{"id":63506,"date":"2013-12-11T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T16:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=63506"},"modified":"2013-12-11T14:43:16","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T19:43:16","slug":"hell-on-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/11\/hell-on-wheels\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell on Wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CaanRollerball.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63511\" alt=\"CaanRollerball\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CaanRollerball.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CaanRollerball.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/CaanRollerball-300x164.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>During one of the most lucrative Thanksgiving weekends <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/box-office-catching-fire-frozen-660822\" target=\"_blank\">in Hollywood history<\/a>, moviegoers hooked on the <i>Hunger Games<\/i> franchise once again embraced the vision of a populace preoccupied by blood sports. Millions more Americans stayed home and skirted family small talk while zoning out in the flat-screen glow of football coverage. Before NFL collisions in HD and murderous YA fiction in <small>IMAX<\/small> colonized our culture, a short story published in <i>Esquire <\/i>in 1973 anticipated the blitz on both fronts. William Harrison\u2019s \u201cRoller Ball Murder\u201d forecasted a future where corporations have replaced all governments and world armies, and nationalism is exorcised at ultraviolent roller derbies. The games keep the people in line, so long as they\u2019re tuned into what Harrison presciently dubbed \u201cmultivision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When I came across <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/10\/30\/arts\/william-harrison-79-novelist-and-rollerball-writer-dies.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">Harrison\u2019s obituary<\/a> in the October 30 edition of the <i>New York Times<\/i>\u2014he passed away in Arkansas, at age seventy-nine\u2014it was printed just below the obituary for the late Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Allan Stanley. Seeing the two notices printed in such proximity, the name that leapt to mind was Ontario\u2019s own <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Norman_Jewison\" target=\"_blank\">Norman Jewison<\/a>, a lifelong Leafs fan and the Oscar-winning director of <i>In the Heat of the Night<\/i> and <i>Fiddler on the Roof<\/i>. In 1975, Jewison adapted Harrison\u2019s story for the screen and encouraged him to write the screenplay. The result was <i>Rollerball<\/i>,<i> <\/i>an underappreciated seventies curio that was revived briefly in the wake of a regrettable remake in 2002. The overlooked original still packs a punch. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Along with his production designer, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Box\" target=\"_blank\">John Box<\/a>, a veteran of such classics as <i>Lawrence of Arabia<\/i> and <i>Doctor Zhivago<\/i>, Jewison faced the challenge of visualizing a sport that had previously resided solely in Harrison\u2019s imagination. After months of experimentation, down to the creation of an ersatz Rollerball rulebook and a new typeface for uniforms and related regalia, Jewison\u2019s crew managed to bring the game to life. The stadium, which was anchored by a massive, hardwood oval track, was modeled after architectural remnants from the Munich Olympics, an international competition haunted by terrorist infiltration. The Rollerball game itself, as depicted in the screen adaptation (there are slight modifications from the original story), revolves around brawlers decked out in spiked leather gloves who dodge gasoline fires and crashed motorcycles along the racetrack, all while protecting a steel ball and avoiding James Caan\u2019s pterodactyl shoulders. Presiding over the carnage is the dispassionate CEO of ENERGY, the Houston-based behemoth at the center of the story, portrayed by the great John Houseman\u2014an owl with skybox seats.<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/rollerball.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63513\" alt=\"Rollerball\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/rollerball.jpg\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/rollerball.jpg 448w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/rollerball-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Though Jewison instantly recognized the cinematic potential of Harrison\u2019s piece in <i>Esquire<\/i>, it was his experience as a hockey spectator that solidified his vision. \u201cAround the time I read Bill\u2019s story, I went to a hockey game at Chicago Stadium,\u201d he told me over the phone last month. \u201cIt was a violent game, one filled with passion. All of a sudden, one of the players was hit and there was blood on the ice. The red blood against the white ice was so dramatic and compelling. The audience went crazy, like they were being fed by the violence. At that moment, I noticed all the police walked to the bottom of the aisle to keep watch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Harrison, the impetus of the story was the belligerence he\u2019d noticed taking place at international soccer matches, both on the field and off. As a Canadian, ice hockey was naturally Jewison\u2019s analogue. \u201cHockey is probably one of the most violent games we have,\u201d he said. \u201cIt used to be a game based on skill and wonderful skating, almost balletic, and now it\u2019s based on violence. And it\u2019s the same with American football.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>True to form, the NFL Roundup column in the November 19 <i>Times<\/i>, published the morning after Jewison and I spoke,<i> <\/i>read like <i>Rollerball<\/i> outtakes: a player suspended for ripping an opponent\u2019s helmet off and head-butting him; league-appointed lawyers questioning the entire Miami Dolphins team to root out internal locker-room threats; charges being leveled against an unruly fan who slid from the third deck of Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo and landed on an unsuspecting man below; a former linebacker crashing into an oncoming car on an Oakland highway while driving a hundred miles per hour, killing them both.