This movie is amazing, although I never thought of it as underrated. I just thought it wasn't well known because of it's age. I've only seen it through my dad. Great series idea btw
This may be a silly Question, but has anyone seen "The Brat Patrol"? Its a 1986 Disney flick from back in the day. Brat Patrol has a "Sandlot" feel... Loved it as a kid!
He got at least a few things wrong. Jonathan's last name is E and I don't see how you could get that wrong. Also there is no evidence that he ever beat any of his wives. He merely put a scare in the one who threatened him. He wasn't particularly cruel to his wives just indifferent. It's not a laser gun from a past war. That makes me wonder if he even watched the entire movie.
Rollerball is that movie that you need to see at least twice in your life. I saw the movie for the first time in my teens. I only really cared about the action scenes. I honestly missed a lot of the underlying messages of Corporate control, class differences and the dystopian undercurrents. Watched it a second time in my 40s and the action scenes were secondary to the dystopian messages.
I saw Rollerball in the 1970's and was struck by its powerful concepts of individual vs. institutions even then. I felt overjoyed when I finally got a DVD. The movie and its message is even more powerful and relevant today. Of my Top 10 movies of all time.
Rollerball didn't become lethal until Jonathan refused to quit. It was no more brutal than American football before that. They made it more and more brutal in a futile effort to get Jonathan to quit; which ironically failed because of his loyalty to his team, NOT his corporate overlords.
I first saw this movie as a kid in the 80's on a late night local channel movie theater type show. My favorite scene is the last scene with Jonathan E dispatching the last 2 remaining NY players and then scoring has no sound track, no dialog, and little sound FX. As he sheds his helmet and transcends not only the game but the system itself. Then the crowd starts chanting and the movie freezes on him as he skates his lone victory lap. The whole thing is 8 minutes long and it's a very potent 70's tension filled scene. No overwrought dialog or swelling symphonic non-sense. It's great.
The games got more brutal and violent as the film went on because they were trying to kill Jonathan E. He was beating the system. He was showing that individual effort was not pointless, even in that game which was designed to show the futility of individualism. I have seen the film at least 50 times, and never once got the idea that people died early, and that the game was intended to show that so people got used to it. The game is an opiate for the masses to take their minds off the fact that while they might not be sick or starving, they have no real free will. Sound familiar? Immersive video games? Cell phones? Yes. This film got so many things right. Particularly the corporate control. Watch the film with the director's commentary. Lots if insights into what they were thinking when they made it in 1975.
Right?! I also have no idea how our narrator has seen this film start to finish and didn't hear the word love uttered by anyone. Its practically a theme that everyone else loves things like the game, business deals, the luxury centres, while John is the only one who feels "true" love or uses the word in connection to another human being.
Again at 4:50... there's no death in Rollerball until Jonathan rebels. Rollerball isn't to get people used to death. It's to get people used to the idea that the individual is impotent. It's a *team* sport. And as the saying goes, there's no "team" in "I".
Actually, they mention that people can die in the game. (They specifically say that the record is four deaths in one game.) The difference is that deaths are not specifically intended; there are actual rules of conduct to try and prevent such things. However, when the purpose became getting rid of Jonathan, the rules are removed and the game becomes, basically, killing your opponent by any means available.
Rollerball is outstanding. It shows that delicate balance of people enjoying bloodsport without it going too far. The carnage of the final game is too shocking even for the audience and a lot of the crowd have this look on their faces like ‘this is too much ’. Rules in sport are there for reason. But have we really evolved since the days of Ancient Rome? Are bloodsports like MMA becoming insanely popular showcasing our decline?
Yeah - Rollerball explores issues, still relevant, that aren't dared approached with films today. Good action and makes you think. The scene where Jonathan refuses to sign Moonpie's paper is tremendous and incredibly relevant today. Underrated definitely.
The game got deadlier to force Jonathan out, penalties got abandoned for the Tokyo game and the time limit was abandoned for the New York game. In the end Johnathan brings down the corporation’s after New York, in the book.
One of the BEST reviews and studies of this movie I have ever seen. Very astute observations and analysis. I applaud you DriftOr, Excellent job!!! Would you consider doing "ZARDOZ" at some point???
Regarding the movie's insulting lines towards Asians: This movie was made in the mid-70s at a time when Japan was beating the crap out of U.S. industry. Their cars and electronics were outselling American products and, combined with the fact that the US was still reeling from Vietnam and Watergate, there was an overwhelming sense that America was stumbling while Japan was sprinting. This lead to a lot of backlash against East Asians - not in a simple hateful way but in a negative competitive way. I can’t say whether the script writers were trying to reflect the insecurity of Americans or just unconsciously expressing their own resentment, but this attitude was pretty typical in 1975 USA.
If you ever do watch this and decide to "interoperate" it there's a saying my mum used to use. "Sometimes there's as much to read into a story as there is to read". Considering this is 40 years old and what is becoming mainstream nowadays about the people who run the world, there are no children in the film. There's just one reference when Johnathan's "love" tells him she now has a son with her executive. You can see he's heartbroken.
There are no children in the movie because they are irrelevant to the story. Interestingly enough, this issue is never explored. Maybe children automatically become wards of the state, as women were. In this society, women are treated as chattel, like the "furniture girls" in "Soylent Green". Definitely a backlash against the "womens' lib" movement of the early seventies. I read William Harrison's short story "Roller Ball Murder" years ago, and the basic premise was that you can resist only for so long; then you will eventually be eliminated.
One nitpick though, and I made sure to like your video before complaining, but the word "Love" appears many times in the film. 8 times, to be exact. It could be argued that it is one of the allegorical themes of the film, given that most major characters utter the word at some point or another, but only Jonathan seems to feel it towards another living being. First, when Jonathan relates to Moonpie that he "loves this game," and reiterates immediately that he absolutely loves it. Secondly, the character Moonpie relates to Jonathan that he "loves" the luxury centres and their many comforts. Bartholemew "Loves deals," and Ella "Loves" Jonathans luxurious home. Then, in juxtaposition to all other characters ideas of love, Jonathan admits that "Maybe it was love, (he) wanted to remember." That really caught me, like a social message this plot intertwines with the political aspects to convey an idea... I have not figured out what this specific idea is yet but it definitely felt anti-fascist, considering the scene with Jonathan and Ella in the forest, as well as the way Japan's militant fans were portrayed.
