Way better than its remake, however doesn't get its point across, you don't know where it's heading and it's extremely slow, the pacing is quite difficult.

Worst thing ever committed to film...avoid at al costs.

very very slow paced

Far better than the remake. But then again, what isn't?

Excellent sci-fi. Simple political ideas, hyperbolic savagery, sensitive lead performances, bizarre cameos: everything you want.

A one-point parable, and an obvious point at that, is stretched out over more than two hours of violence in which the rules of the game are not even explained. A distinctly unlikeable film.

An interesting look at life in the future and how corporations and sports, can have on our lives!

The vision of the future in Harrison's screenplay is afflicted with severe myopia and checkered with blind spots. (Its origin is Harrison's very short story in Esquire, and he'd be damned if he'd spend much more thought on it.) The short-sightedness may account for Jewison's directing the thing with a preponderance of slow zooms moving into extreme closeups.

Decent little movie. Watch this one, not the 2002 remake.

A boring, yet watchable film, with a good vision of the future and an absolutely brilliant idea for a sport (although without people dying). This sport needs to get a league together.

See also "BoringBall" or "Skate or Die, Future Disco Death Ball".

A very middling film, this has some good ideas, and Caan is fine. However, there are problems with pacing and I don't think it has aged particularly well.

An underrated, ahead-of-its-time sci-fi actioner set in the 21st century. This exciting if overlong version of William Harrison's _The Rollerball Murders_ really needs to be seen on the big screen to be appreciated, but it's interesting to consider how this fictionally predated real-life TV shows like "American Gladiators".

An interesting story (set in the now not-so-distant future of 2018) about brutal sports and evil corporations, focusing on the determination of Jonathan E. (James Caan) to play Rollerball in the face of corporate opposition. The script is oddly structured, with some strange digressions and a fair amount of padding; Norman Jewison's measured direction adds to the strange feel of the film, and one may be forgiven for not knowing quite how to take it. The Rollerball scenes are properly visceral.

Despite being a fan of this, I realise on another viewing that this film isn't perfect; its biggest flaw is the dystopian story itself, which suffers from the lack of expansiveness of its corporate ruled world and the vagueness of it. What makes it still striking though is the rollerball itself; even if the message behind it is too obvious and questionable, the sequences as a barrage of sporting violence are still striking and potent.

Good sci-fi concept and elements, though drags too much.

Great look and feel.

An odd mix of a dystopian future sci-fi movie, macho sports and a director who seems to be trying hard to be Stanley Kubrick. It doesn't quite work. The corporate-controlled world of the future is never fully realised. At times the action scenes glorify the sport too much and there's a lot slow filler in-between. And when it all ends, the story never really reaches a satisfying conclusion.

Dangerously lunkheaded. Dig Jewison's attempts to "emulate" "A Clockwork Orange" (longer takes, classical music, zooms).

Loved this vision of the future. Why aren't people playing this sport yet?

Stupid, but okay if you are 15 years old.

Great film.

A (dark) pearl from a time when sci-fi really tried to mean something through social-political commentary.

I wish I'd seen this version before the crap remake. A lot more could have been done, but it does well nonetheless.

If Rebecca Romjin were in this version it likely would have been the best movie ever.