Jonathan has won again and again he is as angry as he was at the close of #Rollerball (1975), A Film by Norman Jewison, Screenplay by William Harrison.

CROWD: [chants from a whisper to a crescendo] Jonathan, Jonathan…

JONATHAN: [Jonathan, once enthralled by the crowd now detests their insatiable appetite for blood and his strange captivity. Instead of being in a rollerball arena, he feels like he’s their pet hamster running on his wheel in a cage. Perhaps he remembers his hamster from earlier in the movie [See also, #Charly]. Jonathan’s chant ‘destroy…” is staggered between the crowds’ ‘Jonathan’, as they are silent between ‘Jonathans’ he whispers almost imperceptibly] destroy… [looks around by darting his glance to his left and right, as if still fending off swooping rollerballers]…destroy [he smiles knowing his confidants ‘the happy few’, heard him this time, perhaps he said it a bit too loud he thinks to himself, he thinks of his friend Moonpie in Tokyo and whispers the word]…destroy…destroy…destroy… .

***

Alternative ending, the CROWD chants the name of Jonathan’s protege, the lead in the movie and new rollerball king, as Jonathan takes the place of John Houseman’s character Mr. Bartholomew, perhaps aka “the old man”.

What does Jonathan feel? How does he react to his protege not liking the crowd? Does he say ‘destroy’, the name of the lead character, the rollerball star in the instant movie, or does he put on a pair of skates and join the younger champion on the track? Jonathan and the new champ raise their hands joined in a pyramid-shaped triangle. [Shot of some Executives in the grandstands, maybe two out of the five present reveal a Mona Lisa smile and nod with approval–Fade Out].

copyright
John Rubens
April 8, 2016

Compilation copyright
#Rollerball, MGM (1975)
A Film by Norman Jewison
Original Screenplay by William Harrison from his short story: “The Rollerball Murders”