I think in this case the type of love they are refering to is to 'things' and not people, just in the same way that rampant materialism and commercialism makes us 'love' money and lifeless objects and abstractions rather than people, community and family.
In europe (or at least germany) Rollerall is treated like a classic (maybe it helped that the rollerball scenes were shot in munich). As a general fan of 70ies sci-fi in general i LOVE this film. It takes the best of the 70ies "new hollywood" movement and uses those openminded thinking structures and applies them really well to this film. In some ways this film is far more progressive than many modern scifi film, especially if it comes to ideas of human society
I agree Andre. Munich's velodrome should never be taken down - it should be protected by the UN, even when the European Union disintegrates into corporate factions. Rollerball was an amazing movie. The extensive sequences filmed in Munich were just astonishing in their detail.
Brilliant use of modern architecture in Munchen from the 70ies: the olympic venues, BMW headquarters and other buildings of that period. And even though the film has a very distinct 70ies look to it, it has aged very well.
Jonathan! Jonathan! Jonathan! Jonathan! Loved the movie as a kid in the 70s. And I'm from Houston, so it was always high on my list of favorite sci-fi movies. My only small critique was I wished why J was being squeezed out, and I didn't really think of him as a political threat. Best line in the movie, "The game was created to show the futility of the individual effort." Socialism and communism exactly.
I saw this film when I was 13 in 1975.My buddy and I always wished this was a real sport.The dystopian theme was lost on our eighth grade brains.We would draw graphic pictures of Rollerballers killing each other.It was fun coming up with team nicknames and logos.
The movie was drawn directly from the 1972 story "RollerBall Murder" by William Harrison and wasn't inspired by "The Most Dangerous Game" or anything else you mention., BTW, the player's name is Jonathan E. (in neither the story or the movie are we told his surname... but it's not Eaves).
I thought the executives accelerated the brutal rules of the game to force Jonathan to retire. So they threatened to retire the whole team and Jonathan investigated and asked the wrong questions. The finale was to the death. The executives did not want hero worship but by the finale they risked creating a martyr. The film may look a bit dated in the arena but the story and energy were excellent, one of the best '70's sci-fi films.
@@allan7380 I agree. I also was surprised he didn't catch the obvious similarities between this world and the Roman empire which issue obvious throughout the film. The corporate members are like the senators or patrician class and the Rollerballers are modern day gladiators. The various scenes in the movie where everyone is laying on Roman style couches surrounded by bowls of grapes and fruits, so obviously Roman like.
You notice as the pressure tactics increase and the brutality escalated that he losed all personal attachments as vulnerabilities that would be exploted. As if he contemplated the path of the sword and sought life in death.
I think all 1970s sci-fi are underrated. "Kids" today think they suck because you don't have fancy SGI. I like CGI, but the 70s sci-fi had something else......PLOT! Because they were low buget, with little special effects, they had to rely more on story line.
I couldn't agree more, Rollerball is DEEPLY UNDERRATED!!! Such a great story, and the action is still one of the greatest in a movie I've ever seen even to this day!
I akways thought that Jonathan not singing off on Moon Pie's euthenasia was a way of getting back at the corporation since they would be on the hook for his medical care for the rest of his life. That his condition was another way to symbolically beat the system.
E. Not Yves. James Caan's character's name was Jonathan E. It's never explained why, but there it is. Otherwise, a fine write-up. I saw the movie on cable when I was a kid, probably around 1979 or so...loved it for the action scenes at first, but grew to appreciate its philosophical points as I got older. It's still one of my favorite movies from that decade, possibly my favorite sports film ever, and if you're a New England Patriots fan and you've seen this film you probably draw parallels between Jonathan E and the conspiracy to bring him down with Roger Goodell's handling of Tom Brady and "Deflategate" over the last few years.
K will, there was indeed cable in 1979. By the end of the 70s it had 16 million subscribers. It just wasn't as widely available across regions as it is today. And HBO has been around since 1972, so movies were also available on cable at least within that time frame.
Great summary of film. But I don't think it was underrated. Back in 1976, when many of my classmates from junior high saw it---we fell in love with it. During our school recesses, it was the only thing we talked about. For kids between 13-14, that's a big accomplishment! Before Rollerball was released, there was a very popular sport gaining traction among the populace on UHF TV channels----back when TV was analog and not digital----called Roller Derby. People on roller skates would travel around a track, and hit and throw each other down, while seeing who could get the most laps around that track. A very violent sport with frequent injuries from: pushing, punching, throwing and kicking. Shortly after this movie came out, this sport mysteriously disappeared overnight. Yes, Rollerball was an influential movie in its day. Not underrated, but forgotten. We need to show young people classic movies like Midnight Cowboy, Seven Days in May, Fail Safe, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, The Glass Menagerie, Planet of The Apes 1968 version, Casablanca, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head, Patton, Psycho, Charlie with Cliff Robertson, ETC. You can see old Roller Derby games on You Tube for free.
The most important character in the movie was the opening score Andre Previn Toccata in D Minor. When i saw the movie as a child thats all we talked about in school the next day. Music crossing the centuries to wring the hearts of young children.
@@ivorbiggun710 --- Well, not in the adult, real world of men and women, yet in the world of perpetual puerility of the navel-gazer generations . . . eternal youth is the hustle pushed by hairlessness. Might I suggest you acquire AdBlock Plus?
Not even close on the other influences. Listen to Norman Jewison’s commentary. He is the director of the movie. His name is Jonathan E. There is no poverty in Corporate Society. Everyone’s needs are taken care of by the corporations after the corporate war. Your review of the movie is way off.
It really holds up aside from some gratuitous scenes like the visit to the computer lab and blowing up a bunch of trees for fun. The opening sequence makes you actually want to watch the game.
P.S. I think the action in the film is brilliantly played out and directed. Real stuntmen doing real stunts very well intercut with the actors who were obviously well-trained themselves. I don't think it is dated at all. Just realistic, unlike most movies today.
