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Released in 1975 and running a little long 125 minutes,its not to be confused with a later version released in 2002.The only thing they share is the game but not the real larger story.
Ah the story.Remember this film was made in 1975 so there is a clear message.However its up to us all to decide what it was.To me it was that the Vietnam War was caused by corporate greed and we were willing partners and must never allow it again.
Now the movie.Again remember the time of the films release.Roller derby,not wrestling was realty sports king.Roller skating was a date night destination.Basketball was beginning to expand as was all team sports.Finally everyone loved the motorcycle and the open road it represented. So put it all together and you get a made for the movie sport called Rollerball and some might argue that today we are heading for some such sport combining Baseball and Football and Hockey to a blood sport hybrid as depicted in rollerball.Now the story is not so much about the hybrid sport of rollerball as it is about control of the people and rollerball is the ultimate "opium of the people"to that end.
I had to take off 1 1/2 stars because from the tech end of the film,it looks like it was made in 1975,not the future it portends.Still it begs a remake along its lines not the trash of 2002 that only focused on the game as you would on the trove of racing movies made since 2000.
James Caan plays Jonathan E.,the superstar of the sport but he has lost his wife to a executive and learns that what the corporations want,they get.The world is now run by corporations rather than nation states and as such divide the world along their own special interests.True global corporations in every sense of the word.The rest of the cast is adequate especially John Houseman as Bartholomew whose corporation owns the team Jonathan plays for. The rest of the film is a battle between Bartholomew and Jonathan with Jonathan winning the finale.Or does he??The ending,to me,is in doubt,but thats why we all live day to day………….
Trailer URL is below pix as usual.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-NtHe1UIg0
Ah the story.Remember this film was made in 1975 so there is a clear message.However its up to us all to decide what it was.To me it was that the Vietnam War was caused by corporate greed and we were willing partners and must never allow it again.
Now the movie.Again remember the time of the films release.Roller derby,not wrestling was realty sports king.Roller skating was a date night destination.Basketball was beginning to expand as was all team sports.Finally everyone loved the motorcycle and the open road it represented. So put it all together and you get a made for the movie sport called Rollerball and some might argue that today we are heading for some such sport combining Baseball and Football and Hockey to a blood sport hybrid as depicted in rollerball.Now the story is not so much about the hybrid sport of rollerball as it is about control of the people and rollerball is the ultimate "opium of the people"to that end.
I had to take off 1 1/2 stars because from the tech end of the film,it looks like it was made in 1975,not the future it portends.Still it begs a remake along its lines not the trash of 2002 that only focused on the game as you would on the trove of racing movies made since 2000.
James Caan plays Jonathan E.,the superstar of the sport but he has lost his wife to a executive and learns that what the corporations want,they get.The world is now run by corporations rather than nation states and as such divide the world along their own special interests.True global corporations in every sense of the word.The rest of the cast is adequate especially John Houseman as Bartholomew whose corporation owns the team Jonathan plays for. The rest of the film is a battle between Bartholomew and Jonathan with Jonathan winning the finale.Or does he??The ending,to me,is in doubt,but thats why we all live day to day………….
Trailer URL is below pix as usual.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-NtHe1UIg0
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