I first saw this aged 13 in 1977 in my local cinema & was blown away by the whole thing including the Sensurround effects. Timothy Bottoms' character still creeps me out a bit and I love George Segal's relaxed but determined approach to get the bomber. Great script, a Hitchcock soundtrack & it has Sparks belting out Big Boys...a single gem to treasure in these days of ad-nauseam action franchises!

A blackmailer threatens to sabotage roller-coasters at various American amusement parks if he isn't paid a huge ransom.Look at this: Helen Hunt, in her first feature film role, has the supporting role as Tracy Calder, Harry's teenage daughter and a potential victim of the young man. Steve Guttenberg, also in his first brief film role, plays a messenger at Six Flags Magic Mountain who brings the plans for the Revolution to Calder and Hoyt. Gotta love that.But really, you have to love this movie. A great, high-stakes game of cat and mouse, and one of the few really centered around a theme park. I'm surprised that doesn't seem to be a more common location. I could have done without the music from Sparks, though... that "Big Boy" song is not good.

Timothy Bottoms plays a disturbed young man who plants radio controlled bombs in amusement parks, centered on the rollercoasters. After demonstrating his skill and determination, he contacts the park owners with ransom demands of large cash payments, or he will destroy more parks, putting them out of business. The FBI gets involved, and investigator Harry Calder(played by George Segal) gets involved as a go-between with the bomber, as he also tries to track him down to stop his madness.Highly entertaining yarn has a good cast of characters, and direction by James Goldstone is taut and exciting, with good model effects and an interesting(if vague) story. Watch out for a young Helen Hunt, cast as Harry's teenage daughter.

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.