II've been saying this for decades. 'Rollerball' is a wildly underrated film. Some of the comments point to its age as the reason. But I remember reading reviews of the film from no later than 10 years after its release. These reviews called it mediocre at best, and missed all of the many excellent points you mentioned in your review. The film is about the conflict between collective effort and individual glory. Greek sports, for example, glorified the individual, whereas the Romans, with gladatorial combat, supported collective victory (most gladatorial exhibits consisted of teams, and single combat was very rare). One very subtle hint that the characters were essentially Roman is during the dinner scene. The men recline comfortably, while the woman sits upright. This was the dining custom of Romans of the republican era. Great review. I love this film. I've subscribed in order to see what you have up next.
"The action sequences seem dated"? That was some quality stunt work there--I believe its the first movie to credit the stunt team and they (and the actors) actually played the game for real in between takes. If you know a movie that invented a sport that people were approaching the producers for the rights to then, hell, share it! Leave the racial wokeness out of the next one please?
I agree about the woke comments. Do you really believe modern athletes are more racially in tune then the ones in this movie? That is a little naive. Modern locker room behavior is the same, its just more hidden today. Jock mentality runs on a different wave length from mainstream society. Its in its own little world. .
@GuinessOriginal but Roald Dahl books have been being revised since 1975 to great success... or would you prefer the problematic "African Jungle" pygmy Oompa Loompas be kept? Idk its arguably problematic either way and I really dont like revisionism especially now that all these twits have legally editable ebooks instead of printed hardcopies
@GuinessOriginal in a perfect world they'd just stop trying to profit off that mans warped perspectives, archive it like old WB toons or Song of the South and not hide mistakes but address them and atone by not profiting off his works indefinitely. But its perfect material for mental conditoning... sells sugar anyways. Refined and bleached so that it should only really be fit for a Wormwood used automobile but ayy
Have you ever read the original source material, "The Rollerball Murders"? Doesn't sound like it. Also, Johnathan 's last name is never expressly mentioned, nor is anyone else's. It's part of the corporate way of dehumanization and proving individuals are less that the corporate entities they serve. This seems like a "woke" criticism of a movie that you just don't get.
Anybody read Death game 1999 about Spinball in Action comics around 1975/6 ? Inspired by Rollerball but between US prisoners looking to avoid life or execution.
"Progressive for its age" Sorry but you have it backwards - that 'age' was very progressive, not just this movie, and as you were wondering, yes, moreso than it is now. check out any other action movie from the 70's ( like, The Warriors, 1979 ) and you'll see tons of black actors who aren't just tokens. First interracial kiss was on Star Trek, 10yrs before Rollerball
Yes, Network was made in 1976, a year after this. Carter gave his Crisis of Confidence speech in 1979; progressive bleakness was definitely in the air.
I read the book which contained the short story on which the film was based, as a boy and saw the film by bunking into the cinema underage. I got my whole school excited by it but i didn't know the hero was called Jonathan Eaves. I thought he was Jonathan E. Did you read the same book as I, or see the same film? Did you forget to mention that 'in the not too distant future, wars will no longer exist but there will be Rollerball?' But it is a truly underrated film. A gem from slap dab in the middle of the Seventies. i'm SO glad I was there and played the game with friends, in empty public paddling pools and on the pavement in front of some flats ( My friend broke his arm.) Slap dab in the middle of the 70s . Ah me!
Pretty good summary. But!!! The movie is NOT overtly racist. A character makes racist remarks about Asians. That's like saying To Kill a Mockingbird is racist because some characters use the N word. Jesus! That is the argument that the modern day book burners are using. Telling a story that criticizes racist behavior is now racist.
I would like to recommend the OST as well. It amazes me that a film this deep in primal brutality can be so subliminally scored in some of the most beautiful music ever.
What's wrong with chest hair? Anyways, the movie is not really underrated. It's considered to be a sci-fi classic... enough so that they did a remake. You're projecting a little bit on the 1970s, but otherwise a good review, and yes, a very good movie...
btw... it's "Jonathan E"... short for "Jonathan Evans" (or Edwards, I don't remember). And *everybody* lives in comparative luxury. There is no poverty. The price of this universal prosperity is... freedom. Because freedom isn't about freedom from want, as Jonathan's ex wife tries to tell him. It's authority over your life, and responsibility for the decisions you make, both good and bad.
I know it's "Jonathan E" (winced every time drift0r said "Eaves") but where did you get that it's short for Evans/Edwards? I always assumed it was short for Energy, the corporation he played for. EDIT Checked the script, probably this exchange from the party scene: Exec 1 - Did you hear about Evans? Exec 2 - What? 1 - He's out. Gone. 2 - No kidding! The old man? Who got him? 1 - What? 2 - I said who got him? 1 - The crocodile. Possible they mean Jonathan, but I always assumed they were talking about some other exec and I still do.
I very much agree with your review but if the movie is underrated, the word "old" is over-used by you. If this movie is "old" or even "very old" then what do you call a film from i.e. the 1930´s? I´d say the thing here is that you´re young or even very young so that everything made before the year 2000 is "old" or what? At the same time you repeatedly say how ahead of its time it is thematically which is anything but "old" and it makes you sound even younger..... What I´m getting at is that age or old or new are highly objective including that the highlight of life is not in your 20´s or so and in your shoes I´d much more focus on how new it is and repeat that more than how long ago 1975 is for you personally. It also sounds like everyone you talk to is around 20. I was 7 years old 1975......
A bit of context for you: This guy here, Driftor, usually does unscripted videos about video games. This is an extremely different kind of video for him, and it shows with his lack of enunciation and proper vocabulary. I think it's great that he's trying more scripted videos like this, and I think it will help him become a more natural speaker. :)
People think this is just a dumb action movie? I have the DVD, I forgot how good and deep it was. It's like a post-cyberpunk movie, made before cyberpunk was even really a thing. Great video, great start to a new series, can't wait for the next one!
Rollerball is one of those all time cult classic sci fi dystopian movies, like Logans Run at the time exploring themes of corporate control running rampant and the destruction of indivisualism amongst other things. Up there in my top ten of greatest films of all time actually. Braxzil is another massively under-rated film of this ilk also.
Couldn't agree more, though I have to mention that DEATH RACE 2000 was rushed into production as a deliberate *rip-off* of ROLLERBALL, both great films in their own right.
