Rollerball: James Caan Was the Good Sport in a Bad Game

Even the game is a subtle social jab at disposable commercial culture considering how closely it reflects the Roller Disco era, which fueled such films as Kansas City Bomber (1972), Rollerbabies (1976), Roller Boogie with The Exorcist’s Linda Blair, and Xanadu (1980) with Olivia Newton-John. Using a passing fad as the centerpiece competition may have been intentional to Jewison, because it underscores the silly constants in a world which is becoming seriously modified.

Having directed such classics as The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), In the Heat of the Night (1967), and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Jewison left Hollywood to shoot Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar in Europe, and stayed out of the U.S. for several years. Rollerball was shot at Pinewood Studios in England, and Munich’s Audi Dome, built for the 1972 Olympic basketball games. It is one of the five largest circular arenas in the world.

Most Valuable Player

Jonathan E. is an evenheaded surrogate for the regulation-breaking Jewison on an uneven playing field, and Caan wins through good sportsmanship. Even the actor’s most famous hothead, Sonny in The Godfather, followed some rules in street fighting, where there are none. They may not be Marquess of Queensberry, but they keep the son of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) regulated, even as he bites gripping fingers and throttles his brother-in-law Carlo Rossi (Gianni Russo) with leather oxford shoes and garbage pails. 

In the novel The Godfather, Mario Puzo explains Carlo’s inner thoughts. He knows Sonny stops hitting once someone stops fighting back. Sonny has a good reason to beat the guy who beat his sister but stops before he mashes him into pulp because he doesn’t hit the defenseless, no matter how much he wants to. In any acting situation, it was obvious Caan would take one for the team. In Rollerball, the team takes one for him.

For Rollerball, Caan puts in one of his most low-key performances, especially considering he is playing a charismatic sports superstar in the limelight of “his year.” He brings an inarticulate hunger for knowledge, and an all-consuming curiosity to the player, just as much as he brings the rock star appeal of the times’ “Broadway” Joe Namath. The Jets star quarterback was photographed spilling out of limos in fur coats with a glass of champagne in one hand and a model, who could have been in any of the commercials he shot, holding his throwing hand.