John Houseman in Rollerball (1975)

[@brentmcwilliams4332]

The bit about the executives wanting to be rollerballers and vice versa is great stuff. It was my favorite scene in a very prescient and relevant piece of work.

[@QuantumRift]

This movie is a good movie. What makes it a GREAT movie is Housman's portrayal of Mr. Bartholomew against Caan's portrayal of folk hero Jonathan E.

[@sudburylawyer]

Incredible that Bartholemew says "We can't think of any more ways to reward him" when the company took away the one thing he valued most, his wife, just because an executive wanted her.

[@lylahale5284]

"New York in the final" is the greatest piece of over act ever..and that little nod that he knows its cheese......always makes me laugh !

[@oojini3112]

The guy waving at 3.00....my dad👏👏💪..papa was a rolling stone

[@justChuka]

Yasita Stephen Ojini Medical student in Munich. He got the role because the director thought he looked like Harry Belafonte 😇

[@spectrum10]

great song by The Temptations

[@jazzx251]

In terms of team sports' movies - this is the best of them all. It succeeds in convincing you that Rollerball is a genuine sport.

[@racookster]

That's because it's really a movie about corporate oligarchy, and the glimpses we get of the bread-and-circuses society that's hypnotized by the sport add up to something horribly realistic. The scene of decadent elites blowing up trees said it all. The 'seventies gave us a steady stream of depressing science fiction films, and this one was the most prescient.

[@QuantumRift]

OMG, when I saw this at the theater in 1975 in Columbus, OH, I knew it was a real sport. I was 18 and I was ready to play it. We tried but nobody would insure us...LOL

[@jazzx251]

@@QuantumRift I heard on BBC Radio 5 yesterday that James Caan has died. Sad, but he was 83, comes to us all ... like lights fading out on a scoreboard I was amazed by the host saying "I remember him in Rollerball! - little known film" .. and his female sidekick said "me too! Great movie!" (they were both genuine - it was maybe not as 'little-known' as they both thought)

[@jazzx251]

2:30 - the guy who gets force-choked by Darth Vader!

[@williamdelong8265]

Yup

[@thomasthomas2418]

When my boss calls and asks how things are, I'll reply, "Inventory is set; audiences are happy; schedule is being met. No problems here!"

[@lam533]

Does he also give you tiny mints from a metal case?

[@thomasthomas2418]

@@lam533 Not yet....😄

[@GO-mg7ft]

This movie predicted things 30 years ahead. Look at what happened with Rossi 2015, Hamilton 2021 and Djokovic 2022.

[@tastemakerguidie]

that'll seatlle correlation

[@roybarron5289]

Here at Power & Energy we all work as one, everyone knows his role and the gears of civilization continue to turn

[@michael.prescott4016]

this movie is so on point about Pro Sports, esp the NFL.

[@darbyheavey406]

Housman was great I “Three days of the Condor”.

[@VinayakPande53]

Oh, this was Christopher Reeve's acting coach. I remember that line from the recent documentary where Reeve impersonates him. 'Mr. Reeve, it is very important that you become a serious actor, unless of course, they pay you a lot of money...to do something else.'

[@pix046]

Houseman is like the average boss today. You use people and when there is no further use uou discard them. Any dissent is abuse and contrary to 'decision-making'.

[@toomanyhobbies2011]

You're clearly not a professional. Yes, janitors and fast food workers are treated this way because anyone can do that kind of work.

[@LandondeeL]

John Houseman wearing a necktie? I didn't recognize him at first!

[@STEJTHEGREATEST]

I wanna see what the team uniform was like for the Liverpool, England Rollerball team!!!!!

[@drwgisblaidd2650]

Best bet, in Rollerball, wear red, it hides the blood...😑

[@justoutofframemoviereviews656]

spot the three Star Wars ANH actors in this one scene.

[@ericmcconnaughey2782]

The guy in gray suit standing next to Houseman was the Imperial officer who gets force choked by Vader during Tarkin's conference on Death Star.

[@alonenjersey]

His description of executives dreaming "they're great Rollerballers" is pretty much the way it's been for decades. Men in suits dreaming they're pro athletes.

[@dwightdodd3734]

Mr. Pitt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Gwaithmir]

If they wanted Jonathan out that bad, they should have let him finish the season, then offered him some sort of promotion and/or a generous retirement package. Corporate idiots!

[@Retro-Future-Land]

I think they had to get him to agree to leave beforehand otherwise he'd have a full season the next year to enjoy.

[@TomLiberman]

Yeah, it's the old self-fulfilling prophecy. If a literary device works, why stop using it?

[@ericbrett3095]

I think they needed him to voluntarily retire, for corporate image, or kill him on the track. The goal of the corporation was to remove individuality and Jonathan was an individual even though he played by the rules.

[@michael.prescott4016]

like the Dallas Cowboys of the 70s, corporate, no feeling,

[@samaelcoral7297]

True name : Jacques Haussmann,born in Bucarest

[@patriotsman6511]

Perfect movie for Google

[@Gwaithmir]

The Rollerball remake was a piece of crap.

[@drwgisblaidd2650]

Seconded

[@Telephonebill51]

I put it up there with the second Total Recall, where they didn't even fucking go to Mars...

[@kinfeofspaghetti]

This really shows how much they infantilize the players.

[@gusolive5522]

Kaepernick is Johnathan E trump is the head of the corporation

[@jswin2084]

Except Kap sucked at football by the time he had something to say. Easily one of the worst QBs in the league

[@vikramparmar8093]

Dude that is the most idiotic comment I have ever heard in my life. Every single executive including John houseman would have despised President Trump. He was a loose cannon. He’d would be giving up all the money to the roller ball players and the executives would be furious with him. Jonathan E spoke very little and performed like a monster. Kap was the exact opposite.