Thank you! Completely agree. It's been one of my favourites since it came out and at the top of my own list of underrated films. Got into an argument with a video rental shop about 20 years ago, insisting it had no business being in the sports section with cheap martial arts flics. What I was disappointed not to see is a shout out to director Norman Jewison who often tackled social conditions or gave you something to think about i.e. "Other People's Money" and "Jesus Christ, Superstar" (remeber the fighter jets in that one?).
Very good review! I first watched it in 1975 when it was first released in theaters in the US and my take on it was pretty close to what you described. A cautionary tale about where American values were leading us. But the thing I loved most about it is it's soundtrack, despite the fact that I'm a female who was born in Japan, with a Japanese mother and an American father, raised in a former slave state in the US, so pretty much understood the political messages immediately. It was the first time I had heard Bach or Shostacovich or Albiononi's version to reconstruct the Adagio in G minor.
Very good choice for a first review. Unlike many of the predecessors mentioned (including it's 2002 remake, which was awful), there was a solid philosophical underpinning to this movie. Keep up the good work.
Great video. This is the kind of film my Dad loved so I got to see this, Soylent Green, A Boy and His Dog, Quintet, and Zardoz when I was 8 - 10. I saw this again last night and think it's great.
Every year as the NCAA basketball tournament is played, I watch the sport of basketball being played increasingly violently, and I am reminded of this movie. Given that virtually every basketball play today includes a violation of the rules, the outcome of each game is determined by the referees as much as by the players. The game was redesigned to demonstrate the futility of individual effort. Every day, as the federal government expands to control more and more of individual lives, I am reminded of this movie. The system has evolved to demonstrate the futility of individual liberty.
Good video. On the topic of love and why it's almost never mentioned outside of Jonathan, I will say it's because the nature of love is selfish and we have shown what people can do when a loved one is in danger. Therefore it is individualistic which, as the movie states, the Corporations fear as a threat to their power and why the word was likely censored from their subjects' vocabulary. One thing I don't see many people pick out was during the first anthem where we're shown Jonathan's tapping his fist on his leg which was revealed later why he's doing that. I think it's evident that, aside from Jon being popular with the fans and lasting in the sport, the leaders already noticed it which was why they were trying to take him out.
Although this is over five years down the road, I think this was an excellent choice for the first subject of your channel. This is the fourth review I have seen on this movie I've loved since I was a kid. You all agree on some of the same things; the story was forward thinking and addressed issues that are still relevant today, but it falls short on getting its point across by focusing too much or too little on those issues. You did fail to mention the story story the movie was based on by William N. Harrison (Rollerball Murder, but I'm sure you know that by now). I would love to see the story reworked (especially the excessive focus on violence) and do a proper remake (yes, I'm choosing to ignore the 2002 remake). I think the subject matter is still relevant and, with a better written script and more serious attitude toward the material and characters, it would be great movie.
This movie is one of the most artful display of violence (just like Clockwork Orange), wrapped in a retro-futurist ambiance (just like Clockwork Orange) and an amazing soundtrack (just like Clockwork Orange).
Not sure I agree too much about your review and why it's supposed so great, but I definitely enjoyed the series concept and look forward to future editions.
I’m sorry but for your comments it seems that you live in 1914, because all the racism and sexism that you said are on modern movies definetily is a lie
Been a sub of yours since the BO2 days, and love your videos in general. But I have to say this is one of my favorite videos you have ever done. You have an analytical mind that few do. And to take that mind and focus it on things outside of the video game world (and I understand you have talked about many things over the years from Depression, to Transgender bathroom issues and more) is fascinating. I really hope this video gets a good reaction from the fans as I would LOVE to see more of these.
This movie is amazing, although I never thought of it as underrated. I just thought it wasn't well known because of it's age. I've only seen it through my dad.
Great series idea btw
Hunter Lehman There are lots of well known old movies. This one just seems to have been forgotten and not given proper credit for how awesome it is.
This may be a silly Question, but has anyone seen "The Brat Patrol"? Its a 1986 Disney flick from back in the day. Brat Patrol has a "Sandlot" feel... Loved it as a kid!
great idea for a series on the surface but it wouldn't last and run out of ideas fast. one season tops
Me too great movie I'm 26!
@@desertdispatch It was a serial story in Action comic in the 70s. It kept being interesting.
He got at least a few things wrong. Jonathan's last name is E and I don't see how you could get that wrong. Also there is no evidence that he ever beat any of his wives. He merely put a scare in the one who threatened him. He wasn't particularly cruel to his wives just indifferent. It's not a laser gun from a past war. That makes me wonder if he even watched the entire movie.
Rollerball is that movie that you need to see at least twice in your life. I saw the movie for the first time in my teens. I only really cared about the action scenes. I honestly missed a lot of the underlying messages of Corporate control, class differences and the dystopian undercurrents. Watched it a second time in my 40s and the action scenes were secondary to the dystopian messages.
Reminds me of starship troopers a bit
I saw Rollerball in the 1970's and was struck by its powerful concepts of individual vs. institutions even then. I felt overjoyed when I finally got a DVD. The movie and its message is even more powerful and relevant today. Of my Top 10 movies of all time.
Rollerball didn't become lethal until Jonathan refused to quit. It was no more brutal than American football before that. They made it more and more brutal in a futile effort to get Jonathan to quit; which ironically failed because of his loyalty to his team, NOT his corporate overlords.
I first saw this movie as a kid in the 80's on a late night local channel movie theater type show. My favorite scene is the last scene with Jonathan E dispatching the last 2 remaining NY players and then scoring has no sound track, no dialog, and little sound FX. As he sheds his helmet and transcends not only the game but the system itself. Then the crowd starts chanting and the movie freezes on him as he skates his lone victory lap. The whole thing is 8 minutes long and it's a very potent 70's tension filled scene. No overwrought dialog or swelling symphonic non-sense. It's great.
The only thing better was MAD Magazine's parody: Rollerbrawl.
The games got more brutal and violent as the film went on because they were trying to kill Jonathan E. He was beating the system. He was showing that individual effort was not pointless, even in that game which was designed to show the futility of individualism. I have seen the film at least 50 times, and never once got the idea that people died early, and that the game was intended to show that so people got used to it. The game is an opiate for the masses to take their minds off the fact that while they might not be sick or starving, they have no real free will. Sound familiar? Immersive video games? Cell phones?
