Rollercoaster (1977)

You won't be disappointed!

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

In the seventies a new sound system was developed in the hope of increasing attendance at movies. The system was created for Universal Studios and called Sensurround. The first film using the system was EARTHQUAKE. The system was basically four huge speakers located in the corners of the theater that would blare out lowered bass tones and sound effects at certain sequences in the film causing patrons to actually feel the sound as well as hear it. Only a few films were made this way and the new concept didn't take root. But there were several movies made using it, including Roller-coaster.An unknown protagonist (Timothy Bottoms) sneaks into an amusement park and rigs a bomb on one of their rollercoasters. Detonating it remotely the resulting wreck kills several of those on the ride at the time. Safety inspector Harry Calder (George Seagal), who had signed off shortly before this incident, is called in to investigate what happened.When another incident happens across the country Harry believes the two are connected. Discovering there is a meeting of amusement park owners taking place in Chicago he flies there to confront them. They let him know that they've been blackmailed by the bomber who says he will blow up more rollercoasters if they don't pay him $1 million.Harry connects with the FBI agent in charge of handling the blackmail case, Hoyt (Richard Widmark). Harry carries the ransom money to the park the bomber has next targeted and told to wait for a phone call at a pay phone. The bomber tells him there is a bomb set to go off, tells him where to pick up a two way radio and then sends him back and forth across the park riding various rides. Knowing what the FBI has planned to do he tells Harry to signal the drop has been made but sends him to drop it elsewhere. Afterwards Hoyt tells Harry the money was marked.The bomber calls Harry at home blaming him for the marked bills. He then tells him he will get revenge. Calder, feeling that the next attack will be launched at him personally, tells Hoyt that the most logical target will be a new coaster opening up at Magic Mountain that he signed off on. The Great American Revolution is set to open that weekend with plenty of fanfare and cameras rolling. Will this be the location? And if so will Harry be able to stop the bomber? The movie plays out as a solid detective story, a thriller that plays out well as the story progresses. The fact that Harry is a ride inspector makes his character that much more interesting as opposed to his being a regular detective. The entire film is much like its title, a movie that moves up and down and offers thrills from start to finish.Seagal was at his peak at this time and does a great job as Harry. The inclusion of Widmark as the FBI agent works well here too, a reliable face movie fans trusted at the time. Bottoms does a great job as the unhinged bomber. And in a small role as Harry's young daughter is the then unknown Helen Hunt.Extras on the DVD include the original SENSURROUND soundtrack, an interview with associate producer/writer Tommy Cook, a still gallery, radio spots and the original theatrical trailer.

It's more fun that it has a right to be, an inexpensive movie about a Safety Inspector (Segal) who must deliver a million dollars to a techie madman who will otherwise blow up one of the rides at the King's Dominion Amusement Park in Richmond, Virginia.There's a scene in "Dirty Harry" in which the madman "runs Harry all over the city" with a suitcase full of cash, attempting to lose or confuse the many cops known to be following Harry and watching for the pick up. This whole movie is like that, except that instead of simply running from one point to another, Segal is instructed by radio to buy funny hats, ride the roller coaster multiple times, be weighed by a cute girl in glasses, have his picture taken, and do the usual things that people do in amusement parks.George Segal does a nice job as the reluctant but savvy and inventive hero. He's supported by several familiar names, most of them past their prime, few of whom worked on the picture for more than a day or two -- Henry Fonda, beginning to gargle with age; Richard Widmark as the federal agent in charge of tracking Segal's moves in hope of capturing the madman, Timothy Bottoms; Harry Guardino from "Dirty Harry", who has about two lines of dialog; Susan Strasberg who is there to prove Segal is an ordinary heterosexual; and an adolescent Helen Hunt.It's silly and enjoyable, like spending a day at an amusement park, and, like cotton candy, after it melts so engagingly in your mouth there's nothing of substance left.

I do like suspense thrillers, and for me Roller-coaster was a good one. I personally had little problem with the length or with the pace here, what I wasn't so keen on was that there were times when the music could have been less obvious while still enhancing the tension, there are times when it succeeds in that but others when it is rather monotonous, and also while I loved how sympathetic her character was Susan Strasberg was underused. However, there is so much that I liked about it. The production values are of high order, with crisp photography and editing and striking locations, the script is often tense and involving and the story is very taut and intrigues right from the start. The acting is fine, and I have no qualms about the characterisation either. It was nice seeing the legendary Henry Fonda here, and Richard Widmark is good value. But it is the performances of Calder and The Young Man and how they're constructed character-wise that really impresses. George Segal is excellent as Calder, and Timothy Bottoms is very chilling as The Young Man, and how they are written as individual characters and how they're set off against one other is what makes Roller-coaster such a good watch. Overall, I don't know why the rating is as low as it is, but regardless I think this movie is a very good one. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Roller-coaster (1977) ** (out of 4) The disaster genre was certainly running on fumes by the time this thing struck but I'd say this has a lot more in common with JAWS. A nut case (Timothy Bottoms) blows up a roller coaster ride and then blackmails the park owners for a million dollars. He forces a inspector (George Segal) to go along with the ride but after a detective (Richard Widmark) double crosses him, the psychopath picks out another park to blow up. There's barely enough plot here to fill up a TV episode so stretching it out to two-hours was just crazy because after the first deadly ride nothing happens for the rest of the film. A lot of the problem is due to the screenplay but director Goldstone doesn't do the film much justice either as there's no suspense ever built up, which is the same thing that happened to the director's next film, the real disaster WHEN TIME RAN OUT. Back to this film, I'm really not sure what they were thinking making this thing so long unless there was some unwritten rule that any disaster film had to run extra long. At the start of the film it seemed like the screenwriters were going to do something smart and that is do a JAWS on us. In that film, they gave us something everyone like (water) and made us scared of it. This film starts off by showing why people love roller coasters but then it tries to make us scared by showing bodies being broken apart after the first accident. This is all good but then the movie continues and it just goes downhill. There's really not much you can do with a plot like this because rides are either going to blow up or they're not. Here, they don't. We get a long cat and mouse game at an amusement park as Bottoms has Segal walking all over the place to try and get away from the police. This sequence feels close to an hour and not one second of it contains any suspense. The film tacks on an extra ending with the possibility of another bomb being on yet another ride but again we get no suspense. By the time the final act comes along I was struggling to stay away. The one thing the film does offer are some fun performances with Segal doing a very good job in the lead. The screenplay doesn't offer him too much development but the actor keeps thing alive with the fun performance. Widmark is also pretty good in his role and gets to play off that classic attitude in a few nice scenes. Bottoms isn't the greatest villain in history but his calm attitude works. Henry Fonda is kind enough to show and pick up a paycheck. Look quick for Helen Hunt and Steve Guttenberg. One could debate the importance of the 70s disaster flicks but there's no doubt that as the decade went along they got a lot worse. This one here isn't as bad as THE SWARM or WHEN TIME RAN OUT but at the same time there's not enough here to make it worth wasting two hours of your life.