Rollerball ***** (1975, James Caan, John Houseman, Ralph Richardson, Maud Adams, John Beck, Moses Gunn) – Classic Movie Review 2,962

Norman Jewison’s 1975 futuristic sci-fi thriller film Rollerball is a triumph. It stars an outstanding James Caan, John Houseman, Ralph Richardson, Maud Adams, John Beck and Moses Gunn.

Producer-director Norman Jewison’s 1975 futuristic sci-fi thriller film Rollerball stars James Caan, John Houseman, Ralph Richardson, Maud Adams, John Beck and Moses Gunn. Rollerball is a triumph of design, cinematography, direction, editing and acting. John Box won the BAFTA Film Award for Best Art Direction.

Rollerball presents corporate-controlled totalitarian future society where Caan’s powerful athlete rollerball champion Jonathan E is ordered to give up the game before his popularity exceeds that of the sport itself. But, soon, Jonathan E is out to defy those who want him out of the game.

Written by William Harrison, and based on his short story Roller Ball Murder, it is set in a future world with neither war nor crime – just rollerball. The public’s aggression is channelled into the ultra-violent sport of rollerball, a kind of basketball played on spiked motorbikes and deadly skates.

Uncompromising in its depiction of violence but never exploitative, this scathing critique of a society gone mad details the fight for personal freedom in a corporate-controlled society. Rollerball is a fast-moving, thrilling and fascinating exercise in intelligence and style. Caan is outstanding and Houseman gives one of his most memorable performances as Bartholomew.

Also in the cast are Pamela Hensley, Shane Rimmer, Bert Kwouk, Barbara Trentham and Alfred Thomas.

The technical credits are very high, with impeccable work from cinematographer Douglas Slocombe (BAFTA nominee for Best Cinematography), music scorer André Previn, set designer John Box and costume designer Julie Harris. The Film Editing and Sound Track are notable too, with BAFTA Film Award nominations for Best Film Editing (Antony Gibbs) and Best Sound Track. All this expertise and care adds up. It’s a great-looking movie, as well as ultra-exciting.

It was remade, disastrously, by John McTiernan in 2002 as Rollerball.

Oscar-winning costume designer Julie Harris died on May 30 2015, aged 94. She designed for James Bond films Casino Royale (1967) and Live and Let Die, as well as the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, Goodbye, Mr Chips (1969) and 1975’s Rollerball. She said: ‘I must be one of the few people who can claim they have seen John, Paul, George and Ringo naked.’ She won the 1966 Best Costume Design, Black-and-White Oscar for Darling and won the 1967 Bafta for Best British Costume (Colour) for The Wrong Box.

James Caan died on 6 July 2022, aged 82. He was nominated for one Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Godfather. He is best known for his roles in The Godfather, Misery, Rollerball and Michael Mann’s Thief. Michael Mann remembered him as ‘a totally committed actor with a vitality in his core.’

Canadian film director Norman Jewison, who died at his home in Los Angeles on 20 January 2024, aged 97, was nominated for the Best Director Oscar three times in separate decades for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Moonstruck (1987). He is also remembered for The Cincinnati Kid, The Russians Are Coming, The Thomas Crown Affair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Rollerball (1975).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,962

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