Rollercoaster
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Movie Reviews of Rollercoaster
Movie Review: rollarcoaster
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellant suspense film which hops from several amusement parks across the country.This film is a good film to watch when there is nothing on cable.Movie Review: Rollercoaster Needs Some Twists
Summary: 4 Stars
Over all `Rollercoaster' is an enjoyable film. It's an original idea but I'm going to be overly critical of it because if COULD HAVE BEEN so so much more.
The plot: Timothy Bottoms is a psycho terrorist targeting famous amusement parks across the country. He does an excellent job of coming across creepier than Norman Bates.
Hopefully the revival of this film won't inspire anyone but rollercoasters would make good targets. Low security, easy to slip away in a large crowd, only a small explosion is need to cause the coaster to derail, simply derailing the coaster would kill a lot of people, and they're high profile targets.
Bottoms (whose character has no name) becomes obsessed with an everyman (George Segal) safety inspector due to Segal's respect for his intelligence. This is similar to the intriguing relationship between hero Clint Eastwood and assassin John Malkovitch in `In the Line of Fire.' The villain is more focused on the hero than his actual target.
`Rollercoaster' does an excellent job of building suspense and has a very very memorable eerie circus score similar to Danny Elfman.
Where it fails is to actually deliver any action. The scenes build and build but little happens. Even the climax is a letdown. There is only one real action scene of a rollercoaster disaster, the opening scene. They could have done so much more with this concept.
Bottoms' character is not developed as he has no name or background. They could easily have built one as crazed Vietnam vet or disgruntled rollercoaster designer. There is no explanation as to how he learned so much about explosives or motive as to why he's a serial killer.
This is also the type of film where you can't root for the FBI agents because they're idiots! They make mistake after mistake. Bottoms isn't smart, his IQ is just 100 above the FBI. He succeeds due to their screw ups.
Much of the two hour running time is wasted on watching things happen that we don't need to see. Bottoms rides the rollercoaster to plant a bomb. OK we don't need to see every last second of the ride to understand what's happening. There are other scenes focusing on Segal's personal life which add nothing like his teenage daughter (Helen Hunt) buying a pet and showing up at the amusement park. I presumed this was because she would be taken hostage or placed in danger in some way. NO! Segal simply tells his girlfriend to take her home and they safely leave the park. Why then were they even included in the film?
Overall worth seeing but I was disappointed that they didn't do more with the very original concept.
Movie Review: You Must Be This Tall To Die
Summary: 4 Stars
Rollercoaster is one of the finer examples of great 1970s thrillers you'll find, but for some reason, it's mostly flown under the radar for all these years. Maybe it was because it came out in a time where disaster films ruled the box office, but in a film that seemed to fit the bill, there simply isn't much disaster. Or maybe it's the fact that a movie set around roller coasters, or people blowing them up simply isn't exiting/interesting enough. But I assure can assure you, Rollercoaster is surprisingly good and tense. It thrills, it excites, and it gives you serious hate for 70s fashion/music. Did I mention it can also be found on Netflix Watch Instantly?
The real highlight here is Timothy Bottoms as the rollercoaster bomber. He's never given a name, he's never given a motive, and he's only credited as "Young Man." He's the type of guy you wouldn't mind hanging out with, and as long as his plan comes together, he's actually a pretty happy guy. Timothy Bottoms does a lot with little to go on, and succeeds by operating the character using the delivery in the minimal dialogue he's given, and his facial expressions. Oh, those facial expressions. He doesn't even need to speak. The camera could stay on Timothy Bottoms' face the whole movie and you'd stay compelled. It's hard to believe that this kid would one day grow up to be a George W. Bush impersonator and "The Asylum" member, but hey, he's the highlight of this movie. Plus, Helen Hunt is in this film briefly, and the great Steve Guttenburg makes a quick cameo in his first movie role.
The plot is fairly straight forward. Imagine a terrorist bomber blowing stuff up and setting stuff on fire as part of an elaborate extortion scheme involving amusement parks. But as simple as the proceedings are, they're still well done. Scenes/shots linger and go on forever. The camera keeps following roller coasters, lingers on bombs waiting to go off, lingers on faces, and shots of people having fun at an amusement park. It all makes for surprisingly tense proceedings, and hey, it was the 70s, so it all seems plausible. Also, George Segal makes for a likable main character to follow around, and tends to lighten to mood and make the proceedings more enjoyable, even though he's a lowly safety inspector. The only real problem I have with the movie is the ending, which simply feels to rushed.
