Rollerball (1975)
Base of Galactic Science Fiction :: SCIENCE FICTION CINEMA :: Silver Age of Science Fiction Cinema
Page 1 of 1
Rollerball (1975)
BoG Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:43 pm
click> THE RULES OF THE GAME
Jonathan E - that's the name, captain of the Houston team (we also see battles against Madrid, Tokyo & New York City). Houston players come and go, but the star remains (played by Caan). Picture all of today's spectator sports rolled into one; now picture all of yesterday's sports stars (Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Barry Bonds) rolled into one - that's Jonathan. I say 'yesterday's stars' because Jonathan should have retired by this point and suddenly, there is a 'request' he do so. Or is it a demand? Despite Jonathan's status as a superstar, it is evident that certain corporate executives hold complete power - and complete control.
JAMES CAAN and JOHN BECK
Besides that, the action scenes in the sports arena are gripping - we, the audience, start to buy into this violence just like the audiences in the film. BoG's Score: 9 out of 10. This is probably the definitive depiction of future sports (another was The Running Man -1987; oh, skip the horrible remake of this in 2002).
Watch "Rollerball (1975)" Movie]Watch "Rollerball (1975)" Movie
Last edited by BoG on Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:58 pm; edited 11 times in total
BoG- Galaxy Overlord
Galactus
- Posts : 3265
Join date : 2010-02-28
Location : Earth-1 -
Rollerball rules
BoG Tue Apr 06, 2010 4:32 pm
There's another bit of trivia related to Rollerball which stuck in my mind for many years: during the making of the film, during the hours people were 'off' or on break, many of the actors and production people would get together and play the game (or a version of it) on that track. This may have included James Caan himself, I'm not sure. The track was actually built and there, as it was, a real full scale version (this is way before computer FX and stuff like "Sin City") so, I guess, the thinking was 'why not?'
The point being, this game may have really been addictive, both for an audience and for the players themselves. I'm not too sure how much of a negative or positive commentary that may be on we human beings. I gotta admit, it does look like fun, if you know how to roller skate and can steer clear of much of the violent aspect (in other words, play a 'tag' version instead of a 'full contact' version).
The film really works (for me, at least) because of an internal logic and reality developed during the course of the film. By the midway point of the film, I believe a viewer thinks of the GAME as a real game, a real sport. This goes back to the comment above about how some of the crew and stuntmen actually played the GAME during breaks in the filming; they developed detailed rules and worked it all out. I read somewhere that some of this evolution to the GAME was worked into the film itself. The GAME works, for real. The world of the film works, as a result.
This also suggests the inherent weakness of many films today and their computer-generated realities. I think the audience is always aware that these modern films are computer-generated fantasies and cannot really lose themselves in the reality of the film.
The point being, this game may have really been addictive, both for an audience and for the players themselves. I'm not too sure how much of a negative or positive commentary that may be on we human beings. I gotta admit, it does look like fun, if you know how to roller skate and can steer clear of much of the violent aspect (in other words, play a 'tag' version instead of a 'full contact' version).
This also suggests the inherent weakness of many films today and their computer-generated realities. I think the audience is always aware that these modern films are computer-generated fantasies and cannot really lose themselves in the reality of the film.