Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1970s
    Movies - 1970s Movies - R 4 Mins Read

    Rollerball (1975)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    “The year is 2018. There are no wars. There is no crime. There is only The Game.”

    In a future world where all-powerful corporations rule and no one asks questions, all problems, including hunger, war and crime have been virtually eliminated and the vicious and barbaric gladiatorial game of Rollerball – a vibrant display of speed and violence – satisfies the impulses of the masses.

    Tuned to their televisions, billions of people watch the sport – a brutal mutilation of hockey, roller derby, motocross and gladiatorial combat – where dozens of men in uniforms and crash helmets hurtle around a circular track on roller skates and motorbikes, ducking and weaving, flailing at a rival team of skaters with black-gloved fists studded with steel spikes.

    Jonathan E (James Caan) is the champion Rollerball player – a man too smart for his own good.

    rollerball22

    The Energy Corporation has taken away the woman he loves (Maud Adams, fresh from The Man With The Golden Gun) – because a bureaucrat wanted her – but they can’t take away his spirit, even though the diabolical corporate head, Bartholomew (John Houseman) is insisting he should retire.

    The Corporation cannot tolerate heroes. Nobody is meant to be bigger than the game itself.

    rollerball23

    The technical achievement of filming the rollerball games was astonishing. The action is continuous and bruising, with each game more urgent, anarchic and dangerous than the one before, and audiences flocked to see the futuristic extravaganza when it debuted in late June 1975.

    But there were also a few critics who claimed that Rollerball crossed the thin line between anti-violence rhetoric and the type of exploitive entertainment it ultimately denounces.

    Director Norman Jewison (whose other forays into the controversial included Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Dogs of War and Agnes of God) found himself defending the film: “There’s not one piece of gratuitous violence in the film,” he told Boxoffice in 1975. “The statement of the film is surely against the exploitation of violence . . . I would ask how you make a statement about violence without showing any violence”.

    The film was inspired by a short story entitled Rollerball Murder which had been published in Esquire magazine.

    rollerball24

    Jewison was so impressed with the story’s possibilities that he personally championed its conversion to celluloid. Every studio he approached said it was a great story but impossible to film.

    Finally, he bought the story himself, hired the author, Bill Harrison (who taught English at the University of Arkansas) to write the screenplay with him and made a deal with United Artists.

    The cast and crew spent 17 weeks filming – including studio work at Pinewood Studios in England, location shooting at Fawley Power Station in Hampshire, and eight weeks in Munich, filming the games at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle (also known as the Audi Dome) – one of the five largest circular arenas in the world – built for the 1972 Olympic basketball events.

    English players of roller hockey, 12 players from America’s bump-and-shove roller derby, six top-flight motorbikers and 11 hardcore stuntmen from England and Hollywood  – along with James Caan and John Beck (Moonpie) who did much of their own playing – were taken to Munich to play the game

    rollerball_054

    The game itself was so popular with the stuntmen working on the film that they would play it even when the cameras weren’t rolling – and often forgot that the action was meant to be scripted when the cameras were!

    The ball was shot onto the track at 120 mph – and the speed of the skaters slinging themselves from moving motorcycles was often in excess of 40 mph.

    Rollerball survived its initial controversial reception and eventually scored over $30 million in box office receipts – an impressive number in 1975.

    A visually stunning film, and a thousand times – make that TEN thousand times – better than the 2002 remake which has since (deservedly) slipped into obscurity.

    TRIVIA
    The Houston Rollerball team share colours (orange and black) with hockey’s Philadelphia Flyers, who were once known as the “Broadstreet Bullies” for their extremely aggressive rink tactics.

    The Japanese symbol on the Tokyo teams’ headbands translates as “wind”.

    The voice heard commenting on the events on the Rollerball track was Bob Miller, the announcer for the Los Angeles Kings hockey team at the time the film was made.

    rollerball25

    Jonathan E
    James Caan
    Ella
    Maud Adams
    Bartholomew
    John Houseman
    Moonpie
    John Beck
    Cletus
    Moses Gunn
    Mackie
    Pamela Hensley
    Daphne
    Barbara Trentham
    Librarian
    Ralph Richardson
    Team Executive
    Shane Rimmer
    Team Trainer
    Alfred Thomas

    Director
    Norman Jewison

    “I have never seen anything like this game. Three guys are already out of the picture and in hospital right now and it wouldn’t be too difficult to get yourself killed on this set”
    James Caan on the making of Rollerball, August 1974

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Assault (1970)
      Assault (1970)
      Suzy Kendall and Lesley Anne-Down star in a brutal British crime thriller about a vicious rapist-murderer on the prowl near…
    • Running Man, The (1987)
      Running Man, The (1987)
      "By 2017 the world economy has collapsed. Food, natural resources, and oil are in short supply. A police state, divided…
    • Boy and His Dog, A (1975)
      Boy and His Dog, A (1975)
      Like so much cold war-era sci-fi, A Boy and His Dog envisages a future world (2024 to be precise) essentially…
    • Westworld (1973)
      Westworld (1973)
      Bored Chicago businessmen John Blane (James Brolin) and Peter Martin (Richard Benjamin) shell out $1000 a day for a holiday…
    • Warriors, The (1979)
      Warriors, The (1979)
      "Let's get down to it Boppers . . ." Hundreds of gangs from all of New York's five boroughs show…
    • Sleuth (1972)
      Sleuth (1972)
      Sleuth is a curious film, essentially a two-man show with plenty of dialogue but very little action. Anthony Shaffer’s elaborate role-playing…
    • Driver, The (1978)
      Driver, The (1978)
      Cold, ruthless and utterly professional, The Driver (Ryan O'Neal) is the best getaway man in Los Angeles. He freelances for…
    • Kansas City Bomber (1972)
      Kansas City Bomber (1972)
      The highs, lows and pitfalls of being a roller derby queen are put under the spotlight in the defiantly unglamorous…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleBack To The Future
    Next Article Big Payoff, The

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Geeza
      Formed in 1974, Geeza were a powerful four-piece rock group from […]
    • New York Stories (1989)
      They say there are a million stories in the naked city. This […]
    • Harlem Globetrotters
      The exact beginnings of the Harlem Globetrotters are uncertain, […]
    • Bounty
      “The Bounty Hunters – they came in search of […]
    • Rob Roy
      1 9 7 7 (UK) 6 x 30 minute episodes This six-part Sunday […]
    • Four Tops, The
      The Four Tops got together at high school in 1954 and had been […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.