Rollercoaster [DVD]

I first saw "Rollercoaster" in the theater when it was first released in the summer of 1977. I was 21 at the time. Well I'm 64 now and I got it on DVD and I appreciate it even more. I wanted to see it because I had been to Ocean View Park where the movie opens. Some family members and me rode the great rollercoaster "The Rocket" a year before it was filmed there. At the time along with "The Cyclone" at Coney Island the oldest coaster in the country. Some family and friends had me had also visited King's Dominion near Richmond, Virginia the year before the flick was filmed there. King's Dominion had only been open a year then. It's really changed a lot since then. The movies' climax takes place at Six Flags Magic Mountain in southern California which features one of the first steel looping coasters "The Revolution" which I hear is still there. As is the wooden racing coaster at King's Dominion. These coasters are tame compared to the coasters of today. The movie had the not so good timing of opening the same week as "STAR WARS. " Also one of the biggest James Bond films "The Spy Who Loved Me" opened soon after along with "Smokey and the Bandit" with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field another big hit. So, "Rollercoaster" was not a hit at the box-office unfortunately. It was overlooked and under rated. It got pretty good ratings when it was shown on the NBC television network two years later though The movie features a fine cast with the terrific George Segal in the lead as Civic Inspector Harry Calder along with the great Richard Widmark as the F.B.I. agent, Henry Fonda as Harry's boss, Timothy Bottoms as the bad guy, Harry Guardino as a police detective ,Susan Strasberg as Harry's lady Fran. Also a then 13 year old Helen Hunt in her movie debut as Harry's daughter Tracy who's a doll. It also features fine cinematography by David M. Walsh and a effective score,( mixing equal parts,) Amusement Park fun, Jazz and suspense by the great composer Lalo Schifrin. The screenplay was written by the team of Richard Levinson and William Link who created the television series "Columbo" and "Murder She Wrote" and Director James Goldstone does a fine job. He is noted for directing the first pilot episode of "STAR TREK" the television series on NBC back in 1966. The DVD extra features are a really good interview with Tommy Cook who wrote the original story and was an associate producer. Also some radio spots, production stills and the original trailer. The flick was originally filmed in "SENSURROUND" as were Universal's previous films;"Earthquake" from 1974 and "Midway" from 1976 which both were mediocre. I had "Rollercoaster" on VHS and the original DVD before and there is a vast improvement now. In High Definition Blu-Ray and with a sub-woofer in the front and back of the living room the DOLBY "rumble." It is known that some stunt men were injured in the coaster crash in the opening and some scenes had to be edited and considerably toned down so as not to receive an "R" rating and get the more marketable "PG" the studio wanted. The theater where some family and friends and me saw it in Virginia Beach ,VA, back in 1977 had the actual red and yellow train used in the film in the lobby and it was kinda smashed up.The plot reminds me of "Dirty Harry" with a mad extortionist terrorizing people,the hero's name being Harry. Harry Guardino playing a detective and Lalo Schifrin doing the music. The tagline for one of the movie posters read... WATCH OUT FOR THE MAN WATCHING THE.... ROLLERCOASTER

A former military member soon finds other forms to make money off of his past skills.He becomes a domestic terrorist targeting amusement parks for ransom.Once the carnage begins and unfolds, he then moves on to the next big event in the amusement park world.Now, with the launch of the new ride "The Revolution" at Six Flag's Magic Mountain, he awaits his next move.George Segal is the main detective on the case, with Richard Widmark as a federal agent.The closer they get to catching the suspect, the more dangerous he becomes.The movie looks good and sounds good from the era of the disaster movie.Great music comes along with this movie for the theme.Easy selections on menu with background motion and music.Alternate inside slip artwork included.This is a good one!

I bought this Blu-Ray DVD for its connection to the Mael brothers of Sparks fame. They''ve stated, in the documentary The Sparks Brothers, that they consider being in this movie to be one of the biggest mistakes they ever made - when it came out, it went no where.This movie is actually very good - so much talent in the credits! Lalo Schifren for music, screenplay by Levinson & Link of Columbo fame, on & on. Such a basket of popular culture people from that decade, character actors, stars. Well filmed - the clarity of this release is wonderful. I hesitated to purchase after reading a review that stated the images appeared dark. I don't agree. The sound quality is excellent.I find this movie very enjoyable, does combine humor with the wanton destruction, the roller coaster wrecks are thrilling, there is tension and suspense, the elderly Fonda and Widmark are fun to watch and wonder why they're in these things. I don't agree with those who state The Swarm and other such movies are better - it's no Towering Inferno, but how could it be and why would you even compare them. Apples & Oranges almost. For the budget, this is amazing and well worth watching. It's interesting that this movie isn't available to watch anywhere given how good it actually is. And Sparks are in it, performing. And a wrecked roller coaster crashes down on the stage. Who wouldn't want to see that?!

