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Rollercoaster (1977)
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Overview
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Release Date:
17 June 1977 (USA)
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Tagline:
You are in a race against time...and terror. You are pursuing a nameless, faceless man through America's greatest amusement parks...and, for the first time, you are experiencing the most sensational rides of our time, IN SENSURROUND more
Plot:
The plot is about a guile young terrorist who is able to blackmail a series of companies by placing...
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User Comments:
Sure it made coasters scarier
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | George Segal | ... | Harry Calder |
 | Richard Widmark | ... | Agent Hoyt |
 | Timothy Bottoms | ... | Young Man |
 | Henry Fonda | ... | Simon Davenport |
 | Harry Guardino | ... | Keefer |
| Susan Strasberg | ... | Fran |
 | Helen Hunt | ... | Tracy Calder |
 | Dorothy Tristan | ... | Helen |
| Harry Davis | ... | Benny |
| Stephen Pearlman | ... | Lyons |
| G.F. Rowe | ... | Wayne Moore (as Gerald Rowe) |
| Wayne Tippit | ... | Police Captain Christie |
| Michael Bell | ... | Demerest |
| Charlie Tuna | ... | Rock Concert MC |
| Lonny Stevens | ... | Federal Agent #1 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
119 min
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Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Most of the actors portraying police officers in the film were actual police officers from the surrounding area. In fact, Charles W. Bennett, Jr., who played Bomb Squad Man, was an actual bomb technician at the time the film was made. He is now (1999) the chief of police in Lynchburg, Virginia.
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Goofs:
Continuity: When Young Man places the bomb in the Revolution car, he is sitting in the left seat. Yet when the next ride occurs, the bomb is under the boy who is sitting in the right seat.
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Quotes:
[speaking to each other over walkie-talkies]
Young Man: First, Harry, I think I should tell you about the bomb. Would you like to know where it is?
Harry Calder: Sure!
Young Man: You're holding it.
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Young Man: First, Harry, I think I should tell you about the bomb. Would you like to know where it is?
Harry Calder: Sure!
Young Man: You're holding it.
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Soundtrack:
Fill 'Er Up
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (62 total)
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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.