Coming Soon
ROLLERCOASTER
1977
Director
James Goldstone
Starring
George Segal
Richard Widmark
Timothy Bottoms
Susan Strasberg
Runtime
119 minutes
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There are two movies hiding inside ROLLERCOASTER.
The first is the movie the poster promises: a “Sensurround” amusement-park apocalypse where screaming riders spend their Fourth of July being launched into the atmosphere and theater walls vibrate themselves loose from the foundation.
The second is the movie that actually exists.
After an opening derailment spectacular enough to justify several years of childhood roller-coaster anxiety, ROLLERCOASTER turns into a lean, methodical thriller about a diabolical mad bomber (Timothy Bottoms), an amusement-park safety inspector (George Segal), and a cross-country tour of America's recreational infrastructure. It’s part disaster movie and part accidental documentary. Every frame is packed with vanished parks, wooden coasters, midway architecture, polyester crowds, and the uniquely American optimism required to climb into a machine built from twenty tons of lumber and steel and trust a teenager named Rick to operate it. Nothing says “USA” quite like fireworks, rollercoasters, and the looming inevitability of fatal catastrophe.
You buys yer ticket, you takes yer chances!
The first is the movie the poster promises: a “Sensurround” amusement-park apocalypse where screaming riders spend their Fourth of July being launched into the atmosphere and theater walls vibrate themselves loose from the foundation.
The second is the movie that actually exists.
After an opening derailment spectacular enough to justify several years of childhood roller-coaster anxiety, ROLLERCOASTER turns into a lean, methodical thriller about a diabolical mad bomber (Timothy Bottoms), an amusement-park safety inspector (George Segal), and a cross-country tour of America's recreational infrastructure. It’s part disaster movie and part accidental documentary. Every frame is packed with vanished parks, wooden coasters, midway architecture, polyester crowds, and the uniquely American optimism required to climb into a machine built from twenty tons of lumber and steel and trust a teenager named Rick to operate it. Nothing says “USA” quite like fireworks, rollercoasters, and the looming inevitability of fatal catastrophe.
You buys yer ticket, you takes yer chances!