What an iconic image of 70's Sci-fi. What a powerful and iconic film that's still has so much to say all of these decades later. I knew of Rollerball because I read Action(1) and knew that Death Game 1999(2) was a crib on the movie. I got very excited a few years later when I discovered a handful of images in Sci-Fi Now and was most probably treated to my first viewing on a late night TV channel - It didn't disappoint.
There's only a handful of films that have travelled the years with me from TV to Video to DVD and
Rollerball is one of them. You get older, you view it through different eyes and it tilts and shifts and gives you something new each time. As a youngster its the game and the violence and as an adult its the media and the politics and the power. Well worth a look if you never have or a revisit if its been too long since you last did. All the truths are still valid and the corruptions still relevant.
But when all is said and done, very little says 70's Sci-fi to me quite so loudly as that font on that orange T-Shirt.
(1)
(2)
And who remembers The Goodies parody of Rollerball as featured in the 1976 episode "2001 and a Bit" in which the MCC cricket team take on the Rolleregg side. No? Oh well, it stayed with me.
Steve
(Pages 56,58 & 59)
