Rollercoaster
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Movie Reviews of Rollercoaster
Movie Review: Underrated Suspense
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're looking for a campy, over-produced, disaster film of the seventies, you're gonna be disappointed. If you can get over the title of this film and actually watch it, you're gonna be plesently surprised. The premise may seem silly, but it actually works. Great acting, a smart script, even smarter dialogue, and excellent editing make this a real thriller. The suspense is almost on the same line as "Jaws". Sure the gaudy setting may be a turn-off, but just pay attention to the story and action and you'll become engaged. What makes this film so unique is the fact that people go to amusement parks everyday without the notion of anything going wrong. You can feel for this film because we've all been in the situation where we know something bad can happen, but our own enjoyment can distract us. What "Poltergeist" does to the suburbs and "Speed" does to public transportation, "Rollercoaster" does the same thing to the least likeliest place of terror- family amusements parks. Also, if you're planning a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, you'll DEFINITELY want to check this movie out!Movie Review: Sens-surround Feature Did Not Work on Home Version!!
Summary: 5 Stars
YES, I saw this feature in the theatre as a young fella and like a handful of other mid/late 70's (Earthquake,Midway) it was hyped as being in "Sens-surround" which I remember as being some VERY BIG speakers that made the floor of the theater vibrate during the scenes with the rollercoasters. In hindsight, it was a pretty dopey effect, but it was novel at the time and worth noting.
The film itself is a decently paced thriller. Segal playing a saftey inspector/detective trying to find the cuckoo who's been bombing rollercoasters and blackmailing the amusement park bigwigs in the middle of peak season. Of course, upper management won't do the sensible thing and shut the parks down, so Segal must work extra hard while trying to nab the offending bomber. Segal also tries to quit smoking, which is not a good thing to quit when you are stressing as he definitely is ( and you may be too while watching the defuse scenes)
Great early appearances of Craig Wassam and Helen Hunt as well as odd L.A rockers Sparks-a band led by the Kael brothers, Hitler look-alike pianist and a pretty boy vocalist.
Movie Review: Terror in the amusement park
Summary: 5 Stars
Think you're safe from terror when you enter an amusement park? This underrated 1977 thriller will make you think twice about that assumption. What JAWS did for the beaches, DUEL for the highways, and PSYCHO for motel showers, ROLLERCOASTER does for amusement parks--turns them into places where absolutely no one is safe.George Segal is quite good as a cynical civic inspector looking into two very suspicious amusement park ride "accidents." He soon comes into phone contact with a young man (Timothy Bottoms), who is actually perpetrating these accidents to extort one million dollars from the owners of these parks. The result is slowly escalating suspense leading to a very tense conflict between Bottoms, Segal, and an FBI team headed by a very cynical agent (Richard Widmark).
Boosted by Lalo Schifrin's often sinister Herrmann/Stravinsky-like score and James Goldstone's efficient direction, ROLLERCOASTER isn't the disaster movie it is often pegged as. Rather, it is an unjustifiably overlooked movie that deserves a revival. Look for a very young Helen Hunt as Segal's daughter.
Movie Review: Suspenseful
Summary: 5 Stars
1977's ROLLERCOASTER was written by the team (Richard Levinson and William Link) responsible for many of the best COLUMBO episodes on TV. This film relies on subtle, well-plotted suspense and humor to hook you, and it works. The characters are for the most part enjoyably cynical and grouchy, and the interplay between George Segal and Richard Widmark is especially fun. Look for a very young Helen Hunt as Segal's daughter -- and an early walk-on by one of the stars of DINER. See if you find and similarities in the phone conversations between Segal's character and Timothy Bottoms' character here, and the conversations between Clint Eastwood's character and John Malkovich's character in IN THE LINE OF FIRE.If you have the patience to enjoy an old-fashioned thriller that doesn't bash you over the head with attention-deficit-disorder-paced editing a la Michael Bay or Simon West, check it out.
Movie Review: It's a shame so few people know this movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of those excellent movies that most people under 25 - sadly - have never heard of. Which is a shame; this is absolutely a classic thriller.After a theme park rollercoaster collapses, safety inspector Harry Calder (George Segal) is brought in to investigate. He concludes that the accident was in fact no accident but the attack of a terrorist.
Harry is proven right but his investigation attracts the attention of the terrorist who drags him into a dangerous cat and mouse game for a million dollar's worth of ransom money.
What makes this movie so great is the actors. All characters in the movie are very believable and convincing. George Segal is particularly good as the cynical yet oh so charismatic and determined safety inspector.
This is a great two-hour ride!