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1988) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (2000) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (1975) | New Zealand:M (re-rating) (2002) | New Zealand:R18 (orginal rating) (1976) | UK:15 (video rating) (1987) | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A (Alberta) (re-rating) (1999) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Germany:16 (2002) | Netherlands:18 | Norway:18 (1976) | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia)

Filming Locations:

BMW Building, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Algonquin

Trivia:

During the Tokyo-Houston game, the Tokyo fans are chanting "Ganbare Tokyo!", which translates into "Let's Go Tokyo!"

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Some of the long shots in the Tokyo match show an empty arena.

Quotes:

Bartholomew: [in a video conference with other corporate executives] In my opinion, we are confronted here with something of a situation. Otherwise, I would not have presumed to take up your time. Once again, it concerns the case of Jonathan E. We know we don't want anything extraordinary to happen to Jonathan. We've already agreeed on that...

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Robots (2005)

Soundtrack:

Symphony no. 5: Third Movement

As remote from the average film-goer's awareness as 2001: A Space Odyssey

In deference to Stanley Kubrick himself and the wondrous achievement that 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY is, was and forever will be, I do not speak of ROLLERBALL in the same breath. Having said that however, here is a film that although lacking the scope, budget and monumental depth of its compatriot, is a totally brilliant piece of film-making, equally awesome in its implications and social comment.

Norman Jewison created a masterpiece with Rollerball - understated, misunderstood and undervalued both at the time of its release and later. Perhaps ultimately to its its greatest benefit - the release of the plebian 2002 re-make which will stand for all time as the most nauseatingly insulting and tastelessly gratuitous reminder to recall the original with perhaps more relish than might otherwise have been the case.

No purpose in re-hashing the plot - anyone reading this will already know it. Suffice to say, James Caan's Jonathan E stood for that most basic of human principles - the rights of the individual! As John Houseman, the corrupt and ubiquitous head of the all-powerful Corporation that owns and operates ROLLERBALL inc worldwide, tells Jonathan at one point,

"Rollerball was meant to demonstrate the futility of resistence, no man was ever intended to become bigger than the game."

This was a society (set in 2018) with media censorship in place to such a degree a centralised computer stores the worlds' entire literary knowledge (physical books being a thing of the past as in FAHRENHEIT 451 (another futuristic look at social oppression and rumored to be the subject of a remake in 2003 by Mel Gibson). Marvellous interspliced sequence with Sir John Gielgud as keeper of the world's centralised computer to which Jonathan is drawn, seeking answers to questions he was never supposed to ask. You have to really watch and LISTEN to ROLLERBALL to EXTRICATE from it, what the makers are offering you in terms of reflective contemplation. So many saw the film's middle section as "boring!" So is looking at the sky if you have no knowledge of cloud formation, atmospheric beauty or even indeed WHY there IS a sky and what it means in the grand scale of things! Caan's gradual self discovery as to his own identity and purpose is hand-crafted for you during these middle scenes - THIS is what the film is about..not merely the superb action sequences which are so richly photographed and presented in that gladiatorial arena, a colosseum for the new millennium, no more no less!

The highlight of the film, if you are able to see it, is the party for Jonathan E, supposedly to mark his resignation but which in fact might be seen as the Energy Corporation's Last Supper! The scenes of the amphetamine-fed yuppies, destroying the trees with the flame-gun has always made me cry, not because I'm a wimp, a greenie or even an anti lobbyist for hand guns, but because of what those terrible scenes stand for and bring to my own emotional recognition...a directionless society that we are right now so unerringly headed for. Look at the expression on the face of Jonathan's ex-wife as she comes to realise where its all gone wrong - not just for herself but for them all. Now tell me this is boring!!!!

As has been recognised by some fellow critics, the absolute last scenes of the movie are perhaps the greatest. The point being less subtly made as we see Houseman staring through the glass at Jonathan E, the last man standing, his corporate outline encircled by the reflected flames on the track - hello? does anyone understand this?

One of the greats! Watch this film...don't just see it!