Blood of Rollerball Double Feature

Here at the ReelChange Drive-In, we believe in the beauty of the Double Feature. The way two well programmed films can intermingle when enjoyed back to back like a nicely paired cigar and scotch. The hidden preoccupations of one film often snap into greater relief or the similarities between two unapparent siblings become obvious when the two films are matched. In line with that belief, we present all our main attractions in Double Features format with a special late show for the truly committed.

Our currently showing double feature is two of the best sports movies of all time and certainly the top two based on a fictional sport. We start the evening with Norman Jewison’s dystopian epic Rollerball. At the time it might have been pitched as THX-1138 meets The Longest Yard, but Jewison’s steadfast direction and William Harrison’s script based on his own short story made this an almost instant classic.

The plot starts as a typical sports picture with the title sport’s reigning champ, Jonathon E, heading toward retirement after a career that has literally redefined the sport. The big difference is Rollerball’s corporate vision of the future. Before the era of the mega-merger and corporate synergy, Harrison envisioned a world in which nationality means little to nothing, but who cuts your checks defines you. In a bread and circuses gambit, the corporations (embodied by uber-company-man John Houseman) create The Game: Rollerball. The sport serves to convince the spectators that individual effort in life is futile. Rollerball seethes with a mid-seventies anti-establishment anger while telling the story of the only man with the stones to stand up to The Man.

Speaking of stones, literal stones thrown against sheet metal keep time in the brutal sport of Jugging in The Blood of Heroes. Never mind that "jugging" is a lame name for a sport; no one in the post-apocalyptic future can remember why it's played with the skull of a dog. Just savor that for a second: the skull of a dog.

Far from the overly-clean, five-minutes-into-the-future world of Rollerball, The Blood of Heroes has more caked-on dirt than your average drumming circle. Rutger Hauer takes the lead in this underdog-team-makes-the-big-time flick.

The supporting cast reads like a team of all-star utility infielders: Delroy Lindo, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Joan Chen. The Blood of Heroes is written and directed by David Peoples, the man responsible for making you think, "Why didn't Rutger Hauer go farther? He's so cool." With an outside possibility of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I'd wager the reason that you think Hauer rocks is one of three Peoples scripts: The Blood of Heroes, Ladyhawke, and, yep, Blade Runner.

One of the most interesting things about pairing these two pictures is their oddly conflicting messages. Rollerball is a tribute to the power of the individual to shake up the status quo, whereas The Blood of Heroes is a classic sports picture in praise of teamwork and to greater extent, community. Together we will be reminded that “no man is bigger than the game,” but also that “The Jugger needs a friend.” So sack up, put on your protective gear and pray that you don't get the ball . . . or the dog skull.