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/1288094482.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-63512\" alt=\"Rollerball\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/1288094482-1024x808.jpg\" width=\"259\" height=\"204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/1288094482-1024x808.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/1288094482-300x237.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As potent as Jewison\u2019s critique of competitive sports remains, it was not his primary target. \u201cI was more interested in the political aspect of <i>Rollerball<\/i>,\u201d he explained, adding that he bristled when a sportswriter at a major New York daily newspaper was assigned to review <i>Rollerball<\/i> upon its release instead of the resident film or culture critic. \u201cI was interested in how political systems had failed\u2014communism had failed, democracy had failed\u2014and the world was taken over by corporate entities. The assumption was multinationals could solve all problems. So Bill and I broke down what society really needs\u2014solvent energy sources, food, water\u2014and we divided those needs into corporations. Each would have a Rollerball team, and that\u2019s where the violent urges of the populace would be expelled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For all its thrilling depictions of centrifugal battle, where motorcycle stuntmen risked life and limb (only one was significantly injured during production, a broken leg\u2014\u201cPoor Brubaker,\u201d Jewison winced), the most lasting images in the film unfold during a black-tie after-party, in which the rollerballers and their hangers-on pop pills and scroll through highlights of their most crushing body checks on wall-sized screens. \u201cI had this feeling that privilege was given to the athletes, like in the days of Rome,\u201d Jewison said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s Circus Maximus or the Stanley Cup, they\u2019re like gladiators leaving the arena. The players are so exalted for their skill and for surviving. So we decided, well, there\u2019s this kind of class society,\u201d where the players enjoy the spoils of celebrity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/5_large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63510\" alt=\"5_large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/5_large.jpg\" width=\"590\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/5_large.jpg 893w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/5_large-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the climax of the party, women in evening gowns slip away from the confines of the hillside palace and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZhwdkvfxlCY&amp;t=0m36s\" target=\"_blank\">shoot trees with lasers at dawn<\/a>, giggling and gritting their teeth as the trunks smolder. While laser blasts are the most sci-fi addition to Harrison\u2019s original story, the situation feels vaguely plausible. Watching the scene again recently, I was reminded of the Australian tycoon fined by Canadian authorities last year for driving his yacht through the Northwest Passage during an alcohol-fueled party and allowing guests to hop off the boat and taunt native wildlife. <a href=\"http:\/\/news.nationalpost.com\/2012\/10\/02\/australian-tycoon-facing-thousands-in-fines-after-sailing-booze-filled-yacht-through-northwest-passage\/\" target=\"_blank\">According to the <i>National Post<\/i><\/a>, the drunken interlopers took photographs alongside muskox \u201cin mock disco poses\u201d while passengers on the deck shot paintballs and illegal fireworks into the pristine waters of the high Arctic.<\/p>\n<p>And with the eyelash-singeing pyrotechnics of the Super Bowl only intensifying, I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d flinch if this year\u2019s half-time show featured laser-assisted deforestation. Similarly, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/11\/23\/nyregion\/at-super-bowl-new-york-and-new-jersey-will-be-top-rivals.html\" target=\"_blank\">debate has sparked<\/a> regarding the location of the festivities, which will be centered at the taxpayer-funded MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Expecting a boon to the local economy, due in large part to the pageantry and nightlife surrounding the big game, townspeople and business owners in neighboring communities have objected to the sheer number of glitzy parties being hosted across the river, in the chic corridors of Manhattan. When the warriors and their charged-up fans tire of the velvet ropes that night, perhaps some will drift across the bridge to small-town New Jersey and torch the Pine Barrens. The nearby ticker-tape celebration could hide the evidence.<\/p>\n<p><em>James Hughes is a writer and editor in Chicago.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During one of the most lucrative Thanksgiving weekends in Hollywood history, moviegoers hooked on the Hunger Games franchise once again embraced the vision of a populace preoccupied by blood sports. Millions more Americans stayed home and skirted family small talk while zoning out in the flat-screen glow of football coverage. Before NFL collisions in HD [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1186],"tags":[79,12362,12361,81,12363,12355,85,9912,1428,6875,12356],"class_list":["post-63506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-film","tag-film","tag-james-caan","tag-john-houseman","tag-movies","tag-norman-jewison","tag-rollerball","tag-sports","tag-super-bowl","tag-thanksgiving","tag-the-hunger-games","tag-william-harrison"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hell on Wheels by James Hughes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"December 11, 2013 \u2013 During one of the most lucrative Thanksgiving weekends in Hollywood history, moviegoers hooked on the 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