Rollerball hit limited edition blu-ray from Twilight Time on May 13th. This review will contain spoilers.
“Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan!!!” — Me, chanting along with the throngs, as I watch Rollerball
Tagline: In the not too distant future, wars will no longer exist. But there will be Rollerball.
In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Rollerball, but I do know it gets better every time I take it in. The film’s greatness takes root early on, in a masterful opening sequence which depicts the first of several games of Rollerball actually being played. As is made clear throughout all the bonus materials in this release, screenwriter and original short story author William Harrison had not developed the actual game of Rollerball at first. So the pure, joyous cinematic feat that director Norman Jewison and his crew achieve right off the bat in the opening set piece is already remarkable. Building an entire circular track on which to play the game inside of a round stadium in Germany, the crew essentially designed the game of the future from scratch. They even shot footage of skating and costumes and B-roll AS they were developing the rules. But develop them they did, as the sport of Rollerball is clearly explained through a thrillingly captured game at the opening. When Energy Corporation’s Houston Rollerball Team hits the showers after a thrilling victory, the audience is excited, and fully aware of all the details they need to know about this gladiatorial futuresport, and the corporate society which has spawned it. Efficient story, graceful, aggressively captured action, and a horrifying near future world is established.
And we haven’t even gotten to the characters yet. But don’t worry, they are just as wonderfully fleshed out immediately after the opening game. James Caan’s Jonathan E is the Michael Jordan of Rollerball. No one has ever been better, and his international acclaim is at a fever pitch, but he has an uneasy rapport with Mr. Bartholomew (John Houseman), whose praises of Jonathan have a tinge of threat to them. Jonathan’s best buddy and wingman, Moonpie (hunky/lunky John Beck), seems more than happy to play the game they both love so much, pop the pills that the entire world seems to casually intake throughout the film, experience the women that the corporation lavishes him with, casually spew racism towards Asians, and basically live the good life.
Efficient and biting storytelling is the name of the game in Jewison’s Rollerball, and I’d argue that he’s crafted an almost perfectly balanced film. On the one hand, one could view Rollerball as an action film. With rousing, brutal sequences of the sport being played in an exciting way. History suggests that the original American audience for this film responded best to these action elements of Rollerball. The crusader for justice inside of Norman Jewison seems to hate this reaction to the film, as his whole goal in depicting the violence of the game was to indict violence and invoke the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome. But regardless of Jewison’s intent, he DID craft a really entertaining and internally logical game which feels like it really could be played. But the film is also rife with societal commentary and uses the not-too-distant future/sci-fi setting to get us all thinking about the ramifications of not only bloodsport, but of a corporate controlled world. And I believe the heroic journey of Jonathan E, from an athlete doing what he loves, to a revolutionary fighting a one man war against a system designed to empower the corporations and never allow an individual to rise above the system, is told with equal bite and efficiency to the thrilling action sequences. In my reading, it swings more heavily in the direction of biting science fiction than action film, but that doesn’t mean the film isn’t a remarkable example of balance.
Mr. Bartholomew is the face of the Energy Corporation for us audience members, and John Houseman is wonderfully hateable. From his very first scene his oligarchical rule is exposed as he tells Jonathan all about a televised special that will be all about him, but neglects to tell him that the special will be announcing his retirement. As the story of Rollerball turns personal and we learn more about Jonathan, we also learn that the Corporation trades women around like cattle and that Jonathan’s wife was simply taken away from him at one point. The seeds of his resentment towards the company that owns him were sewn long before this final affront: the attempt to force him to retire from the game he loves. Jonathan’s celebrity is a threat to the Corporation, who has groomed Rollerball to be a game that maximizes the team dynamic and minimizes the chances of one individual to be able to rise to prominence.
And as the team’s final few games of the season approach, Jonathan’s refusal to retire pits him in a cat and mouse game against Bartholomew/Energy Corp. I love this dynamic. It is so well balanced, and such a great framework for an escalating conflict. Houston charges towards the championship, the whole world watching. Even Energy Corp. can’t stop the game of the masses. But when Jonathan refuses to obey, he must be stopped. So new rules begin to be instituted, more dangerous rules designed solely to destroy him. The life the Corporation has handed Jonathan on a silver platter begins to disintegrate. Even the women in his life are envoys of Energy Corp., trying to convince him of the error of his ways. But all the while, Jonathan’s pure excellence in his sport shines. He knows he isn’t a genius, but he’ll keep playing the game he was practically destined to play, damn the consequences. Beautifully, this grunt… this lumbering gladiator, with no real plan, whose eyes are just now being opened to the horrible reality of his corporate-supplied life and world, can drive a wrench into the works of this society just by playing his game; being an individual.
And when that lone gladiator, the last man standing, skates a victory lap around a track littered with injured and lifeless bodies at the final championship match, where all rules were eliminated with the sole purpose of putting an end to Jonathan… and the crowd chants his name as a sweaty Bartholomew contemplates the consequences of Jonathan’s victory… we in the audience get goosebumps, cheering along with a populist hero who has inarguably shaken the foundations his nightmarish, corporate-owned society. The power and relevance of Rollerball will not be lost on a 2014 audience.
The Package
My praise for Twilight Time releases has been well documented by this point. Although this time around, I’m just more focused on the film itself and how much I love it than on the overall package. The film looked beautiful but I was pretty aware of some of the original print’s flaws and tears and scratches here on this disc. Mind you, that kind of thing really doesn’t bother me at all. I aesthetically enjoy seeing a cleaned up and beautiful film on blu-ray that still has vestiges of it’s original life on celluloid that are detectable. But it should be known that those elements are pretty visible here. My guess is that a giant transfer budget would have involved some digital, frame by frame restoration to remove some of the “blemishes” that I detected. But again, I personally don’t need that kind of thing and am pleased with the look of this release.
I popped in my old DVD of Rollerball to check its features against Twilight Time’s new releases, and everything on the DVD is found here on the Blu-ray, plus some additions, so the DVD is now rendered needless. Yay!
Features also found on the DVD:
Audio Commentary With Director Norman Jewison
From Rome To Rollerball: The Full Circle — Archival featurette
Bonus features not found on my DVD copy:
Audio Commentary With Writer William Harrison
Return To The Arena: The Making Of Rollerball — Another archival featurette, newer than the other one, but not new for this release
Isolated Score Track — A Twilight Time staple
Liner Notes By Julie Kirgo — Another Twilight Time staple, which I love.
Trailers, TV spots, MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer
I’m so thrilled to own this blu-ray and be refreshed on how much I love Rollerball that I’ve even been researching the perfect vintage Rollerball t-shirt to buy in my next round of movie-related t-shirt purchases. For feeling that populist hero tingle, and for that sinking feeling that your dystopian cinema has become your daily reality, you simply can’t find much better than Rollerball.
And now, please rise for our Corporate Hymn…
And I’m Out.