ROLLERCOASTER. (1977) DIRECTED BY JAMES GOLDSTONE.
STARRING GEORGE SEGAL, RICHARD WIDMARK, TIMOTHY BOTTOMS, SUSAN STRASBERG AND HENRY FONDA.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
This disaster-suspense film didn’t garner the greatest reviews ever, but- yep, you guessed it- I liked it, lol. I make up my own mind about things. It certainly wouldn’t be as well-known as ‘Seventies disaster films THE TOWERING INFERNO or THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, but it still qualifies as one of those. It’s set in the ‘Seventies, and it’s got a man-made disaster in it. End of story…
Much as I loved the film, I did find it really hard to watch because I’m scared of heights, and I hate even looking at the upside-downy twists and turns the rollercoaster takes on its journey (with all the screeching passengers locked into the little cars) in the movie.
I couldn’t go on one to save my life, and, if I were ever forced to (though I can’t imagine under what circumstances this might happen), I’d almost certainly just throw up on the person in front and be sick as a dog for days afterwards.
Fairground rides scare the life out of me in general, even the kiddies’ carousels, because of all the going-round-and-round-high-above-the-ground. The sole exception would probably be the dodgems, or bumper cars as we call them here. They’re on the level, see?
Anyway, this film starts with a rollercoaster disaster caused by deliberate sabotage. The little train goes off the rails and crash-lands onto the concrete below, killing several passengers and some of the unfortunate fair-goers milling about the place as well. It’s very realistic and shocking, ditto the sight of the broken, lifeless bodies lying about in the aftermath.
The disaster is caused by a nameless quiet and politely-spoken young man, well played by Timothy Bottoms, though some critics have said that the guy is one of the most boring movie villains ever…! Cheek.
He’s well up on his structural engineering and electronics and blowing things up from a distance and he’s caused this horrible tragedy to extort money from the billionaires who own the various fairgrounds and thrill rides.
George FUN WITH DICK AND JANE Segal is brilliant as Harry Calder, the Safety Inspector who has to work with Richard Widmark’s FBI Agent Hoyt to both catch the killer but also to follow his convoluted instructions for dropping off a million dollars in ‘ransom’ money at another fairground. It’s great to see Hollywood royalty such as Richard Widmark here, and Henry Fonda as well, who has a small role as Simon Davenport, Harry’s crooked superior.
Hoyt is a bit of an arrogant jerk and the viewer tends to side with Harry, an ordinary, divorced moustached (as was the style of the time) sort of Everyman who never wanted to end up embroiled in this horrific race against time, and yet, somehow, he is.
We’re with him all the way as he tries to simultaneously identify and catch the killer, drop off the killer’s money while wearing a wire and prevent a load of people being killed on a new thrill ride that’s having its fairground debut ‘today’ at four o’clock…
A young Helen Hunt has her own debut in ROLLERCOASTER as Harry’s teenage daughter, Tracy, and the sexy Susan Strasberg plays Harry’s hot girlfriend, Fran. Lucky old Harry, eh? Dorothy Tristan, who has acted in KLUTE (1971) and DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS (1986) and written her own books and screenplays, stars here as Harry’s ex-wife, with whom he has a reasonably amicable relationship.
I love the weird and eerie fairground-type music in the film, but an appearance by the American band Sparks, consisting of brothers Russell (vocals) and Ron (keyboards) Mael, is the ‘highlight’ of the film musically.
They sing two really lame-o songs from their 1976 album, BIG BEAT, and, though the fairground crowd seem to be enjoying the concert, the songs really do contain some pretty poor lyrics.
When asked about regrets in later years, the band cited their appearance in this film as the main one. Wot a fuckin’ liberty…! The film itself is great. It’s not the film’s fault that Sparks didn’t bring their best material to the party…
I love ROLLERCOASTER, and hopefully you will too if you get to see it. It’s filled with suspense and will most likely remind you of the fairgrounds of your youth back in the day, plus it’s got loads of male actors in it standing around woodenly playing FBI men, which gave me a bit of a larf.
Richard Widmark plays his FBI chief as a man rigidly set in his ways and devoid of imagination and the ability to think outside the box. I’d hate to think the real FBI lads were like this. Ah well shure, ‘tis only a fillum, shure it is…
sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris 