Rollerball

{{Infobox film | name = Rollerball | image = RollerballPoster.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster by Bob Peak | director = Norman Jewison | producer = Norman Jewison | screenplay = William Harrison | based_on = | starring = | music = André Previn | cinematography = Douglas Slocombe | editing = Antony Gibbs | studio = Algonquin Films | distributor = United Artists | released = | runtime = 129 minutes<ref>{{cite web | url=http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/rollerball-1970-3 | title=Rollerball' (AA) | work=British Board of Film Classification | date=June 25, 1975 | access-date=June 20, 2015}}</ref> | country = United Kingdom United States | language = English | budget = $5-6 million | gross = $30 million }}Rollerball is a 1975 science fiction sports film directed and produced by Norman Jewison. It stars James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, John Beck, Moses Gunn and Ralph Richardson. The screenplay, written by William Harrison, adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder", which had first appeared in the September 1973 issue of Esquire.Although Rollerball had a largely American cast, a Canadian director, and was released by the American company United Artists, it was produced in London and Munich. Plot In 2018, Jonathan E. is the team captain and veteran star of the Houston Rollerball team. Mr. Bartholomew, chairman of the Energy Corporation - one of a series of corporations that now govern society - and team sponsor, offers Jonathan a lavish retirement package if Jonathan will announce his retirement during an upcoming television special detailing his career. Jonathan refuses, and requests to see his former wife Ella, who had been taken from him some years earlier by a corporate executive who wanted her for himself. Jonathan goes to a library, where he finds that all books have been digitized and edited to suit the corporations, and are now stored on supercomputers at large protected corporate locations. Jonathan's friend and former coach Cletus, now an Energy executive, warns him that the Executive Committee is afraid of him, though he cannot find out why. Rollerball soon degrades into senseless violence as the rules are changed to force Jonathan out. The semi-final match between Houston and Tokyo is played with no penalties and limited substitutions in the hope Jonathan will be injured and forced out.