ridiculous rating

Load of rubbish!!

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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.

"Rollercoaster" released in 1977, was a great suspense film, that unfortunately, suffered from a bad marketing campaign. Coming out in the wake of the "Disaster Flicks" sub-genre that was all the rage in Hollywood in the 70′s, movie goers attending "Rollercoaster" expecting to see yet another over the top epic in which Hollywood B- list actors are picked off one by one on a regular basis in the midst of some disaster or other might have left the theater feeling cheated. But that's not the kind of film "Rollercoaster" is, and the fact that it wasn't as well received or as successful as it should have been is a shame. Because "Rollercoaster" is a crackling good suspense story concerning an insane but smart bomber, the amusement park rides he destroys, taking lives down with it, and the one man who knows how he thinks and is the only one who can stop him. This is the stuff great action films today are made of. Films like "Speed" and other "mad bomber" epics owe a great debt to "Rollercoaster" for laying the "tracks", (see what I did there?) for similar films like it in the future. For reasons never explained, a young psychopath, played by Timothy Bottoms sets about rigging roller coaster rides at various amusement parks in America with home made explosives. The results are obviously deadly, and he soon issues an ultimatum to all the owners of the major amusement parks in the country: Pay up, or they will continue to see how "vulnerable" (as he puts it) they are to people like him. The hero of this film is Harry Calder, (George Segal) a California safety inspector, under whose jurisdiction the first roller-coaster bomb is deployed. Even though Calder wants no part of these proceedings, he has the intuition to identify the modus operandi of Bottoms' character, known only in the credits as "The Young Man". Calder finds himself clashing on a regular basis, not with "The Young Man", but with a senior agent of the FBI, Agent Hoyt, played here with the usual gusto of Richard Widmark. It's obvious Agent Hoyt considers Calder "little people", a civil servant beneath his attention, but Hoyt soon realizes he needs Calder's participation in bringing down "The Young Man" for a rather disturbing reason. It seems "The Young Man", who has eavesdropped on Calder's advice to the amusement park owners to take this man seriously and also appreciates Calder's reluctant accreditation of his demolition and engineering skills. In a way, this is very much like the relationship between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in "Silence Of The Lambs"; in that the presence of evil is appeased by the respect shown to it by the forces of good.In the central portion of the film, "The Young Man" arranges for a payoff to be made at King's Dominion Amusement Park in Doswell, Virginia, and he wants Calder to personally deliver the money to him. Here is where "Rollercoaster" really takes off in terms of suspense and gamesmanship. Even though Calder is being watched by a legion of undercover agents, commanded by Agent Hoyt, "The Young Man" consistently moves Calder around the amusement park like a chess piece, from ride to ride, all to exhaust and throw off the agents shadowing Calder so that when the time comes for the drop to be made, they will all be out of position and looking the wrong way. "The Young Man's" plan seems to be successful, but then things change, setting up a very deadly endgame at the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia, CA. It is there that Calder and Agent Hoyt must engage "The Young Man" one last time, with the lives of innocent people hanging in the balance. I won't go into any further detail then that, because "Rollercoaster" is truly a lost "gem" from the 70′s in terms of its storytelling, pacing and buildup. Dare I say, this is a film that perhaps even Alfred Hitchcock would have approved of thanks to its nerve wracking atmosphere. Bottoms is cool, sinister and unsympathetic in the way he conducts business. Segal, who was in the prime of his career in the 70′s, plays his role with just the right amount of cynicism and contempt, balanced with a very begrudged respect for the villain. And Widmark completes the trio bringing all the bluster and bravado that cemented his legacy as one of the old school Hollywood "tough guys". It's also a fun period piece hearkening back to the days of the Carter Administration, bell bottom jeans, and acid rock. In one scene, a real life rock band called Sparxx plays a concert at the Magic Mountain Park for the audience waiting to take the first ride on a brand new roller-coaster, during which a bomb squad tentatively attempts to locate and disarm the deadly explosive left by the culprit. The crosscutting between the 70′s rock (think of the band Free, but on a much smaller scale) and the edgy business of pulling the plug without blowing up the works is very effective indeed. And the film is replete with such sequences, and that's half the fun of this movie: getting worked up, anticipating the worst, and holding your breath just in case it does.Bottom line: "Rollercoaster" is not about blood and guts and high profile deaths. If that's your cup of tea, this might not be the film for you. But if you enjoy suspense and well played confrontations and showdowns, "Rollercoaster" is a very enjoyable ride indeed!

