Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

deathadder-13878 A young psycho demolitions expert (Timothy Bottoms) threatens to wreak havoc at amusement parks across America until the proper authorities pay him and leave him alone. Pursuing him is a middle-aged safety inspector bureaucrat (George Segal), who's going through various mid-life crises like trying to quite smoking, visitations with his teen daughter (Helen Hunt) following a divorce, starting a new relationship, and so forth. Also along for the ride are various corporate/government/police officials who naturally often clash over how to best catch the bomber.The movie starts well enough, with Bottoms slickly planting a bomb on a roller coaster in broad daylight, then biding his time until nightfall when he remotely detonates the charge and sends derailed patrons to their doom. The photography and editing generate some good thrills, and the actors, minor and major, do their parts well.Now, with these kinds of movies, the real key is the interplay between the nominal good guys (the authorities, usually) and the bad guys. As Segal catches on to Bottoms and then has several conversations with him, it's all pretty involving. Bottoms acts very terse and businesslike, conveying the moral and emotional vacuity of a psychopath, while Segal becomes a wry and incisive analyst trying to crack a terrorist whose true motives are nearly as inscrutable as his emotions. The police think Segal a cocky amateur, but he turns out to be the better judge of criminal character.Less interesting is the bickering between aging law enforcement leader Richard Widmark and Segal. Widmark seems like a stodgy bully, outside of a few begrudging compliments to Segal. Perhaps the film-makers felt that since the psycho was in his late 20's it made it necessary to caricature the oldest character into a gruff scold, the better to pander to 70's Boomers..Segal deduces the location of the next attack, and we're left in suspense about several things. Is there a bomb? Where is it? Will they find it? Will they disarm it, before it's too late? Will they catch the perp? This isn't really a disaster movie, as it lacks the scope or spectacle. Had they wanted to, they could've upped these things with more bombings. Overall, though, the emphasis is on character interaction more than well, action. Since Segal and Bottoms make for an effective fire and ice pairing, that was the right choice to make.Why not a better rating? The movie definitely drags at times; there really isn't enough scale or plot or character depth to justify the running time. The movie wasn't a big hit, and that's probably because the marketing made it seem more epic than it is. And while the acting is good enough, only Segal and Bottoms really give something for the viewer to latch on to. A very young Helen Hunt has some presence, but her character is thankless, as are the women in Segal's life; would Dirty Harry be a better movie if the movie told us about his family? The conclusion has some things worth noting. Craig Wasson appears as an amiable "hippie boy" (that's his credit), and though he only gets about a half-dozen lines, his talent still shines through. A quasi New Wave/punk band named Sparks plays at Magic Mountain, and while their music isn't that hummable, it does have a pretty wild energy for it's time, and one particularly tensely rhythmic song bridge is used to convey the anxiety of the bomb defusing scene.

Scott LeBrun "Rollercoaster" is a decent 70s disaster-type film that was shown in "Sensurround" in theatres; this process would involve the shaking of selected theatre seats to try to give audience members a more visceral experience. You of course can't get this effect at home, so you're left with the story, which is reasonably entertaining, and the filmmaking, which is competent but not particularly distinguished. George Segal stars as Harry Calder, a civic inspector who picks up the trail of a young man (Timothy Bottoms) who's already caused a horrible accident at one amusement park, and who threatens to do so again, motivated purely by financial gain.It is indeed the acting that keeps this interesting for just under two hours. Bottoms is a case study in minimalism; all you need to know about his villain is that he's a really cool customer, is extremely efficient at what he does, and that people are naturally going to underestimate him. Segal is dynamic as the flawed but still likable hero, a true Everyman type who makes up in brains what he lacks in tact. It's fun to watch these characters interact, as Bottoms puts Segal through a lot of paces in order to get his money. Segal also has some great scenes with Henry Fonda (who plays Segals' superior) and hard nosed Federal agent Hoyt (Richard Widmark). The script by Richard Levinson and William Link is sometimes funny, giving the main characters opportunities to take shots at each other. Thrilling roller-coaster sequences, featuring some good camera-work, do get ones' pulse racing. Granted, this story could have been tightened a bit, and doesn't end all that well, but Segal, Widmark, and Bottoms prevent things from ever getting painful to watch.This isn't a star studded affair, as some of these disaster films tended to be, but there are a number of familiar faces present. Susan Strasberg is wasted as Segals' new girlfriend, and Helen Hunt makes her film debut playing Segals' daughter. Harry Guardino co-stars as a detective, and he never gets to do very much. Robert "Count Yorga" Quarry plays a mayor, Craig Wasson has a tiny role as a hippie dude, and that's none other than a young Steve Guttenberg as a messenger.Not bad as these things go.Seven out of 10.

LeonLouisRicci This is Mostly a Disaster and goes off the tracks more than not. It Bottoms out on Thrills and Spills as well as Suspense. It manages to take Everything that makes for a Good Movie Experience and Relegates it to those most Mundane and doesn't even Exploit its Exploitation.The All-Star Cast is mostly Wasted as is the Title Character with Pedestrian POV Shots that Neither Encompass or Elevate the Rides Appeal. it is Shot in the most Slick and Uninspired use of an Amusement Park with Post Card Images of both the Setting and the Patrons.The Dialog is not Dumb it is just Numb. Nothing in this Failed Attempt at a Thriller works and the Pacing is Staggered and Never Really Reaches a Zenith. In the End it is a Forgettable Film that has Little to Recommend. Not Awful but Awfully Anemic.

Robert J. Maxwell It's more fun that it has a right to be, an inexpensive movie about a Safety Inspector (Segal) who must deliver a million dollars to a techie madman who will otherwise blow up one of the rides at the King's Dominion Amusement Park in Richmond, Virginia.There's a scene in "Dirty Harry" in which the madman "runs Harry all over the city" with a suitcase full of cash, attempting to lose or confuse the many cops known to be following Harry and watching for the pick up. This whole movie is like that, except that instead of simply running from one point to another, Segal is instructed by radio to buy funny hats, ride the roller coaster multiple times, be weighed by a cute girl in glasses, have his picture taken, and do the usual things that people do in amusement parks.George Segal does a nice job as the reluctant but savvy and inventive hero. He's supported by several familiar names, most of them past their prime, few of whom worked on the picture for more than a day or two -- Henry Fonda, beginning to gargle with age; Richard Widmark as the federal agent in charge of tracking Segal's moves in hope of capturing the madman, Timothy Bottoms; Harry Guardino from "Dirty Harry", who has about two lines of dialog; Susan Strasberg who is there to prove Segal is an ordinary heterosexual; and an adolescent Helen Hunt.It's silly and enjoyable, like spending a day at an amusement park, and, like cotton candy, after it melts so engagingly in your mouth there's nothing of substance left.