Paramount Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Black Sunday
It could be tomorrow!
An Israeli anti-terrorist agent must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet cooperating in a Black September PLO plot to commit a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl.
- Original title
- Black Sunday
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $8,000,000
- Revenue
- $15,769,322
Dark Jedi
May 16, 2014 · via TMDB
I read the book that the movie is based on a long time ago back in the times when books by definition where made out of paper. I honestly do not remember much from the book except that I thought it was a good enough book. I also generally like Robert Shaw as an actor so when I saw that this movie was given on Paramount Channel I decided to record it for a rainy day. Well, yesterday was not a rainy day but there was not really anything else on that I felt like watching so I put this one on. It is a fairly good movie. At least up until the end. It is a pretty much standard political thriller with the rather common basic story of a couple of terrorists planning a terrorist strike on US soil and a couple of good guys trying to stop them. Of course one of the good guys are a foreign operative with less restrained ideas about how to achieve the desired outcome. There is nothing hugely inventive about the story, although I guess it might have felt a bit more fresh in 1977 when the movie was produced, but it is mostly well implemented. I do like that the movie, as is all to often the case, does not try to “explain” the terrorists and justify their actions, at least not too much. Compared to many movie of this type (and that is why I generally do not like these movies) this one is rather neutral in terms of political sides. There are a few outbursts of “why” but in general the movie focuses on the preparations and the chase. As I wrote, in general the movie is well implemented. The acting of both Robert Shaw and Marthe Keller, who plays the female terrorist, is not at all bad. Maybe not Oscars material but definitely not bad and, as I also wrote before, I do like Robert Shaw. For most of the movie we get to follow the preparations of the terrorists and the work of the good guys trying to unravel the plot and stop it. A few sporadic outbursts of action breaks the otherwise not so fast pace of the movie. Classical thriller material and quite enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately by the time we come to the ending it appears like the classical Hollywood I-do-not-have-clue-but-lets-throw-in-some-action people took over and it drags down an otherwise fairly well-made movie. Once the plan is uncovered the movie turns into just another let’s-spot-the-faults Hollywood B-movie. For instance, once it is clear that there is a severe threat, why is the stadium not evacuated? At least they should have gotten the president out. Given the situation why did they not have an officer or agent on the blimp in the first place? Why did Kobakov have to run all over the stadium to talk to the TV-guys, there should have been someone with communication in their hut already? And then we have the blimp chase. There was a potential threat to the president and all they could muster was a single police chopper that got shot down and another chopper that they hijacked? Kobakov laying on the blimp fumbling to get hold of the hook was also dragged out in absurdum. As I wrote I do not remember much details from the book but this ending sure dragged down the movie for me. It is at least a star off for the ending. Still, most of the movie was enjoyable.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Robert Shaw
Kabakov
Bruce Dern
Lander
Marthe Keller
Dahlia
Fritz Weaver
FBI Agent Sam Corley
Steven Keats
Moshevsky
Bekim Fehmiu
Fasil
Michael V. Gazzo
Muzi
William Daniels
Pugh
Walter Gotell
Colonel Riat
Pat Summerall
Pat Summerall
Walter Brooke
Fowler
Clyde Kusatsu
Freighter Captain
Robert Patten
Vickers
James Jeter
Watchman
Tom McFadden
Farley
Than Wyenn
Israeli Ambassador
Jack Rader
Pearson
Hunter von Leer
Cameraman
John A. Alonzo
Director of Photography
Bob Minor
Stunts
Erik Cord
Stunts
Gene LeBell
Stunts
Glenn R. Wilder
Stunts
Jeannie Epper
Stunts
John Frankenheimer
Director
Larry Franco
Second Assistant Director
Lynn Stalmaster
Casting
Robert Evans
Producer
John Williams
Original Music Composer
Thomas Harris
Novel
Ernest Lehman
Screenplay
Taxi Driver
All That's Left of You
Breaking the Waves
The Traitor
Apollo 11: The Untold Story
Hostage
A Place in the World
Once Upon a Time in High School
Bed and Board
West Beirut
Good Old Daze
Prince of the City
Unnaipol Oruvan
My Brother
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
The Lake in the Sky
Love on the Run
Three Seconds
Paradise in Service
The Other Side of the Wind
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Gentlemen
32 Malasana Street
Maria
Border
The Jackal
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue
The Sum of All Fears
The Cassandra Crossing
Blown Away
The Devil's Own
Mutant Action
Zeppelin
De Dominee
The Peacemaker
Lions for Lambs
First Name: Carmen
You're Under Arrest: The Motion Picture
Foxes
Elvis & Nixon
Folgeschäden
All the Devil's Men
Imagining Argentina
Dreamcatcher
The Disco Years
Comrade Pedersen
Young Soul Rebels
The Marksman
Southland Tales
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
Derailed
American Cyborg: Steel Warrior
Exit: Dead End
Bullitt County
Death Before Dishonor
The Brawler
The Foreigner
Chupacabra
The Serenade of An Ancicnt Stronghold
Päivät kuin unta
Hunting Season
The System
Munich
Kill 'em All 2
The Black Book
Embattled
Hellhound
Nowhere to Run
Weekend in Taipei
Nighthawks
The Commuter
Rise of the Footsoldier
The International
Trigger Point
Shade
Final Score
Welcome to Sudden Death
Passenger 57
The 355
Black Site
Best of the Best 2
The Delta Force
The Engineer
Seeking Justice
180
Brake
Replicant
Zero
Mar 22, 1977
USA Film Festival
Apr 1, 1977
