In life, spewing hate comes easy; finding the good takes effort. That’s my mantra for “Revenge of the Remakes.” Get dirty and identify value where others hastily — maybe unfairly — laid harsh criticisms. Any remake, in any genre, faces biased outrage from peanut galleries who refuse to remove their nostalgia goggles. It’s easy to prey on the hate clickers out there, which is why I use this column as a voice for the misunderstood and wrongly delegitimized. A remake isn’t trash because it’s a remake, there’s more to the equation.
That said (and believed), not all remakes are created equal. With soaring highs come subterranean lows. Sometimes remakes are nothing but a copy-and-paste cash grab, devoid of creative ambitions. These examples fuel smear campaigns about remakes at large — and today, we’re dissecting one of the worst.
John McTiernan’s Rollerball is an unprecedented studio disaster...
That said (and believed), not all remakes are created equal. With soaring highs come subterranean lows. Sometimes remakes are nothing but a copy-and-paste cash grab, devoid of creative ambitions. These examples fuel smear campaigns about remakes at large — and today, we’re dissecting one of the worst.
John McTiernan’s Rollerball is an unprecedented studio disaster...
- 2/21/2024
- by Matt Donato
- bloody-disgusting.com
Norman Jewison’s 1975 dystopian sports allegory, Rollerball, looms large as an icon of cult filmmaking, but its power in the science fiction pantheon is grossly underestimated. The film has the force of a deeply personal vision from its director, and the full support of a nuanced performance from the late James Caan as Jonathan E., aka the star Rollerballer.
Prior to redefining movie gangsters in The Godfather, Caan executed a game-changing role in Brian’s Song. He played Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo against Billy Dee Williams’ Gayle Sayers, his rival and roommate in an era when Black and white players did not share rooms. They bond over much more than a mutual love of football; the Emmy-winning 1971 ABC Movie of the Week about the terminally ill rookie was a cultural event on TV.
“When I was casting Rollerball, I was looking for an actor who was tough and athletic,...
Prior to redefining movie gangsters in The Godfather, Caan executed a game-changing role in Brian’s Song. He played Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo against Billy Dee Williams’ Gayle Sayers, his rival and roommate in an era when Black and white players did not share rooms. They bond over much more than a mutual love of football; the Emmy-winning 1971 ABC Movie of the Week about the terminally ill rookie was a cultural event on TV.
“When I was casting Rollerball, I was looking for an actor who was tough and athletic,...
- 7/16/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Stars: James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, John Beck, Moses Gunn, Pamela Hensley, Barbara Trentham, John Normington, Shane Rimmer, Burt Kwouk | Written by William Harrison | Directed by Norman Jewison
We live in an age where remakes take movies from the past and look to modernise them, sometimes changing them completely. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it ends up in a complete shambles, dumbing down what the original stood for and losing the whole point of what they were trying to replicate. This is the case with Rollerball, a cult classic which suffered the bad remake treatment. Thankfully in this review though I’m looking at the original film which is being released by Arrow Video on Blu-ray, so from this point on we can forget the remake even existed.
In a future controlled by corporations war is a thing of the past and the only conflict is Rollerball. Jonathan E.
We live in an age where remakes take movies from the past and look to modernise them, sometimes changing them completely. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it ends up in a complete shambles, dumbing down what the original stood for and losing the whole point of what they were trying to replicate. This is the case with Rollerball, a cult classic which suffered the bad remake treatment. Thankfully in this review though I’m looking at the original film which is being released by Arrow Video on Blu-ray, so from this point on we can forget the remake even existed.
In a future controlled by corporations war is a thing of the past and the only conflict is Rollerball. Jonathan E.
- 3/21/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
Years before The Hunger Games, Rollerball introduced its own form of televised combat. Ryan compares their dystopian futures...
When first the Hunger Games adaptation arrived in cinemes two years ago, it reignited old comparisons between Suzanne Collins’ source novel and the Japanese film Battle Royale (itself adapted from a book, that one by Koushun Takami).
It’s arguable, however, that the Hunger Games series, which has just reached its penultimate instalment with the recently-released Mockingjay - Part 1, has just as much in common with a dystopian movie released in 1975: director Norman Jewison’s Rollerball, based on screenwriter William Harrison's own short story, Roller Ball Murder.
Like The Hunger Games, Rollerball is set in a dystopian future where the bloodlust and revolutionary tendencies of the populace are held in check by a violent televised sport. A cross between a roller derby and gladiatorial combat, Rollerball sees its rival teams clash on a circular arena.
When first the Hunger Games adaptation arrived in cinemes two years ago, it reignited old comparisons between Suzanne Collins’ source novel and the Japanese film Battle Royale (itself adapted from a book, that one by Koushun Takami).
It’s arguable, however, that the Hunger Games series, which has just reached its penultimate instalment with the recently-released Mockingjay - Part 1, has just as much in common with a dystopian movie released in 1975: director Norman Jewison’s Rollerball, based on screenwriter William Harrison's own short story, Roller Ball Murder.
Like The Hunger Games, Rollerball is set in a dystopian future where the bloodlust and revolutionary tendencies of the populace are held in check by a violent televised sport. A cross between a roller derby and gladiatorial combat, Rollerball sees its rival teams clash on a circular arena.
- 11/28/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Blu-ray Release Date: May 13, 2014
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Twilight Time
The 1975 sci-fi-tinged action-sports film Rollerball, one of the Seventies great dystopian future-shock flicks, finally makes its Blu-ray debut courtesy of Twilight Time.
In the future, there will be no war. But there will be Rollerball.
Rollerball posits a future—in this case a not-so-far-away 2018—in which war has been replaced by the titular game, a gladiatorial spectacle of violence that helps keep the global populace entertained and anesthetized. Emerging from this hard-hitting “sport” is a champion, Jonathan E (James Caan, Thief), whose individual expertise defeats the worldwide corporate leadership’s design: to emphasize the futility of individual effort. Corporate big-wigs (icily incarnated by The Fog‘s John Houseman) need Jonathan to retire, but Jonathan begins to have his own dangerous ideas.
Directed by Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof) and written by William Harrison, the film also stars Moses Gunn (Wusa...
Price: Blu-ray $29.95
Studio: Twilight Time
The 1975 sci-fi-tinged action-sports film Rollerball, one of the Seventies great dystopian future-shock flicks, finally makes its Blu-ray debut courtesy of Twilight Time.
In the future, there will be no war. But there will be Rollerball.
Rollerball posits a future—in this case a not-so-far-away 2018—in which war has been replaced by the titular game, a gladiatorial spectacle of violence that helps keep the global populace entertained and anesthetized. Emerging from this hard-hitting “sport” is a champion, Jonathan E (James Caan, Thief), whose individual expertise defeats the worldwide corporate leadership’s design: to emphasize the futility of individual effort. Corporate big-wigs (icily incarnated by The Fog‘s John Houseman) need Jonathan to retire, but Jonathan begins to have his own dangerous ideas.
Directed by Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof) and written by William Harrison, the film also stars Moses Gunn (Wusa...
- 4/18/2014
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The Arkansas Times reported yesterday that novelist and screenwriter William Harrison died on Tuesday at his home in Fayetteville, just a week shy of his 80th birthday. Though he published nine novels and more than 50 short stories in his career, Harrison is best remembered for “Roller Ball Murder,” a dystopian sports story set in the faraway future of 2018, which first appeared in the September 1973 issue of Esquire, and was later adapted by Harrison for the 1975 film Rollerball. But the bulk of his novels were set in Africa—including Burton And Speke, which became the 1990 film ...
- 10/24/2013
- avclub.com
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