Black Sunday (1977)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Thomas Harris (by)
Ernest Lehman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 March 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

There has never been a motion picture adventure like...

Plot:

An Isreali anti-terrorist agent must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet cooperating in a plot to commit a terrorist plot at the Super Bowl.

Plot Keywords:

Blimp | Violence | American Football | Psychopath | Syringe

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Robert Shaw	...	Kabakov
Bruce Dern	...	Lander
Marthe Keller	...	Dahlia
Fritz Weaver	...	Corley
Steven Keats	...	Moshevsky
Bekim Fehmiu	...	Fasil
Michael V. Gazzo	...	Muzi
William Daniels	...	Pugh
Walter Gotell	...	Colonel Riat
Victor Campos	...	Nageeb
Joseph Robbie	...	Joseph Robbie
Robert Wussler	...	Robert Wussler
Pat Summerall	...	Pat Summerall
Tom Brookshier	...	Tom Brookshier
Walter Brooke	...	Fowler

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Movielab)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:18A (Ontario) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R (certificate #24543) | Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Carson, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The climactic scene in which the blimp descends onto the Orange Bowl was filmed the day before the actual game to avoid setting off a real panic.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When the blimp takes off from its base in South Florida en-route to the SuperBowl, you can see mountains in the distance. South Florida's terrain is flat.

Quotes:

Captain Michael J. Lander: I wanted to give this whole son-of-a-bitchin' country something to remember me by!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Soundtrack:

The Star Spangled Banner

A Solid No-Nonsense Thriller

There are a number of good things going for this film, among them two things you learn right from the opening credits: (1) John Frankenheimer is the director and (2) it's based on a book by Thomas Harris, the man who created "Hannibal Lechter."

Throw in two intense always-interesting actors, Bruce Dern and Marthe Keller, and you now have a good, no-nonsense story translated to the screen. By that, I mean that when people are shot, that's it, no questions asked, no stupid talking.

Even the football scenes were real-life with actual footage of the Cowboys and Steelers playing in a past Super Bowl.

The suspense was done well, although a bit hokey at the very end (can't say more without spoiling it) but it can't take away from the previous two-plus hours of credibility.

Dern also makes for a good "psycho" (he's almost made a career of it) and Keller is convincing as a villain, too, as she was in a film from the previous year: Marathon Man. Two other consistently- good actors also help make this an interesting film: Robert Shaw and Fritz Weaver.

It was nice to see this film on a widescreen DVD but the picture was a bit grainy. The transfer was okay, but could have been better. The film is worthy of a top- notch print.