Overall, if you can get past the bad 70s fashion and music, you have a great performance by Timothy Bottoms, a roller coaster crashing, and a Steve Guttenburg sighting. What's not to love? Check this underrated thriller out at least once, and make sure to grab some cotton candy while you're at it.
Movie Review: Sensurround, the short lived movie enhancement.
Summary: 4 Stars
This film has it's moments and in general is good entertainment for the genre in 1970's, unfortunately it lead to the demise of a new and short lived movie enhancement experience called "Sensurround." Now movie fans of the 70's remember the advertising hype for this catastrophic noise festival. Yes the use of powerful,loud,monsterously tall, crack the cement,bass thundering sounds emanating from the speakers, using the echo and accoustics of the theater to give one the feel of being there, it's almost as bad as that photographic 180 degree film screen where you stand and it suggests one was in the movie , the only thing that was good for was to see if your visual balance-acuity was any good. Sorry but both failed miserably, it was some what useful in the films Earthquake and Midway but in this film it holds a so-so usage. In Midway it enhances the guns going off on the ships and in Earthquake it shook the floor simulating vibration of the quake, but if you want reality and the sound and feel effect, it occurs if you go to the actual amusement park and stand next to the rickety old wooden rollercoasters of the late 60's, so really ,who need sensurround? Anyway, the plot here is so-so but fitting for the that time era(no way it could compare to today's standards) the music lends an tense aire to the plot and makes one wonder just how bad is the next explosion is gonna be and how much damage there is, basically the only realistic horror display is the first coaster he blows up and the devestating crash scene as cars hurl bodies off high tracks and crash through signs and of course the blood curdling screams of the crowd. Unfortunate this wasn't one of Henry Fonda's better movie roles but then again most who starred in it didn't get much better exposure. Of course if you notice, this also had Helen Hunt, at a younger age and probably prepared her for her role in Twister. When originally released in the 70's most of these films were correct fitting the movie genere of the times, mostly disaster films and brought crowds to the movie theaters. What can you say, a good batch of fast clips, a quick,undefined story line and flash images on the brain, tease and spark curiosity to ensure movie previews will continually bring in the revenue no matter what, even if the movie does bomb out. Who knows maybe in twenty or more years some one will bring back the Sensurround and apply it to more modern films, really what have we got to lose.......just our hearing !Movie Review: Great 1970s thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
I first saw part of this little gem in 1985 on TV, but never got to see all of it until about 1997 - 20 years after it was made, when I found a copy on VHS. After seeing it on the IMDB again I decided to pick it up from Amazon. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
The premise is fairly straightforward; a psychopathic young terrorist (Timothy Bottoms) is first seen planting a small explosive on the tracks of a rollercoaster at a now-defunct park in Virginia. After the park opens, the fiend is seen detonating the explosive, and when the rollercoaster hits the spot, horror ensues. Cars fly off the tracks; a car falls upside-down on top of its passengers; and another crashes through a sign. Immediately after the tragedy, a safety inspector, Harry Calder (George Segal) is called in to investigate. He soon finds the disaster was a deliberate act, and things get worse when a similar accident involving the destruction of a ride by arson occurs in Pittsburgh. The FBI, led by Special Agent Simon Davenport (Henry Fonda) reluctantly takes Harry up of his suspicion that the next target will be a newly-opening rollercoaster in California, and they enter the park to try to find the bomber. Will they succeed...or will another rollercoaster go off the rails?
The acting is pretty stellar; Fonda, Richard Widmark, Segal & Bottoms all turn in good performances. Susan Strasberg is also effective as Harry's wife Fran, and look for a young Helen Hunt as Harry's daughter.
This isn't a true disaster movie, such as the Poseidon Adventure or Towering Inferno; it's meant strictly as a thriller, and it more than meets that expectation. The only reason I give the DVD 4 stars instead of 5 is the relatively small number of special features; it only includes a theatrical trailer (which is pretty good) and production notes.