Yes. This film got so many things right. Particularly the corporate control. Watch the film with the director's commentary. Lots if insights into what they were thinking when they made it in 1975.
spot on, Richard
Right?! I also have no idea how our narrator has seen this film start to finish and didn't hear the word love uttered by anyone. Its practically a theme that everyone else loves things like the game, business deals, the luxury centres, while John is the only one who feels "true" love or uses the word in connection to another human being.
@Russ Gallagher Jonathan did in fact kill 13 players in his career before the events of the film.
@Russ Gallagher The "stat freak" mentions it. As for Moonpie, yeah, I totally see it.
@John Molloy "In the distant future, war no longer exists. But there will be Rollerball". That was the tagline on the poster.
Again at 4:50... there's no death in Rollerball until Jonathan rebels. Rollerball isn't to get people used to death. It's to get people used to the idea that the individual is impotent. It's a *team* sport. And as the saying goes, there's no "team" in "I".
Actually, they mention that people can die in the game. (They specifically say that the record is four deaths in one game.) The difference is that deaths are not specifically intended; there are actual rules of conduct to try and prevent such things. However, when the purpose became getting rid of Jonathan, the rules are removed and the game becomes, basically, killing your opponent by any means available.
Rollerball is outstanding. It shows that delicate balance of people enjoying bloodsport without it going too far. The carnage of the final game is too shocking even for the audience and a lot of the crowd have this look on their faces like ‘this is too much ’. Rules in sport are there for reason.
But have we really evolved since the days of Ancient Rome? Are bloodsports like MMA becoming insanely popular showcasing our decline?
Yeah - Rollerball explores issues, still relevant, that aren't dared approached with films today. Good action and makes you think. The scene where Jonathan refuses to sign Moonpie's paper is tremendous and incredibly relevant today.
Underrated definitely.
Has one of my favorite film endings ever. Just try not to say " Johnathon! Johnathon! Johnathon!"
The game got deadlier to force Jonathan out, penalties got abandoned for the Tokyo game and the time limit was abandoned for the New York game.
In the end Johnathan brings down the corporation’s after New York, in the book.
Since I first saw this movie 40 years ago I have had a sense that this will be the future unless we resist it, and I don't see that happening...
One of the BEST reviews and studies of this movie I have ever seen. Very astute observations and analysis. I applaud you DriftOr, Excellent job!!! Would you consider doing "ZARDOZ" at some point???
Yes, Zardoz, such a classic cult sci fi film, under-rated and almost forgotten.
Has this man watched the movie? The deaths on the track only come with the rule changes only meant to kill Johnathan.
The character’s name is Jonathan E.
Yep
@@swamisalami3000 Yeah, I don't know why he keeps calling him "Eaves". The whole point is that he's not significant enough to have a last name.
Joe Syxpack and the reviewer misses/misunderstands so much of the movie.
if you have joint assets or bank accounts, the husband only works it makes sense that both people would have to agree to get a credit card or loan
Regarding the movie's insulting lines towards Asians: This movie was made in the mid-70s at a time when Japan was beating the crap out of U.S. industry. Their cars and electronics were outselling American products and, combined with the fact that the US was still reeling from Vietnam and Watergate, there was an overwhelming sense that America was stumbling while Japan was sprinting. This lead to a lot of backlash against East Asians - not in a simple hateful way but in a negative competitive way. I can’t say whether the script writers were trying to reflect the insecurity of Americans or just unconsciously expressing their own resentment, but this attitude was pretty typical in 1975 USA.
If you ever do watch this and decide to "interoperate" it there's a saying my mum used to use. "Sometimes there's as much to read into a story as there is to read". Considering this is 40 years old and what is becoming mainstream nowadays about the people who run the world, there are no children in the film. There's just one reference when Johnathan's "love" tells him she now has a son with her executive. You can see he's heartbroken.
There are no children in the movie because they are irrelevant to the story. Interestingly enough, this issue is never explored. Maybe children automatically become wards of the state, as women were. In this society, women are treated as chattel, like the "furniture girls" in "Soylent Green". Definitely a backlash against the "womens' lib" movement of the early seventies. I read William Harrison's short story "Roller Ball Murder" years ago, and the basic premise was that you can resist only for so long; then you will eventually be eliminated.
One nitpick though, and I made sure to like your video before complaining, but the word "Love" appears many times in the film. 8 times, to be exact. It could be argued that it is one of the allegorical themes of the film, given that most major characters utter the word at some point or another, but only Jonathan seems to feel it towards another living being. First, when Jonathan relates to Moonpie that he "loves this game," and reiterates immediately that he absolutely loves it. Secondly, the character Moonpie relates to Jonathan that he "loves" the luxury centres and their many comforts. Bartholemew "Loves deals," and Ella "Loves" Jonathans luxurious home. Then, in juxtaposition to all other characters ideas of love, Jonathan admits that "Maybe it was love, (he) wanted to remember." That really caught me, like a social message this plot intertwines with the political aspects to convey an idea... I have not figured out what this specific idea is yet but it definitely felt anti-fascist, considering the scene with Jonathan and Ella in the forest, as well as the way Japan's militant fans were portrayed.
I think in this case the type of love they are refering to is to 'things' and not people, just in the same way that rampant materialism and commercialism makes us 'love' money and lifeless objects and abstractions rather than people, community and family.
In europe (or at least germany) Rollerall is treated like a classic (maybe it helped that the rollerball scenes were shot in munich). As a general fan of 70ies sci-fi in general i LOVE this film. It takes the best of the 70ies "new hollywood" movement and uses those openminded thinking structures and applies them really well to this film. In some ways this film is far more progressive than many modern scifi film, especially if it comes to ideas of human society
Andre Martänz
I like the visuals. Scenes look real and plausible. A lot of scenes in movies can't immerse people without being in 3D IMAX
I agree Andre.
Munich's velodrome should never be taken down - it should be protected by the UN, even when the European Union disintegrates into corporate factions.
Rollerball was an amazing movie. The extensive sequences filmed in Munich were just astonishing in their detail.
Clever and tasteful folks in the US also consider it a classic.
