After ten years with the Houston team he's still at the top of his game, his name on every fan's lips.
Near the end of the season it is suggested he retires. A TV career retrospective is planned. He will want for nothing for the rest of his life.
However Jonathan doesn't want to retire and doesn't understand why he's expected to.
He begins to ask questions. No good will come of this...
CW: 70s language and stereotypes. Objectification of women, but it's done with illustrative intent, not casually
I saw this in the early 80s but remembered nothing of it except the use of Toccata and fugue in D minor (which had a big effect on me) and the scene with the burning trees.
This is a Cyberpunk tale before that was a thing. Jonathan is privileged but is a nobody compared to the 'executives' who run the world.
Everything is controlled. Romantic partners are 'assigned' and 'relocated' with no choice. He might have a ranch, personal staff and a lot of stuff but he isn't free. He misses his wife who was 'taken' by an executive.
The sequences involving Rollerball are stunning but then it's real people skating around a wooden rink in the days when risk assessments weren't quite as careful. It's got the same visceral appeal as something like Mad Max.
It's also from the days when sci-fi was often a vehicle for the political, before Star Wars got it heavily linked with family friendly adventure for many years. This is a bedfellow of Silent Running etc. and there was a fallow period for a while.
It does suffer a little from what I remarked about yesterday. It makes a quite straightforward point and could have done so in much less runtime, but the action sequences will be partly responsible for this.
It does have some very strong sequences though. The one with the burning trees really stuck with me.
To my mind this is worthy of a reappraisal. Dismissed as an action movie it has something to say. Nothing new, nothing subtle but exploring the sacrifice of freedom for comfort seems tainted now with the selfish pursuit of the extremes of both total libertarianism and wealth redistribution. This treads an old middle path.
Recommended, 7/10