(Thanks, sideshowcarny!) 

In some parts of America during the summer of 1977, you either got very lucky and saw Star Wars, or you got very unlucky because that flick was sold out when you wanted to go and had to settle for something like Rollercoaster. Now, on it’s own merits it’s a passable “disaster” flick that’s a wee bit too long and wastes the talents of a few major stars at the tail ends of their careers. On the other hand, it’s about a unnamed home-grown terrorist who decides to seriously vandalize amusement parks and kill people (at least in the first big accident in the film) in order to extort money from a mega corporation just because he can.

There’s no motive other than profit, he’s not some crazed maniac out for revenge whose daddy and mommy were killed in a freak amusement park accident, and the film relies on some dopey luck and dumber plot holes to speed things along as it hopes you won’t notice under all that Sensurround booming your eardrums into submission. But none of this will matter to some people who see this flick today and think it works on the level of a decent thriller. It sort of doesn’t in my old eyes because the film not only shows you the culprit right at the beginning, it tends to drag out scenes just to show off some fancy camerawork and some nice amusement park real estate instead of add depth to the characters it needs to…

The only character that gets some love in terms of seeing him outside his work life is George Segal’s well played ride inspector Harry Calder. He’s the film’s hero, comic relief and lynchpin all in one, taking up much of the screen time when the camera isn’t lovingly zipping around a coaster track or a bunch of other cool rides from the three big theme parks it ends up in. At the beginning of the film, Bottom’s unnamed mild (not mad) bomber sets off an explosive that damages the track of a big coaster, sending the cars flying off and killing what looks like everyone who was riding. The body count is never revealed because the film switches in tone to a comic bit of Calder getting shock treated in a smoke filled booth at a stop smoking clinic.

Harry’s boss (Henry Fonda in an extended cameo) wants him to go to that amusement park where the accident happened to find out what the deal is because it was Harry who inspected the wrecked coaster last. Meanwhile, the bomber is off to Pittsburgh where he sets a fire at another amusement park where no one dies and the fire is extinguished. Our comic hero ends up in Chicago trailing a bunch of corporate execs to a hotel suite where he informs them that the bomber is smarter than the average bear and probably should be taken seriously. Little do they know that the room has been bugged and our villain is taking notes…

Harry has a run in with an FBI agent (Richard Widmark) who doesn’t like or trust him, but thanks to a bit of plot wrangling, ends up using him at the next stop, King’s Dominion in Virginia. Here, the film goes for an extended sequence where the bomber has Harry ride just about everything in the park while carrying a huge suitcase with a million dollars in it. Yeah, I don;t know about you, but seeing Segal with NO expression on his face in the front seat of the famous Rebel Yell twin coaster zipping around and around is more amusing than “thriller” material. Anyway, that cat and mouse game has a twist and a getaway that sets up the final park that gets a tour.

Magic Mountain is the film’s final stop and by now, you’re either asleep or wide awake because you’re a fan of old 70’s amusement parks, 70’s fashion and surprising 70’s cameos by Sparks, who do two wacky songs as the bomber’s next plans are about to be put into action. Here, the film blows a chance at suspense and steps into the stupid by having Harry’s girlfriend (an underused Susan Strasberg) and daughter (a 14-year old Helen Hunt!) decide on a whim to go to that park simply because Harry is too dumb to tell them NOT TO GO. Yep, despite the fact that he’s been getting calls from the bomber and the FBI during the course of the film, he refuses to share info about anything with his lady (what a guy!).

Of course, when they show up, the danger level is pretty much over thanks to some keen eyes and deft screwdriver work, but the film decides to add an extra bump (and an extra bomb) to the final portion just to take care of things once and for all. The ending is actually silly and anticlimactic because the smart killer suddenly becomes VERY dumb and doesn’t exactly do himself any favors. That and Harry’s dumb luck just so happens to put him in the right place at the right time twice within the space of the final few minutes. Hitchcock it isn’t, that’s for sure. The best things about this film are all the 1977 tech (those goofy car phones!) and fashions to ogle, plus the fact that yes indeed, you COULD win cartons of cigarettes at carnival games of chance(!).

I don’t even think this one’s ever going to get remade (despite the obvious 3D and IMAX possibilities) because Universal certainly doesn’t want to scare people AWAY from their theme parks. Although, they seem to do a great job at scaring some INTO those parks every Halloween just so they can get scared out of their wits, so I could e wrong. Anyway, feel free to unearth this not-so classic flick if you’re a fan of amusement parks and don’t mind a little detour into the offbeat slightly comic procedural with a lame outcome…