Le Toboggan de la mort

Thrilling and entertaining catastrophe movie with some clichés and stereotypes containing enjoyable performances from George Segal and Richard Widmark ; dealing with a psychotic person who plans a massive killing spree in amusement parks . Police and FBI are called in to investigate and trace the crimes to a young man (Timothy Bottoms) , as this is a race against time and terror . They are pursuing a nameless, faceless man through America's greatest amusement park . This disaster movie blends action , intrigue , breathtaking spectacle, suspense and emotional byplay . ¨Rollercoaster¨ was a successful film that grossed at box office . The FBI led by superior officer named Hoyt (Richard Widmark) and helped by technical supervisor Calder (George Segal) learn of the plot and rush to the scene , as the psychopath blackmails a whole conglomerate of companies for a million dollars . Still , they may be too late , as an all-star cast finds itself lined up in the sights of a madman . They spend most of their time devising various ways for avoid to psychopath carries out his aims : a massive killing spree in parks and rollercoasters especially . As our heroes get stuck in the before it blows up and when slaughter takes place they go into action ; as they pay tribute to policemen . There takes place a struggle between two forces , the cops along with FBI and the sinister assassin and ultimately erupts when the crowd turns almost effortlessly and devours itself in a climax of panic .

Exciting film that packs thrills , noisy action , overwhelming scenes , suspense , emotion and turns out to be pretty entertaining . This formula intrigue movie belongs to catastrophe genre of the 70s , being the undisputed king , ¨The towering inferno¨ along with ¨Earthquake¨ , ¨Two minutes warning¨ and many others ; this formula disaster movie was widely developed by Irwin Allen , previously winner of numerous Oscars for ¨Poseidon¨ until the failures as ¨Beyond Poseidon¨, ¨Swarm¨ and ¨When the time ran out¨ . ¨Rollercoaster¨ results to be an intriguing and thrilling film . Filmed at the height of the disaster genre from the 7os , this entry in the spectacular series profits of a strong acting by starring trio George Segal , Richadd Widmark and Henry Fonda . Good performance by Timothy Bottoms , the filmmakers later decided that the movie was more suspenseful if the motive behind the Young Man's actions were never known, as well as keeping the audience from sympathizing with the Young Man's situation . Succeeds in combining various talented actors , an all star cast came together that tie for film's top casting honors ; furthermore a top-notch secondary casting such as Harry Guardino , Susan Strasberg , William Prince , Robert Quarry and a teenager Helen Hunt and Craig Wasson , Steve Guttenberg's first film . Furthermore , most of the actors portraying police officials in the film were actual police officers from the surrounding area . And for the first time, you are experiencing the most sensational rides of our time, to be presented in "Sensurround", a special low-frequency bass speaker setup consisting of four huge speakers loaned by distributors to select theaters showing the film , this system was employed only during certain sequences of the film, and was so powerful that it actually cracked plaster at some movie theaters. "Sensurround" was employed in only three other films released by Universal: Earthquake, Midway, and the theatrical release of Battlestar Galactica .

Colorful and gripping photography in Panavision by David Walsh , including persistent high-angle shots , subjective camera-work and use of long lenses . Some of the amusement park scenes were shot at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, just north of Richmond and also partially filmed at Ocean View Park in Virginia (including the destruction of the roller-coaster) and the roller coaster featured in the main climax of the movie is the Revolution at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA and was the first to feature a complete 360-degree vertical loop . Intriguing and thrilling score by Lalo Schifrin in his usual style . This big-budgeted disaster movie was professionally directed by James Goldstone , an ordinary TV movies director and subsequently made another catastrophe film , the disastrous ¨When time ran out¨ . Rating : Good and entertaining , it's a fairly watchable disaster movie.

I read a review of this movie indicating that Seagal's acting "almost saved it." I would go farther and say that this movie is enjoyable primarily because of the acting. Segal's Harry Calder is very good and properly understated -- you get the impression of a nice guy with little ambition or tact. Widmark is also good as the know it all cop. However, Bottoms' blackmailer is even better! He plays the young man with the cold, calculating efficiency of the sociopath. Very understated, which is a sign of good acting. I'm reminded of a Jack Lemmon quote describing his early years in film when the director kept telling him "a little less." Bottoms give us the bare minimum, which is perfect for this character. The script is also good, taking what could be an action-only cliché and turning it into a suspenseful "how is he going to do it." Anyone who is looking for high drama or Hitchcock is going to be disappointed. But if you are looking to be entertained then it is a very enjoyable ride.

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.

This is probably my favorite childhood film having seen it 30 times at the theater during the summer of '77 (to put it in perspective I only saw Star Wars 12 times) and it still holds up very well. I'm sure part of that is the nostalgia factor as it seems to capture a time and place(s) pretty well, but there's a bit more to its appeal to me than that. It works because none of the characters are grossly exaggerated caricatures but everyday men with foibles like struggling to quit smoking. The Caulder character is identifiable because of his family and work failings while Bottom's soft-spoken psychopath (which probably would be portrayed as over the top if the movie were to be made now) is much more in tune with an understated realism that most contemporary madmen you see on screen today lack. While the Widmark character of Hoyt is a pretty much by the book portrayal of a federal dick, his sardonic exchanges with Segal lend an heir of authentic, yet begrudging mutual respect. That credit should go to the screenwriters. Henry Fonda's exchanges with Caulder are similar in their edge and that makes for an understanding of what Harry is up against in trying to stop the bomber. Susan Strasberg as Caulder's love interest is sympathetic, and very pretty, but isn't given much screen time outside of being a nanny for Caulder's daughter...a minor complaint to be sure.

After Roller-coaster came down from my long since demolished local three screen multiplex and had its initial HBO run it sadly all but seemed to disappear from my life, outside of an occasional run on late night TV during the eighties, but reappeared in 1998 when I stumbled upon a VHS copy from a company called GOODTIMES at a Tower Record store in Seattle. I was ecstatic. I still pull it off the shelf every once in awhile to remind myself that some of the minor films of the seventies that weren't appreciated in their day deserve another view.

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.