Juggernaut (1974)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

Alan Plater (additional dialogue)
Richard Alan Simmons (written by)

Release Date:

25 September 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

Only one man to save 1200 lives! [Richard Harris]

Plot:

Some unknown maniac is threatening a navigation company to blow up one of its luxury transatlantics...

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Sea | Water | Ship | Extortion

Cast

Richard Harris	...	Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon
Omar Sharif	...	Captain Alex Brunel
David Hemmings	...	Charlie Braddock
Anthony Hopkins	...	Supt. John McCleod
Shirley Knight	...	Barbara Banister
Ian Holm	...	Nicholas Porter
Clifton James	...	Corrigan
Roy Kinnear	...	Social Director Curtain
Caroline Mortimer	...	Susan McCleod
Mark Burns	...	Hollingworth
John Stride	...	Hughes
Freddie Jones	...	Sidney Buckland
Julian Glover	...	Commander Marder
Jack Watson	...	Chief Engineer Malicent
Roshan Seth	...	Azad

Also Known As:

Terror on the Britannic (UK) (DVD title) (USA)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:12 (1975) | Norway:15 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

St. Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London, England, UK

Company:

David V. Picker Productions

Trivia:

When Richard Lester joined the project some cast members had already been signed.

Goofs:

Continuity: The children's mikado sticks.

Quotes:

Barbara Banister: Do you think the water will be very cold?
Social Director Curtain: In my professional opinion: not hot. And it will ruin your hair.
Barbara Banister: In your professional capacity, shouldn't you be cheering us up?
Social Director Curtain: Well, there are no icebergs.
Barbara Banister: [looks at Captain Brunel] Correction.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "MacGyver: Countdown (#1.14)" (1986)

Decent suspenser without fanfare and bunting.

Not to say there are no thrills in this 1974 British offering for the jumbled genres of action and disaster so prevalent in this particular decade, because there are more than enough for it to warrant entry into both genres. Although the sum of its parts is a simple Good Vs Evil axis the film has the bonus {and important trait} of characters that are thoroughly believable, be it Richard Harris's stoic Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon, or Roy Kinnear's Social Director Curtain, both men poles apart on a social level but crucially; both men that exist in the real world.

The film follows a predictable format of character building because the type of film demands it, if people are going to be in peril then we want to care about them, or at the very least know about them. Juggernaut does this very well, so that when the second half of the film kicks in, when the brave bomb disposal guys are putting life and limb on the line, the film has our undivided attention.

It's then a case of hold your breath as the tension rises, and it's all played out with some delightful dialogue from the lead players in the film. This is good honest film making in a much criticised genre and it certainly is worth a look at least once for those interested in quality suspense without the end of the world being at stake.

7/10.