From Norman Jewison, the director of
Jesus Christ Superstar,
Moonstruck, and
F.I.S.T., comes the classic bloodsport future movie about society's lust for violence, the looming threat of global domination by uncaring corporations, and the importnat life lesson that you don't fuck with James Cann, cuz Sonny will fuck your shit up wholesale. Osiris help you if you catch him on double-coupon day down at the Whoop-Ass Shack...
In the dystopian future of today's movie, corporations rule the world and conflicts are no longer decided on the battlefield, but in the arenas of the global pasttime: Rollerball. Two teams of men deck themselves out in leather pants and football helmets, racing around a circular track on skates ala rollerderby, only pulled around by motorcycles while punching each other in the face with spiked gloves as they try to sink a metal baseball into their team's goal ala lacross. The team to beat in Rollerball are the orange clad doom pumpkins from Houston, led by the game's most popular roller (and, subsequently, our hero for the next 2 hours), Jonathan, as played by James Caan. As we come into our movie, Houston's two games away from another Rollerball championship and has just beaten the team out of Madrid for that chance to advance. Unfortunately for Mr. MVP, Houston's big wig sponsors at The Energy Corporation want to force Big J to retire. Already unhappy with the executives (one took his wife from him simply because he could), Jon's not keen on the idea despite the company's offer of full executive privileges to grow fat off of for the rest of his life. The execs also want to take away Jon's current girlfriend of 6 months so they can fix him up with a blonde meant to make him a little more cooperative to the company's "requests", but Jon doesn't seem to care too much about that.
Jonathan can't seem to find any answers as to why everybody suddenly wants him out of the business so badly, they just keep telling him to shut up and do what he's told. With his mind all over the place, will Jon be ready for the big game against the lethal Tokyo team, especially in a rule changing no-penalties affair that can easily become a literal death match? Meanwhile, Jon's best buddy and mentor Cletus thinks that the execs are afraid of Jonathan. What could they be afraid of? Well, besides the fear of James Caan getting all Corleone on my ass, what kind of power does JayJay wield that's got the old men soiling their Depends? Whatever the case, the rich snots of the future spend their leisure time getting wasted together, popping drugs, screwing, and blowing up the landscape with futuristic anti-tree gun technology...
The best scene of the movie is the brutal Tokyo match, as Jon and the Houston team trade bloody blows and outright mayhem with their opponents while the crowd whips into a near riot around them. A number of guys don't walk away from this match with some going out on stretchers and others in bodybags. It's a haunting stretch of torment as Jon tries to choose between remaining a human being, becoming a wild animal, or just giving up and letting the Energy Corporation break him. This leads into the home stretch of the movie, as Jonny has to either choose retirement, or play in what will very likely be the final match of his life: the championship game against New York. Considering that their rallying cry is "Jonathan's dead", things aren't looking very positive for our hero's future either way.
Though Jewison said that Rollerball is supposed to be something of a protest against humanity's hunger for violence, I don't understand where that comes in. Granted, we're watching spectators whipped into a frenzy, calling for blood, but I don't understand how this is supposed to make me feel bad about watching people beat and kill each other for my entertainment. On the other hand, Rollerball excels at pointing out to us how corporations wield too much power and will do all they can to stomp out any threats to that power. The movie also serves as an amazing story of one man standing up for his beliefs despite the adversity he faces from everyone around him trying to force him to do as they tell him. If Hitler hadn't already ruined the phrase, I'd call it a triumph of the will and a bad-ass inspirational tale about how one man can not only fight the masses, but inspire those around him to embrace their individuality and strength to do the same... ironically enough by doing what he tells them to. Go figure. Still a great movie either way. Bloodsports, morality and James Caan without the cinema stereotypes of corporate sabotage, bad guy athletes whacked out on experimental steroids, or other bullshit "drama enhancers" that stick their nose into otherwise well made movies.
Moral of the Story: "Skate! Come on, God damn it, SKATE!"
