Did anyone notice the high amount of cigarette smoking in this film?
It was disgusting. Imagine how putrid George Segal must have smelled after coming out of that smoke room where he was trying therapy to quit. Yuck!
Almost every scene seemed to contain someone smoking. I guess it was just a bit thing in films in 1977.
That's normal for back then. People smoked everywhere. In grocery stores, restaurants, airlines, even hospitals. You name it, people smoked there. It seems strange now though since there are all these no-smoking laws everywhere.
Also, back then I don't believe second-hand smoke was believed to be harmful.
My father smoked for 40 years (he quit in 1995--thankfully).
He was a smoking fiend in 1977, when this movie came out. I paid no attention to it then, and now it's an amusing snapshot of those times. Yes, everyone smoked then. They advertised cigarettes on TV up to 1970 (I think).
You could smoke on planes, in elevators, at your job, in all restaurants----and I believe there were LESS young people smoking then than there are now.
All of that access in the '70s and '80s never made me want to smoke. Take away access, slap a "bad" label on it--and the kids want it.
Regarding the movie--I thought the subplot of Segal trying to quit smoking was very funny. It added a human element to a suspense movie.
Human Beings...Wowshare
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That should be fewer young people, not ''LESS''.
shareMaybe these are the actual goals of the anti-smoking campaign. Label cigarettes as "bad", take them away from access, increase the prices and kids want it. And kids now are the smokers of tomorrow.
shareI was born in 1970, and when I was a baby my parents took me to a neighbor's party where most of the party was smoking. Some lady there asked to hold me, and as she held me I screamed, and my parents thought that it was just because she was a stranger. But it turned out that while she was holding me she had her cigarette pushed against my side burning me the entire time. I still have the scar.
I found it funny in the Rollercoaster movie that one of the games at an amusement park had cartons of cigarettes as prizes. Does anyone know if they really gave out carton of cigarettes as prizes back then, or was that just meant as humor because Harry was trying to quit smoking?
I was born in 1966 and as the youngest of three kids, my Mom smoked through all 3 pregnancies! Of course no one knew any better (or maybe didn't care). Everyone of her friends smoked as well.
( I won't even mention how many people drank and drove back then - pre MADD days the roads on weekend nights were dangerous)
She would walk into her pediatrician's office pregnant with me puffing away and her doctor would be right there blowing his smoke right back in her face!
No big whoop back then.
I work in a building from the 70s in Northern VA right now and all of the bathroom stalls have ashtrays in them! You wouldn't want to miss out in there.
I remember going to a carnival as a teenager back in the 50's where you could win cartons of cigaretts using a rifle to knock down packages of cigaretts...I remember that day was windy and the packages of cigaretts kept falling over making them easy to win...
shareA similar game was played at Coney Island in the early 20th century, but they used black men instead of cigarettes. The difference is that even on windy days, the black guys stood their ground. In 1915, a local court ruled the game illegal. As of this writing, cigarettes are stillegal.
If you put me on ignore, then how can I notify you when I win the lottery?
That's nothing compared to this movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054698/
It's a smokingfest!
<<(When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.)>>
When I had my son in 1988 I had a smoking room in the Maternity ward. yes..I smoke. But I do not drink...
That guy came to us for help, and we lit him on fire!
Move, and I'll sock ya one!
In old movies they've got doctors smoking while they talk to patients! It's amazing.
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"Love means never having to say you're ugly." - the Abominable Dr. Phibes
hi teabunny. you must be watching it right now like I am since most of the comments are old. I agree with all the comments about the amount of people and places that smoking occured. I really think they overdid it in the movie because George Segal was trying to give up the habit. The movie started with him in the office of a doctor to help him quit and then he runs into the most stressful day of his life without a cigarette. Just a quick obsevation. What do you think ? Funniest part was when he won the carton of cigarettes and couldn't take them. LOL.
cheers, Kevin
Yes I was watching it today, and I had seen it in 1977 when I was a kid. It put me off roller coasters! I guess it was kind of like when Pee Wee loses his bike and then he looks around and everyone has a bike, even a toy bike rolls by.
I remember when boardwalk games gave away cartons of cigs. Now they give away big boxes of candy. One vice for another.
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"Love means never having to say you're ugly." - the Abominable Dr. Phibes
It's been mentioned already, but I was laughing when Segal won a carton of cigarettes playing a carnival game! Imagine trying to have a prize like that today.
share
Hah! Yeah, I'm watching it right now (4th of July 2011). George winning a carton of Camels really put this movie into perspective. I was 10 when I saw Rollercoaster in the local General Cinema. I remember everyone in the audience jumping at the first loud noise: someone hitting the milk bottles with a baseball. Now Sensuround (did I spell that right?) and General Cinema are both gone. Great movie. Hope it doesn't give the hardcore practitioners of a certain religion of peace any ideas......
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And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
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