Rollercoaster  ★★★

EVERY now and then cinema comes out with a new gimmick in an attempt to attract more bums on seats.

We’ve had all sorts over the years, from ‘Smell-o-rama’ to IMAX, with 3D being the one that continues to raise its ugly head most often.

In 1974 we had a film released called Earthquake in Sensurround which was meant to give you big sound and screen combined with a rumbling seat every now and then to give you the ‘full experience’.

It kind of worked at the time, enough to spawn at least two more movies that I can recall with the same gimmick –  war movie Midway in 1976 and thriller Rollercoaster in 1977.

Rollercoaster is actually slightly better than you’d expect, mainly because it doesn’t spend too much time on rollercoasters. It’s most interesting when focusing on a cat-and-mouse game between an extortionist and a government investigator.

Timothy Bottoms is an strange choice as ‘Young Man’ who sets a bomb off at an amusement park, derailing the rollercoaster with devastating results. He then sets a fire at another park and eventually demands $1 million or he will target a new park, Magic Mountain, on its opening weekend.

He is pitted against Harry Calder, an investigator with the Department of Standards and Safety, who is unwittingly dragged into the ongoing stand-off. Harry is played in great, laconic style by George Segal who was either given free reign by the director or simply chose to play the part how he wanted.

Either way, Segal’s character is the best aspect of the film which also features supports like Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Harry Gardino and Susan Strasberg.

And yes, that’s a young Helen Hunt playing Harry’s teenage daughter Tracey.