Rare cult like film, interesting enough to watch. Good buy

I love this film ever since I first saw it on ITV back in the 1980s.I've got the UK DVD version of this film which has been cut & although does have extra footage those nice guys at the bbfc cut some scenes including the end sequence.As I now own a multi-regional DVD player I thought I'd add this usa ntsc disc to my collection as a back up to my UK DVD .It's a good movie that did reasonably well at the UK cinema back in 1977.Recommended 🙂

But the hype over a few extra seconds uncut for the German release (included in this 2 disc set) isn't all that worth it, literally 13seconds extra run time over a few screenshots is all it is extra included.If you have the standard UK release Blu-ray it isn't worth getting another one.The first disc is the theatrical version, and includes a documentary also 30 mins approx.I did think that there was a few moments on the 2nd disc which looked like a bad transfer though, and not exactly a clean remaster if at all it was.

Despite being a 70's movie (que porn style music) this is a worthy addition to anyone's collection. Timothy Bottoms plays the bomber perfectly with little words ever spoken.Not really any extras on disc to write home about and the quality is what you would expect from an old movie transferred on to disc but it is noticeably louder even with my washed out hearing.Do it-grab yourself a quality 70's movie!

One of my favouite movies since I saw it at the age of 10 in "Sensurround" on a 60 foot curved screen at the New Bristol Centre ABC Cinema. This Blu Ray is framed in full cinemascope ratio (not 1:85:1 as stated on the cover) and is definately a step up from the SD DVD - however it does have its faults as we found the picture a tad on the dark side. However the colours are bright and strong and the overall picture is sharp and detailed (but could be better) The film comes with an English language setting (just access it from the main menu on the disc) and all the film titles are in English.Now the sound: The English soundtrack is 2.0 mono and for the most part very clean. However if one listens to the Italian soundtrack - IT IS IN FULL 5.1 SURROUND AND IS AMAZING ....The closest to home Sensurround for this movie. The music score is full and lush and the haunting fairground music totally surrounds you as do the rollercoaster effects with added deep subwoofer bass. WHY WAS THIS NOT AVAILABLE FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION OR CAN SOMEONE RELEASE A UK VERSION WITH THIS FACILITY PLEASE (and remastered picture) An American version is due in late June but rumours persist that this will be Region A locked....it will be interesting to see if they have a 5.1 soundtrack. This all being said it is still nice to own this gem of a movie on Blu Ray and IT is better than the DVD

Rollercoaster is a very simple film it's not massive on effects and it isn't massive on budget either! What makes this film great is the interaction with the 2 main characters and the story of the film. In a nutshell a madman who hasn't had much luck in life and is clearly some kind of former military agent, turns a theme park into a bloodbath. He does this by sabotaging the roller coaster which results in a very bad derailment, lots of dead people, and a police investigation; enter our protaganist.We are introduced from this point to Harry a police detective with a small subplot included of him trying to quit smoking. This does eventually get resolved at the end of the film but i'm not going to spoil it.This film is also obviously 70's. People are actually talking to each other and no one is walking around with a mobile phone good lord, how did the teenagers visiting the amusement parks survive?! (sarcasm)As well as Harry there are a few other characters like Harry's ex wife, his daughter, and an fbi agent. The daughter and ex wife don't really add very much to the film; they are just there to tell the audience that Harry has had a difficult relationship with his daughter. The fbi agent is the typical federal agent trying to prevent another tragedy from happening and even goes on to set up the young man. This agent is also at odds with Harry and doesn't like his way of thinking.The young man as the film credits him is never fully revealed. His name and lifestory are never really explained and this is one of the aspects of this film that make it unique. The personality of the young man is also that of a nice well mannered individual, not a terrorist, not an angry brooding villain, but that of a normal person who is clearly out of his mind! To begin with he just wants money but it soon moves on to more of a personal mental battle with harry, this is where the film shines the most! The fact we never find out who he was fully doesn't make the film bad it just makes the ending part unresolved.The music in the film is well produced it goes with the all the scenes in the film, and has a very dark fairgroundish sound to it.The film is a 70's picture so expect grain in the film, this however does not bother me as I would sooner watch an old film in it's original glory!Roller coaster isn't what i'd call an action film more of a suspenseful film with action moments included.Overall I give this film a 7/10It may also interest you to know that this film was one of the films to make use of sensurround which at the time was a new type of sound system for cinemas, it was first used in another 1970's film Earthquake.