About

Rollerball will screen from an imported 35mm print.

In the future, there is no war or crime: there is only Rollerball. Norman Jewison’s riveting sci-fi vision takes place in a world dominated by cruel corporations and public obsession with the titular bloodsport. Only James Caan’s star player Jonathan E dares to stand up against tyranny and fight for individualism.

One of the major entries in the 1970s Hollywood dystopia canon - alongside such films as Silent Running 1972, Soylent Green 1973 and Logan's Run 1976 - Rollerball creates a vivid vision of a future where conformity is rigidly enforced. The first film to fully credit its stunt performers, it is punctuated by incredible action set-pieces set within the Rollerball arena (shot in Munich, in the basketball stadium built for the 1972 Olympics). It is nevertheless consistently undergirded by a blistering social commentary, rallying against classism and societal violence, and enlivened by Caan's lead turn and John Houseman's supporting performance as an Energy Corporation Executive. A film that remains thrilling and thoughtful to this day, Rollerball is an unsung gem of science-fiction cinema.