My late friend, Steve Bjork, had quite an interesting life. While I do not know anything about his childhood an upbringing, he did share tidbits about his later years. In the 1970s, he worked for Magic Mountain (known as Six Flags Magic Mountain after 1979) in Valencia, California.

A number of movies have been filmed at Magic Moutain over the years, including National Lampoon’s Vacation which used the park as a stand-in for the fictional Wally World. It was also used in one of the Beverly Hills Cop movies.

But long before those 1980s classic was: Rollercoaster.

Filming on this epic 1977 disaster (?) movie began in 1976, according to the wikipedia entry on the film. Steve had mentioned he was an extra in this movie, and I had thought maybe he just went down and lined up to audition. (That is how it worked when me and some friends “auditioned” in high school for a movie that was filmed in East Texas.)

Steve mentioned he was in a scene loading a roller coaster. I wondered if we could find him. Thanks to the help of Eric, who was able to locate where I could watch this movie, I began scrubbing through the film looking for any scenes showing a roller coaster load area.

Finally, at around the 1:44 mark near the end of the film, we found him. Ladie’s and gentlemen, a young Steve Bjork!

As the coaster car pulls back into the station, several costumed park workers quickly go to the car to start unlocking the lap bars so the riders can get out. At the far back of the room is Steve. The movie stars are riding in the back and you get to see Steve in two different clips of this scene.

For comparison, here is the earliest public photo of Steve I could find, which appeared in the January 1983 issue of SOFTLINE magazine:

I have not checked to see if he can be spotted elsewhere in the film, so if you decide to look for him, let me know if you find something new.

Thanks for helping me find this, Eric!