I recently bought the DVD of Rollercoaster as I've been a big fan since I saw it when I was young. However, I am convinced that some parts of the crash scenes have been cut out. I read that these scenes were shortened before the release of the film as they were considered too gory, yet I'm sure the version I saw on TV showed more than my DVD version. Has anyone else noticed this or can tell me if I'm right or not?
shareAnna,
I have the R1 DVD and it is cut, at the end you dont get to see Tim Bottoms dead.
Ranken
[deleted]
If you're talking about the first part of the film with the derailed 'coaster, I think I saw a longer version on TV also (this was when I was a kid though). I bought the VHS sometime ago and it looks 'choppy', like it's been re-edited.
From a German uncut VHS. Cuts were a lot smaller than I thought. Perhaps though the TV versions came from a different print which was pre-cuts or something?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir-OAHmXFJU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Ndd-wsEEg
Darn. The videos of the uncut scenes are no longer on youtube. Any chance of re-posting it somewhere?
shareSorry, that was my fault. I made a mess of it and ended up deleting them. I will try again for you later tonight and re-post. Honestly though, it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it amount of footage that is missing.
I would also love to see the deleted footage, thanks.
share[deleted]
MAJOR SPOILERS!!!! Proceed with caution...........
So all of you know this right up front, I'm 46 years old. I'm telling you because 30 years ago, before I would turn 17, I would see "Rollercoaster" at a special sneak preview in Costa Mesa, California - maybe 2 months before it opened. I remember it like yesterday. I even remember the movie playing with it. Get ready for this: It was "The Slipper and the Rose", a G rated version of the Cinderella story. Now why is that detail important? Because the audience was filled with nice middle-aged people who thought they were going to get a relaxing double feature. Little did they know.
Yes, the crash scene was edited down. The original version - as I remember it - and I think I remember it very well - was indeed more graphic. The cuts were mainly AFTER the cars had hit the ground, and we were shown the carnage afterwards - lots of dead bodies spewed all over the place, plus blood coming out of the turned-upside-down car. Needless to say, there were about 6 people - middle aged - who got out of the chairs, and left the theater, and did not come back. The OTHER edits was Harry going to the park after the horrible accident. There was a tracking shot that went along the body bags and ended with the female employee crying her eyes out (the one that gives the "okay" sign as the cars left on it's fateful run). And in the ENDING sequence when Timothy Bottoms gets struck by the car, a different angle was used: He stops on the tracks, we cut to George Segal, we cut to a straight-ahead shot of Timothy, behind him we see the cars approaching - the camera stayed and then in a whoosh, the cars pass by - and after they pass by, there is Timothy on the ground. Don't know why they thought THAT was too graphic, but it was definitely changed. The only other sequence that I recall was in the beginning scenes when the elderly employee was being harassed by the younger workers - in a cruel teenager fashion.
And by the way, the print shown that night didn't even have the beginning credits added yet. It was THAT much of a test screening.
I wish there was some way we could get the director - and maybe George Segal for that matter - to confirm what I said, but I think I got it right. And I hope this helps relieve your curiosity. Ahhh, the advantages of being alive 30 years ago............
And one of the DISADVANTAGES of getting old is that your brain don't work as fast. Now I remember something else that didn't make the final cut.
Timothy Bottom's character has now gone to that great amusement park in the sky. The version we see now is that they cut to George Segal walking out of the park and asking a guy for a cigarette. In the sneak preview version, there was dialogue with the men you see behind him in which the Bottom's character's name WAS revealed and what the motivation might have been. Naturally I don't remember what the name was or the motivation (other than money of course), but the name was given. I guess the makers decided it was best to keep him a mystery.
Wow, thanks for the information on the test screening you saw 30 years ago. I think it would have been a much better movie had they stuck with the scenes you mentioned. I'm surprised a lot of people haven't even seen or heard of this movie. I think it's one of the better action movies from the late 70s. The cast is quite excellent as well. So Flkfrek, if you happen to remember any other scenes that were left on the editing floor, it'd be most appreciated. Thanks again for sharing your memories of Rollercoaster.
shareI really wish that the uncut version would get released. Does anyone have a copy of the version that was shown on British TV all those years ago?
How many "all those years ago"?, because i'm sure i saw this with my mum when i was virtually still a baby, it was in the middle of the afternoon but all i can remember is burning and collapsing rollercoaster rails with the carriages falling off and people screaming. I can't remember the rest of the film, just the crash and the end XD. This would have been anywhere from around 1987-1990
shareYou're confusing two movies together as one.