Brilliant use of modern architecture in Munchen from the 70ies: the olympic venues, BMW headquarters and other buildings of that period. And even though the film has a very distinct 70ies look to it, it has aged very well.
after he spares the life,then limps to the point, he is unstoppable JOHNATHON!
Jonathan!
Jonathan!
Jonathan!
Jonathan!
Loved the movie as a kid in the 70s. And I'm from Houston, so it was always high on my list of favorite sci-fi movies. My only small critique was I wished why J was being squeezed out, and I didn't really think of him as a political threat. Best line in the movie, "The game was created to show the futility of the individual effort." Socialism and communism exactly.
I saw this film when I was 13 in 1975.My buddy and I always wished this was a real sport.The dystopian theme was lost on our eighth grade brains.We would draw graphic pictures of Rollerballers killing each other.It was fun coming up with team nicknames and logos.
The movie was drawn directly from the 1972 story "RollerBall Murder" by William Harrison and wasn't inspired by "The Most Dangerous Game" or anything else you mention., BTW, the player's name is Jonathan E. (in neither the story or the movie are we told his surname... but it's not Eaves).
There was one reference in the movie to his surname. It was Evans.
I thought the executives accelerated the brutal rules of the game to force Jonathan to retire. So they threatened to retire the whole team and Jonathan investigated and asked the wrong questions. The finale was to the death. The executives did not want hero worship but by the finale they risked creating a martyr. The film may look a bit dated in the arena but the story and energy were excellent, one of the best '70's sci-fi films.
@@allan7380 I agree. I also was surprised he didn't catch the obvious similarities between this world and the Roman empire which issue obvious throughout the film. The corporate members are like the senators or patrician class and the Rollerballers are modern day gladiators. The various scenes in the movie where everyone is laying on Roman style couches surrounded by bowls of grapes and fruits, so obviously Roman like.
You notice as the pressure tactics increase and the brutality escalated that he losed all personal attachments as vulnerabilities that would be exploted. As if he contemplated the path of the sword and sought life in death.
This is exactly the kind of content I love seeing from you man. It's always good to see youtubers branch out and do stuff they're passionate about.
Bjorn Bjornson Exactly!
I think all 1970s sci-fi are underrated. "Kids" today think they suck because you don't have fancy SGI. I like CGI, but the 70s sci-fi had something else......PLOT! Because they were low buget, with little special effects, they had to rely more on story line.
Watched it the year it came out. Was blown away. You hit many points, was a helluva sci fi story at the end of the day. Loved it.
I couldn't agree more, Rollerball is DEEPLY UNDERRATED!!! Such a great story, and the action is still one of the greatest in a movie I've ever seen even to this day!
I akways thought that Jonathan not singing off on Moon Pie's euthenasia was a way of getting back at the corporation since they would be on the hook for his medical care for the rest of his life. That his condition was another way to symbolically beat the system.
Some reasonable points made here however it's Jonathan E and NOT Jonathan Eaves as you say on multiple occasions
E. Not Yves. James Caan's character's name was Jonathan E. It's never explained why, but there it is.
Otherwise, a fine write-up. I saw the movie on cable when I was a kid, probably around 1979 or so...loved it for the action scenes at first, but grew to appreciate its philosophical points as I got older. It's still one of my favorite movies from that decade, possibly my favorite sports film ever, and if you're a New England Patriots fan and you've seen this film you probably draw parallels between Jonathan E and the conspiracy to bring him down with Roger Goodell's handling of Tom Brady and "Deflategate" over the last few years.
K will, there was indeed cable in 1979. By the end of the 70s it had 16 million subscribers. It just wasn't as widely available across regions as it is today. And HBO has been around since 1972, so movies were also available on cable at least within that time frame.
SGBassplayer - Deflategate vs. Jonathan E rising in a murderous bloodsport? That is definitely a stretch.
Great summary of film. But I don't think it was underrated. Back in 1976, when many of my classmates from junior high saw it---we fell in love with it. During our school recesses, it was the only thing we talked about. For kids between 13-14, that's a big accomplishment! Before Rollerball was released, there was a very popular sport gaining traction among the populace on UHF TV channels----back when TV was analog and not digital----called Roller Derby. People on roller skates would travel around a track, and hit and throw each other down, while seeing who could get the most laps around that track. A very violent sport with frequent injuries from: pushing, punching, throwing and kicking. Shortly after this movie came out, this sport mysteriously disappeared overnight. Yes, Rollerball was an influential movie in its day. Not underrated, but forgotten. We need to show young people classic movies like Midnight Cowboy, Seven Days in May, Fail Safe, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, The Glass Menagerie, Planet of The Apes 1968 version, Casablanca, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head, Patton, Psycho, Charlie with Cliff Robertson, ETC. You can see old Roller Derby games on You Tube for free.
The most important character in the movie was the opening score Andre Previn Toccata in D Minor. When i saw the movie as a child thats all we talked about in school the next day. Music crossing the centuries to wring the hearts of young children.
Another 70s movie that treats women as commodities is Soylent Green. 70s futurism was bleak, but prophetic.
"Chest hair was in." Is that a negative trait?
Judging by the amount of ads I get for Manscape apparently it is.
@@ivorbiggun710 --- Well, not in the adult, real world of men and women, yet in the world of perpetual puerility of the navel-gazer generations . . . eternal youth is the hustle pushed by hairlessness. Might I suggest you acquire AdBlock Plus?
I adore this film...It's so beautifully shot and planned...Acted...Oh... "casual racism," because that doesn't exist at all anymore.
"casual" racism doesn't exist any more. Its all become so stridently plaintive these days.
Not even close on the other influences. Listen to Norman Jewison’s commentary. He is the director of the movie. His name is Jonathan E. There is no poverty in Corporate Society. Everyone’s needs are taken care of by the corporations after the corporate war.
Your review of the movie is way off.
next movie should be Soylent Green
It really holds up aside from some gratuitous scenes like the visit to the computer lab and blowing up a bunch of trees for fun. The opening sequence makes you actually want to watch the game.
I really appreciate you breaking down films like these, honestly I used to scoff at this film but now I know it's subtle brilliance.
P.S. I think the action in the film is brilliantly played out and directed. Real stuntmen doing real stunts very well intercut with the actors who were obviously well-trained themselves. I don't think it is dated at all. Just realistic, unlike most movies today.
