Le Toboggan de la mort

I'd watched this thriller/disaster movie on Italian TV as a kid; I was looking forward to re-acquainting myself with it via the Universal DVD, as part of my ongoing Richard Widmark tribute – but, unfortunately, the viewing was plagued by multiple freezing and jumps (beginning at the 47-minute mark and recurring every quarter of an hour or so thereafter!).

Despite some pacing problems which render the film a tad overlong, Roller-coaster is entertaining and fairly solid as these things go: once again, the casting sees a star in every major role. George Segal is the safety officer hero (his intelligence concealed by an essentially bemused countenance, he's ideal for playing the slightly neurotic common man suddenly thrust in the midst of a precarious situation), Timothy Bottoms the young extortionist/bomber (whose targets are various amusement parks across the U.S.), and Widmark plays the veteran F.B.I. agent out to get him (he also shares a typically antagonistic relationship with Segal). Henry Fonda appears as the hero's cantankerous boss (though featured in many of these films, his roles were always brief and basically thankless), Susan Strasberg as Segal's current girlfriend, Harry Guardino a local cop (curiously enough, he had appeared with both Widmark and Fonda in MADIGAN [1968], another policier but much classier). By the way, Segal's daughter here is played by a very young Helen Hunt!

Another interesting connection to an earlier thriller featuring a member of the film's cast is NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (1968) with Segal; in both titles, the hero is contacted by the killer prior to making his moves (with this in mind, Bottoms' clean-cut appearance lends the latter a chilling quality – though the characterization, in itself, is fairly limited). Incidentally, the film is more concerned with the chase for the killer (generating reasonable suspense towards the end – especially in the way he determines to plant another bomb on an inaugural roller-coaster ride after his initial gizmo is detected) rather than depicting his mayhem; in fact, there's only one major disaster sequence early on (but it's an undeniably spectacular one)! I should mention, at this point, Lalo Schifrin's rather schizophrenic music – the carousel jingle is quite effective, but the scoring of the suspense sequences is gratingly monotonous!

P.S. Director Goldstone followed this with another star-studded epic – WHEN TIME RAN OUT… (1980), about an erupting volcano – which, however, was a notorious production that brought the disaster movie cycle to a lamentable conclusion. I wouldn't mind revisiting it at this stage, though

Like many others, I agree that this is an underrated suspense movie. I would rank it with other, similar suspense movies of the 70s that have aged pretty well--"The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3" and "Juggernaut" in particular. Of course, the clothes and music (including a performance from SPARKS) smacks of late '70s cheese. But it is gripping and has the perfect amount of humor (George Segal as a movie hero? Who would've guessed that?)

Plus it is the only movie where I can see some favorite places of my youth--Oceanview Park in Norfolk, VA. Not to mention King's Dominion, only 1 year old at the time

i thought this was a pretty good little thriller.it kept me entertained throughout,and it never became boring.In a nutshell,it's a about a guy who blows up a roller coaster ride and extorts money from the owners of other amusement parks to keep more of the same from happening to their roller coasters.Timothy Bottoms plays the psychopath,with George Segal as his main nemesis.Bottoms is quite chilling and cold,and Segals' character matches wits him.watch for a young Helen Hunt,as well.i really liked the music by Lalo Schifrin,which is reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann.it really added to the atmosphere.the tension and suspense is down to the wire in this one.for me,Roller-coaster is a 6/10

Roller-coaster if seen should be seen in a specially equipped theater rigged for Sensurround. I didn't see this in theater, but I did see Earthquake and I still remember both seeing Earthquake and later going to the same multiplex cinema seeing another feature and hearing the Earthquake noises from the adjoining screening room. It just wasn't the same thing when I later saw Earthquake on television. Nor was it the same seeing a DVD of Roller-coaster.

Timothy Bottoms plays the young genius at electronics and explosives who has figured out that the amusement park industry is very unsecure and impossible to secure as a target for terrorism. After causing a couple of accidents where lives were lost, Bottoms blackmails several park owners.

On one of those accidents the safety engineer George Segal gets a dressing down on his dereliction of duty and that sends him on a mission. For a guy who hasn't any training in this field, Segal proves to be a remarkable sleuth who matches FBI guy Richard Widmark in this field.

Bottoms kind of bonds with Segal in the same way that Scorpio bonded with Dirty Harry and it ends just about the same way.

Roller-coaster and other high speed amusement rides are thrilling in and of themselves, adding the possibility of explosion does heighten the tension in Roller-coaster.

It's an interesting film premise and Roller-coaster does provide some nice entertainment and it's a catalog of Seventies fashions.

Rollercoaster was released at a time when disaster movies were very popular. I guess that's why it's been labeled by many critics as exactly that. But it's not. It's a very clever thriller with some great dialogue. I wasn't too surprised that Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link co-developed the story and wrote the screenplay. Especially the conversations between George Segal and Timothy Bottoms are just as good as anything you've ever seen on Columbo. This is a very underrated movie and during all the Sensurround hype the finer qualities of it got overlooked. So maybe next time you get a chance watch it again. Perhaps you'll be surprised.