PlotThe Corporate Wars are over. The old world of nation-states and religion is gone. In its place, a consortium of giant corporations like Energy, Food, and Transportation rule the world. Nations no longer exist. Crime and poverty have been vanquished. However, the price is complete and utter control of the population by the Corporations. Their powerful Executives rule like feudal lords. Those who serve the Corporate cause are rewarded with "privilege cards" and drugs are freely available to numb the population into bland acceptance.A world without conflict is a boring place, so the Executives have created a violent world-wide sport to entertain their subjects. It is Rollerball, a fast-paced, brutal contest combining aspects of hockey, roller derby and motocross. There are no other sports...Rollerball is perhaps the world's greatest remaining mass entertainment.And no Rollerball star is more revered or respected than Houston's legendary Jonathan E. He has survived 10 years of combat on the deadly Rollerball rinks and emerged as the greatest champion of all. As a reward, Jonathan enjoys a life of ease not unlike that of a powerful Executive, complete with a beautiful home and the attentions of beautiful courtesans. Yet now it appears that Jonathan is becoming perhaps too popular. Mr. Bartholomew , Chairman of the Energy Corp (owners of the Houston team), gently suggests to Jonathan that perhaps it is time for him to hang up his spikes and retire gracefully.Houston is in the midst of a world championship run so Jonathan is taken aback by Bartholomew's suggestion. Why would a team's top scorer be pressured to resign when his team needs him most? Jonathan resists Bartholomew's inducements. But as time goes by, pressure mounts on him to resign. Certain privileges he has always taken for granted suddenly disappear. His favorite courtesan is suddenly replaced by a new one. And the Semi-Final game against Tokyo has the rules changed to make it even more brutal and dangerous. The Executives want Jonathan out of Rollerball any way possible.The game against Tokyo is a bloodbath, with fatalities on both sides. The word is that the Final against New York will have no penalties, no time limit, and no substitutions. When Jonathan attempts to get answers from Zero, the greatest computer ever built, he runs into another brick wall.So against inhuman odds, Jonathan E will skate against New York in the World Championship of Rollerball. The New York players have been told to kill him. Bartholomew and the Executives want him shut down completely. But Jonathan is skating for more than himself...he represents individuality and freedom of choice in a world of corporate conformity.What WorksMore than anything else, Rollerball itself works. It takes a while to catch on to the game but it is logically thought out and beautifully realized. The Rollerball rinks look perfect and include several authentic touches like the central Controller's Seat and markings indicating different zones of play. It's exciting to watch the brutal contests and the viewer gets caught up in the action. After the movie, they'll realize how director Norman Jewison has played on their emotions, making them much like the spectators in the movie.The world of the future (we are told it is 2018) seems humorously dated in some ways but contains many nice touches. The small details of a Corporate-dominated world are thought out well. Much like feudal lords, Executives have much greater privileges than common folk. Jonathan E's own wife Ella was "taken" by a powerful Executive, which forms a subplot of the movie. Cletus, the Houston Team's aged manager, remarks "I'm so old, I remember the NFL!" Television has been replaced by the peculiar Multivision. All these smaller details create an image of a greater reality.The classical music used in the film actually works pretty well. It gives a ponderous feeling to the movie but the very end, with that famous "Phantom of the Opera" organ theme reverberating, is extremely powerful and the lighter themes in quieter moments work well.The movie's message is more relevant than ever today. Giant Mega-Corps such as Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Phillip Morris, and the like don't seem very far off at all from the Corporations of Rollerball. Our own society provides brainless spectacles like The Springer Show, Fear Factor, Ultimate Fighting and WWE to distract us from the fact that we are more meaningless every day. Rollerball is not such a big stretch. The Executives fear Jonathan E because he has shown individual effort can make a difference. Rollerball was created to emphasize teamwork. Jonathan has become bigger than his sport and even bigger than the Executives. As Bartholomew tells the Houston team, "You may all dream of being Executives with wealth and power. But every one of the Executives wishes he was a Rollerball star."What Doesn't WorkJames Caan's performance is a strange one. Off the rink, he's a soft spoken mumbler that is almost a complete non-entity. I often would have wished that Jonathan was more outspoken and articulate. It would have made for a more energized movie. Yet really, Jonathan has lived most of his life under the heel of the Corporations and has probably been bred to be nothing but a Rollerball star. He is struggling to a new awareness in a world bent on denying him information. Looked at from that angle, he does a good job. But I would have liked some more fire.The world of 2018 looks a lot like 1975 in many places. Hairstyles and fashions are right out of the disco era. Maybe retro is big in 2018? Multivision looks like a big TV with a bank of smaller ones over it. Can't see the advantage there. The reality is, a plasma wall TV with DVD hookup is past anything the makers of Rollerball could have dreamed of in 1975. During a party scene, the music is embarrassingly bad, complete with theremin and Hammond organ. Even in 75, that sounded old hat.There's a certain heavy pomposity to the film that pounds into your head you are watching an "IMPORTANT" movie. Sometimes, it comes across well. Other times, like during the overdone cocktail party scene where drugged party-goers blast the hell out of some pine trees, it is way overdone.The Final WordROLLERBALL was criticized by many for its violence and heavy tone during its initial run. Well, much of what it foretold has come to pass. The Corporations have become almost as powerful in our world as in Jonathan's and the violence in Rollerball is likely surpassed by junk reality TV. This makes the film's message uncomfortable for the intelligent viewer. Even more disturbing is the fact that the unintelligent viewer will watch the movie for its violence and nothing else.It's plenty of food for thought.
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Bartholomew: "You know what those executives dream about, out there, behind their desks? They dream they're great rollerballers. They dream they're Jonathan. They have muscles. They bash in faces!"