II've been saying this for decades. 'Rollerball' is a wildly underrated film. Some of the comments point to its age as the reason. But I remember reading reviews of the film from no later than 10 years after its release. These reviews called it mediocre at best, and missed all of the many excellent points you mentioned in your review. The film is about the conflict between collective effort and individual glory. Greek sports, for example, glorified the individual, whereas the Romans, with gladatorial combat, supported collective victory (most gladatorial exhibits consisted of teams, and single combat was very rare). One very subtle hint that the characters were essentially Roman is during the dinner scene. The men recline comfortably, while the woman sits upright. This was the dining custom of Romans of the republican era. Great review. I love this film. I've subscribed in order to see what you have up next.
First saw it when it was released and never understood why it didn't get better exposure. A real sleeper. Very thoughtful review. Nice.
"The action sequences seem dated"? That was some quality stunt work there--I believe its the first movie to credit the stunt team and they (and the actors) actually played the game for real in between takes. If you know a movie that invented a sport that people were approaching the producers for the rights to then, hell, share it!
Leave the racial wokeness out of the next one please?
I wish I could see real game play this is so cool
I agree about the woke comments. Do you really believe modern athletes are more racially in tune then the ones in this movie? That is a little naive. Modern locker room behavior is the same, its just more hidden today. Jock mentality runs on a different wave length from mainstream society. Its in its own little world. .
I was born in 93. Roller Ball is life. A timeless film, it just keeps getting more relevant as time passes.
11:01 and now books are being censored and ‘updated’ to fit in with modern ‘acceptable’ morality and language. Mrs Twit is no longer fat, for example.
@GuinessOriginal but Roald Dahl books have been being revised since 1975 to great success... or would you prefer the problematic "African Jungle" pygmy Oompa Loompas be kept? Idk its arguably problematic either way and I really dont like revisionism especially now that all these twits have legally editable ebooks instead of printed hardcopies
@GuinessOriginal in a perfect world they'd just stop trying to profit off that mans warped perspectives, archive it like old WB toons or Song of the South and not hide mistakes but address them and atone by not profiting off his works indefinitely. But its perfect material for mental conditoning... sells sugar anyways. Refined and bleached so that it should only really be fit for a Wormwood used automobile but ayy
Have you ever read the original source material, "The Rollerball Murders"? Doesn't sound like it. Also, Johnathan 's last name is never expressly mentioned, nor is anyone else's. It's part of the corporate way of dehumanization and proving individuals are less that the corporate entities they serve. This seems like a "woke" criticism of a movie that you just don't get.
RIP James Caan
Loved rollerball as a kid. Watched it over and over.
Anybody read Death game 1999 about Spinball in Action comics around 1975/6 ? Inspired by Rollerball but between US prisoners looking to avoid life or execution.
i would rather watch the dated action than the modern version in the remake. just like when they made the appalling remake of the Italian Job
"Progressive for its age"
Sorry but you have it backwards - that 'age' was very progressive, not just this movie, and as you were wondering, yes, moreso than it is now. check out any other action movie from the 70's ( like, The Warriors, 1979 ) and you'll see tons of black actors who aren't just tokens. First interracial kiss was on Star Trek, 10yrs before Rollerball
Yes, Network was made in 1976, a year after this. Carter gave his Crisis of Confidence speech in 1979; progressive bleakness was definitely in the air.
Also Kato, the asian house-aid that would ambush Peter Sellers as Inspector Closeau.
Chief inspector... lol
I read the book which contained the short story on which the film was based, as a boy and saw the film by bunking into the cinema underage. I got my whole school excited by it but i didn't know the hero was called Jonathan Eaves. I thought he was Jonathan E. Did you read the same book as I, or see the same film? Did you forget to mention that 'in the not too distant future, wars will no longer exist but there will be Rollerball?' But it is a truly underrated film. A gem from slap dab in the middle of the Seventies. i'm SO glad I was there and played the game with friends, in empty public paddling pools and on the pavement in front of some flats ( My friend broke his arm.) Slap dab in the middle of the 70s . Ah me!
One of my favorite sports movie as as a kid. Still holds up 40 + years comepared to later movies that tried
Saw it when it came out and never forgot about it. Seems to me it's relevance is returning.
Pretty good summary. But!!! The movie is NOT overtly racist. A character makes racist remarks about Asians. That's like saying To Kill a Mockingbird is racist because some characters use the N word. Jesus! That is the argument that the modern day book burners are using. Telling a story that criticizes racist behavior is now racist.
I would like to recommend the OST as well. It amazes me that a film this deep in primal brutality can be so subliminally scored in some of the most beautiful music ever.
One of the most prophetic movies ever made!
What's wrong with chest hair?
Anyways, the movie is not really underrated. It's considered to be a sci-fi classic... enough so that they did a remake. You're projecting a little bit on the 1970s, but otherwise a good review, and yes, a very good movie...
This movie is one of my BIBLES for understading where we go and what Richs do to take control of the bodies and Souls of the peoples
btw... it's "Jonathan E"... short for "Jonathan Evans" (or Edwards, I don't remember).
And *everybody* lives in comparative luxury. There is no poverty. The price of this universal prosperity is... freedom.
Because freedom isn't about freedom from want, as Jonathan's ex wife tries to tell him. It's authority over your life, and responsibility for the decisions you make, both good and bad.
I know it's "Jonathan E" (winced every time drift0r said "Eaves") but where did you get that it's short for Evans/Edwards? I always assumed it was short for Energy, the corporation he played for.
EDIT
Checked the script, probably this exchange from the party scene:
Exec 1 - Did you hear about Evans?
Exec 2 - What?
1 - He's out. Gone.
2 - No kidding! The old man? Who got him?
1 - What?
2 - I said who got him?
1 - The crocodile.
Possible they mean Jonathan, but I always assumed they were talking about some other exec and I still do.
I approve of this new series.
Loved this film since it came to my attention in the early 80s....awesome film.
Think about it and Understand it.
Do Understand it.