The Rocket, the coaster in th ebeginning is also used in aanothe rmovie called The Death of Ocean View Park, and Rollercoaster. TDOOVP was a made for TV film about a haunted amusement park. In that film the coaster was blown up and collapsed.
________
"Is this another "my dick is bigger than your dick" contest?
Rollercoaster's been screened on UK TV quite a few times since I first saw it on ITV around April 1985 (After that it always seemed to be screened on BBC).
I had this '85 version taped and as an older kid watching the film often, knew the film back to front. The taping got lost or scrubbed until I was able to record it again around September 1990 when it was screened on BBC1. Even though I no longer had the ITV taping, I immediately noticed that the BBC screening had scenes that were definitely not in the ITV version i'd taped 5 years before. Most of it was small scenes, that seemed to pad out the running time (I think one of them was the aerial shots of King's Dominion before the fountains get switched on) - stuff like that. I also seem to recall one or two extra carnage shots after the Oceanview detonation, not the carriage impacts which all seemed to be there, but some extra victim shots. All tv versions i've seen have always had the infamous shot of a rollercoastered Timothy Bottoms with blood coming from his mouth intact.
Once again, this taping got lost or scrubbed and once again I managed to get it taped from a screening on BBC1 around March 1998. This version (which I still have on VHS) was the same as the 1990 screening and is almost identical to the 1998 Universal Region 1 DVD except it retains the "Timothy Bottoms blood from mouth scene" which is cut from the dvd.
Hope this offers a small insight into the UK tv screenings of the film :)
I've actually recorded that version on BBC1 from around March 1998.
likewise i've lost the tape, it's unfortunate that the current dvd version's are cut
as i vividly remember the "Timothy Bottoms blood from mouth scene"
it's interesting to note that 'jaws' which was also rated PG featured much more graphic scenes of blood letting, and to this day is still unchanged!
hopefully their will be a special edition with the scene(s) put back in
as in my own opinion it's an enjoyable film
Could be here
http://stagevu.com/video/ckyeftskqsur
flkfrek-1, I'd like to thank you for your posts, too. I recently turned the half-century corner and am positively thrilled to find other "young" boomers, especially those who like movies such as this!
--
Check on your pet peeve at http://www.screenit.com; mine is the eff-word.
I just watched it and I feel there is a few more cut scenes. I used to have the VHS and in that one you see Harry getting the hat with his name stitched on it, I did not see this part on the DVD. Also I thought that the kid at the end realized there was a bomb under his ass when the squad gathered around his seat but I did not see this on the dvd. Anybody know what I am talking about or did I just imagine stuff?
shareThat's strange that the hat part isn't on your DVD. I have the DVD and that scene is there.
Some of the dialogue:
YOUNG MAN: "There’s a stand near the Mason Dixon Music Hall. They sell hats. I want you to buy one. Have you name stitched on the brim. And then you’ll like this Harry. I want you to put it on."
YOUNG MAN: "I have a little surprise for everybody. Are you listening Mister Hoyt? There’s a bomb in the park. Please follow my instructions to the letter or I’ll be forced to set it off. Now go get your funny hat, Harry."
HAT STAND GIRL (to Harry): "Your hat sir. That’ll be three fifty. Don’t get many Harrys around here. A lot of Jasons and Scotts."
That's some bad hat, Harry.
share[deleted]
[deleted]
flkfrek-1,
I just watched the Rollercoaster DVD, and the ending scene of Timothy Bottoms getting struck by the roller coaster car is exactly how you described it. It wasn't edited.
Hey, this mentions what was edited from the end of the movie. If this is missing, then your version is probably cut (check the pic). The site is German, but if you translate it into English, it looks like the same thing is missing from nearly all versions.
http://www.schnittberichte.com/schnittbericht.php?ID=2749
It would seem that the CIC Taurus German version is unedited (imdb mentions that the Italian version is too - although I'm curious to know if they are referring to an older version). I wonder which other versions are 'uncut'?
The Roller coaster wreck at the beginning of the film as the first car comes off the two people flting out where stuntmen and they missed their mark they were to hit the building with mats but missed it one got a broken back
shareI guess I didn't word it right. I should have said "Changed" instead of "edited". Both versions Bottoms gets slammed. But the finished version has him look to his right, see the cars, cut to Segal for the "bonk" noise, cut to bottoms hitting the ground. The version I originally saw it was a straight ahead shot of bottoms, we hear the cars round the corner, and we see the cars swirl by the camera, when the cars pass, Bottoms is seen on the ground. I hope that makes better sense. Sorry about my misleading description. hehehe
share