While trying to find another angle towards the many disaster films that materialized back in the 1970's, "Rollercoaster", though not the worst film of this particular genre, but you'd be kidding me if you all think this was the best of of its genre, because in reality it never even comes close. Sure this film delivers a cornucopia of footage from the rollercoasters, but what brings this movie down was the narrow-thin plot and a poorly structured story. Directed by James Goldstone and running for exactly two hours, "Rollercoaster" is an excuse to exploit audience people who have short-attention spans, which leads to the gripping amusement park scenarios are awkwardly pasted on as a ploy to bring this story to feature-length. For the genre being a crime-drama, it's tedious and mundane which is rare because most crime dramas are both exciting and settling, "Rollercoaster" is simply not like that.Timothy Bottoms stars as a unnamed bomber who's modus operandi is to wring out $1 million from amusement park owners after observing that getting through security is a piece of cake. While at the amusement parks, he places explosives on the roller-coaster tracks and releases the bombs with the help of a remote trigger and promises to inflict more damage unless his demands are compromised. George Segal plays Insp. Harry Calder, a cantankerous man trying to quit smoking by using shock therapy, seems to have more access knowledge than the other detectives and just knows the right strategy needed to outsmart this sadistic fiend. He becomes the right person for the job while sacrificing his safety and finds himself in one precarious situation after another.Like its predecessors, this movie has an ensemble of talented thespians, although it doesn't really feature very many A-list performers. The only two standouts are popular 1970's performer George Segal and the very iconic Henry Fonda who was lowered to a very low supporting role and doesn't really have much to do here. There are debuts from younger performers who would go onto bigger and better roles in the future. Helen Hunt is in this movie playing Harry's daughter Tracy Calder. Although he did not get credit for his performance, Steve Guttenberg has a cameo role as a messenger. And voice legend Michael Bell is here in a small role as Chuck Demerest.During the time of its release, there was some speculation that theatres wanted to add more to the sound systems by creating more dimension to get the audience pumped up by creating sound-waves where bass speakers came into effect which would manipulate the theatre chairs to tremble on impact and to add extra sound during explosives, almost as though the audience was in on the action. This archaic technology was there way before HD and 3D were invented. I guess this was desperate move to keep the audience awake from their slumber because it sure didn't keep me awake.Even the technical features were a bummer as well. Lalo Schifrin's pedestrian score sounded like a giant rip-off to Hitchcock's "Psycho". And who in their right minds though that glam-rock musician Russell Mael of Sparks could act? Now "Big Boy" will etched in my mind for a very long time. For amusement park aficionados will marvel at the amusement park footages, but will not grab anyone else's attention if you are not. Even though there are a lot of casualties I the movie, the audience gets to witness only one. I guess the audience must be dumb or hard at seeing, but there are obvious dummies replacing live actors during the sporadic graphic scenes makes one felt like they were cheated by low-budget obviousness."Rollercoaster" is an obscure and dated film that was released at a time when disaster films were wearing out its welcome by the late 1970's. This movie might appeal to those who are nostalgic junkies or fans who love old movies and of course there are a few enthusiasts who insist that this movie is a top-notch heart-pulsing thriller. Sorry folks I'm not on your side for this one. This movie is one long, slow ride that will inspire you to seek elsewhere for more fun rides. Even the shaking, trembling seats would not have held my interest if I was old enough to had seen when it was released in 1977.

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.