SOLEIL VERT / Green Soyent is also very important to understand where we go
I very much agree with your review but if the movie is underrated, the word "old" is over-used by you. If this movie is "old" or even "very old" then what do you call a film from i.e. the 1930´s? I´d say the thing here is that you´re young or even very young so that everything made before the year 2000 is "old" or what? At the same time you repeatedly say how ahead of its time it is thematically which is anything but "old" and it makes you sound even younger..... What I´m getting at is that age or old or new are highly objective including that the highlight of life is not in your 20´s or so and in your shoes I´d much more focus on how new it is and repeat that more than how long ago 1975 is for you personally. It also sounds like everyone you talk to is around 20. I was 7 years old 1975......
A bit of context for you: This guy here, Driftor, usually does unscripted videos about video games. This is an extremely different kind of video for him, and it shows with his lack of enunciation and proper vocabulary. I think it's great that he's trying more scripted videos like this, and I think it will help him become a more natural speaker. :)
The main character (portrayed by James Caan) is named Jonathan E. - not "Eeves"
People think this is just a dumb action movie? I have the DVD, I forgot how good and deep it was. It's like a post-cyberpunk movie, made before cyberpunk was even really a thing. Great video, great start to a new series, can't wait for the next one!
Funny. I'm sat wearing a number 6 Jonathan shirt watching this...One of the best movies of my youth....JONATHAN!
Rollerball is one of those all time cult classic sci fi dystopian movies, like Logans Run at the time exploring themes of corporate control running rampant and the destruction of indivisualism amongst other things. Up there in my top ten of greatest films of all time actually. Braxzil is another massively under-rated film of this ilk also.
Jonathan Eaves????
Couldn't agree more, though I have to mention that DEATH RACE 2000 was rushed into production as a deliberate *rip-off* of ROLLERBALL, both great films in their own right.
Thank you! Completely agree. It's been one of my favourites since it came out and at the top of my own list of underrated films. Got into an argument with a video rental shop about 20 years ago, insisting it had no business being in the sports section with cheap martial arts flics.
What I was disappointed not to see is a shout out to director Norman Jewison who often tackled social conditions or gave you something to think about i.e. "Other People's Money" and "Jesus Christ, Superstar" (remeber the fighter jets in that one?).
This movie is a solid classic ! Very poor remake is a joke !
Very good review! I first watched it in 1975 when it was first released in theaters in the US and my take on it was pretty close to what you described. A cautionary tale about where American values were leading us. But the thing I loved most about it is it's soundtrack, despite the fact that I'm a female who was born in Japan, with a Japanese mother and an American father, raised in a former slave state in the US, so pretty much understood the political messages immediately.
It was the first time I had heard Bach or Shostacovich or Albiononi's version to reconstruct the Adagio in G minor.
Also Johnathan E, not eves
Very good choice for a first review. Unlike many of the predecessors mentioned (including it's 2002 remake, which was awful), there was a solid philosophical underpinning to this movie. Keep up the good work.
It's not Johnathan Eaves.. it's just E.
Very well done, sir. One of those movies that will change your life if you let it!
Jonathan E , where you getting Eves from?
Great video. This is the kind of film my Dad loved so I got to see this, Soylent Green, A Boy and His Dog, Quintet, and Zardoz when I was 8 - 10. I saw this again last night and think it's great.
Every year as the NCAA basketball tournament is played, I watch the sport of basketball being played increasingly violently, and I am reminded of this movie. Given that virtually every basketball play today includes a violation of the rules, the outcome of each game is determined by the referees as much as by the players. The game was redesigned to demonstrate the futility of individual effort.
Every day, as the federal government expands to control more and more of individual lives, I am reminded of this movie. The system has evolved to demonstrate the futility of individual liberty.
There must be more. I need more of this. It quenches my thirst for content so well.
_Rollerball_ was _The Truman Show_ twenty-three years before _The Truman Show_ .
More of this if you enjoy making them. Please and Thank you!!
Good video. On the topic of love and why it's almost never mentioned outside of Jonathan, I will say it's because the nature of love is selfish and we have shown what people can do when a loved one is in danger. Therefore it is individualistic which, as the movie states, the Corporations fear as a threat to their power and why the word was likely censored from their subjects' vocabulary. One thing I don't see many people pick out was during the first anthem where we're shown Jonathan's tapping his fist on his leg which was revealed later why he's doing that. I think it's evident that, aside from Jon being popular with the fans and lasting in the sport, the leaders already noticed it which was why they were trying to take him out.
Although this is over five years down the road, I think this was an excellent choice for the first subject of your channel. This is the fourth review I have seen on this movie I've loved since I was a kid. You all agree on some of the same things; the story was forward thinking and addressed issues that are still relevant today, but it falls short on getting its point across by focusing too much or too little on those issues. You did fail to mention the story story the movie was based on by William N. Harrison (Rollerball Murder, but I'm sure you know that by now). I would love to see the story reworked (especially the excessive focus on violence) and do a proper remake (yes, I'm choosing to ignore the 2002 remake). I think the subject matter is still relevant and, with a better written script and more serious attitude toward the material and characters, it would be great movie.
This movie is one of the most artful display of violence (just like Clockwork Orange), wrapped in a retro-futurist ambiance (just like Clockwork Orange) and an amazing soundtrack (just like Clockwork Orange).
Glad to see you're branching out from COD
Really great video Drift0r! Really happy to see something different and really hope you contribute this series!
I love the direction of the channel, when youre doing content that you enjoy instead of shitting out the usual cod in depths
Not sure I agree too much about your review and why it's supposed so great, but I definitely enjoyed the series concept and look forward to future editions.
Amazing what Norman Jewison (Director) had under his hat and mind on the movie Rollerball in 1974. He was amazing.
This is Awesome seeing you branch out to a wider audience, this is a great Idea for a series good work Drift0r.
@11:26 "treated as serious...unusual now." --referring to black characters in movies. HUH!? Are you serious?
I’m sorry but for your comments it seems that you live in 1914, because all the racism and sexism that you said are on modern movies definetily is a lie
Been a sub of yours since the BO2 days, and love your videos in general. But I have to say this is one of my favorite videos you have ever done. You have an analytical mind that few do. And to take that mind and focus it on things outside of the video game world (and I understand you have talked about many things over the years from Depression, to Transgender bathroom issues and more) is fascinating. I really hope this video gets a good reaction from the fans as I would LOVE to see more of these.
Chest hair is in? What's wrong with chest hair?
Please rise for your corporate sponsor!
Its Jonathan E