Owen G
I thought it was a good adventure film. In the movie the protagonist is an American GI disillusioned by Vietnam and losing his wife to another man while he was overseas. In the book, just in case you were wondering, he is a Kurd who is chosen for the terrorist mission in part because he is fair skinned with blue eyes and thus won't be exposed. If you like adventure I recommend the movie, whether or not you read the book. Robert Evans plays the Israeli intelligence officer in charge of stopping the attack.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
07/20/23
Full Review
Carlos I
Plodding. I saw a review with this in it and I don't think a movie can be more perfectly summed up with one word than this movie is. It's strange, since it has a solid cast and director, with an interesting premise for a disaster movie, but ultimately it just drags out on thriller autopilot. Which didn't keep me engaged in the slightest.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
12/03/22
Full Review
matthew d
Robert Shaw has never been cooler.
John Frankenheimer's action disaster thriller Black Sunday (1977) is enthralling with crazy stunts like a man hanging off a helicopter to real car crashes, not to mention the numerous shootouts with machine guns. Black Sunday is like The Hindenburg, 3 Days of the Condor, The Day of the Jackal all crossed with Munich. Frankenheimer keeps you on the edge of your seat with empathetic displays of character motivation, while ensuring the situation feels tense. You never quite know when something will blow up or someone will get shot suddenly. Frankenheimer's direction contrasts the chase of terrorists with the nerve-wracking experience of watching them.
Robert Shaw gives a commanding performance as Israeli anti-terrorist agent Kabakov. His vulnerable scenes of dramatic helplessness are poignant as are his imposing stature and intimidating interrogation scenes. Shaw is so cool and captivating as Kabakov in Black Sunday. His measured, reflective style fits Black Sunday's investigative moments well. Bruce Dern is all out crazy and pathetic as the deranged and sympathetic Vietnam veteran Michael Lander. Dern gets to play the indignant veteran with a grudge as well as the broken man who has lost it all. Marthe Keller is excellent as the manipulative schemer Dahlia, who awaits vengeance against America. Fritz Weaver is solid as the FBI Agent Sam Corley.
Black Sunday is well written with an intricately plotted and thought out plot showing how a bomb could get to The Super Bowl, while following the government's steps to thwart these heinous acts. Thomas Harris' novel sparks the idea for an explosive bomb plot with timely themes that still hit hard. Ernest Lehman, Ivan Moffat, and Kenneth Ross' writing gives each man their motive and why they feel justified in who they are killing. Black Sunday can feel hopeless and nihilistic, but it offers a world of entertainment away from the poor Palestinians dying from the Israeli government's acts and civilians getting hurt in the crossfire. Black Sunday would still be shocking if it were released today!
Tom Rolf's editing is super snappy and cuts quickly from threat to the threatened for a surprisingly gripping 143 minutes of suspense. John A. Alonzo's cinematography is gorgeous with wide shots of stadiums from helicopter shots to ground wide shots of a blimp falling from the sky. It's as interesting as watching The Hindenburg again. John Williams' score is similar to his pulse pounding classic music for Jaws. Black Sunday bases its atmosphere in the grounded horror of civilians getting murdered by terrorists and Williams' score blasts at the heart of those fears. Ray Summers' 1970's clothes are fun and look like The Friends of Eddie Coyle's fashion.
In all, Black Sunday is riveting down to its last second of intense action. It's one of the greatest disaster thrillers ever made.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Michael Lander (Bruce Dern) is a pilot who flies the Goodyear Blimp over National Football League games to film them for network television. Secretly deranged by years of torture as a POW in the Vietnam War, he had a bitter court martial on his return and a failed marriage. He longs to commit suicide and to take with him as many as possible of the cheerful, carefree U.S. civilians he sees from his blimp each weekend. Lander is desperately in love with Dahlia Iyad (Marthe Keller), an operative from the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, who controls and manipulates him. They conspire together to launch a suicide attack using a bomb composed of plastique and a quarter-million steel flechettes. They plan to mount the bomb on the underside of the gondola of the Goodyear blimp which traditionally flies over the Super Bowl football game, and detonate it over the Miami Orange Bowl during Super Bowl X, in order to call attention to the plight of the Palestinians and to punish the US for supporting Israel. During a raid on a Black September unit in the Middle East, the Israeli counter-terrorist Mossad agent Major David Kabakov (Robert Shaw) surprises Iyad while she is bathing. His mission was to kill everyone in the unit; however, seeing her unarmed and naked, he spares her life and turns his attention to clearing the rest of the unit. She escapes. When the raid is complete, Kabakov finds a recorded message which Iyad had planned to publish after the terrorist attack. The recording explains the motive for the terrorism, but does not include any specific information about the attack plan itself. Collaborating with FBI agent Sam Corley, Kabakov tries to learn the details of the plan. Together, they are able to trace the path of a large amount of plastic explosive which Black September has illegally shipped into the USA. During the Super Bowl game, Kabakov figures out that Iyad and Lander have mounted the bomb on the Goodyear blimp. He and Corley commandeer a helicopter and set out in pursuit of the blimp, accompanied by several other police helicopters...
Black Sunday was among the highest-scoring films ever in the history of Paramount Pictures test screenings, and was widely predicted in the industry as a "second Jaws". When it was released in March 1977, however, the film performed well below expectations. John Frankenheimer later said the film was hurt by the fact another movie about terrorism at a championship football game, Two-Minute Warning, had come out just beforehand and performed poorly. He also blamed the fact the movie was banned in Germany and Japan. Still, it became regarded by some as one of Frankenheimer's best thrillers. Although receiving generally favorable critical reviews, Black Sunday was appreciated more for its technical virtues and storyline than its character development. Reviewer Vincent Canby from The New York Times tried to rationalize his reaction: "I suspect it has to do with the constant awareness that the story is more important than anybody in it ... The characters don't motivate the drama in any real way." In a later review, Christopher Null took exception and identified the one key character who drove the plot: "... Black Sunday is distinguished by its unique focus not on the hero but on the villain: Bruce Dern ..." John Simon said that Black Sunday "is one of those films that are perfectly enjoyable to watch but which there is not all that much to say". Simon did praise the acting of Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Fritz Weaver, Michael V. Gazzo, William Daniels, Steven Keats and Walter Gotell, but said Marthe Keller lacked power and had no charisma. Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads, "A smart, tense thriller from director John Frankenheimer, Black Sunday succeeds on a technical level, even if it fails to bring its characters to vivid life."
This partly slowpaced and talky John Frankenheimer thriller takes off in the second half and becomes quite intense and edgy. The focus on terrorism, in this case the Palestinian terrorist group Black September and their violent acts, are unfortunately as current as it was in the 70s. Solid ensemble with Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern and Marthe Keller (She really has something special). It must have been a nightmare to shoot during the real Superbowl. The inspiration of the story came from the Munich massacre, perpetrated by the Black September organization against Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics, giving both the novel and film its title. The idea of using a blimp as a terrorist weapon was most likely seen unrealistic in 1977, but after 9/11 nothing is. Yes, it does become maybe a bit over the top in the end, but that doesn´t really hurt the film in my opinion. "Black Sunday" is scary and feels current still today.
Trivia: The National Football League (NFL) allowed the official use of real plays and logos in the movie, something which wouldn't be allowed today.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
Full Review
steve d
Really effective version that does justice to the book.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Whats not to love! The great Robert Shaw battles a demented Bruce Dern and crazed terrorists wanting to blow up the Super Bowl! Classic 70s disaster movie madness!! Watch this with ‘Rollercoaster’ and ‘Two Minute Warning’ !
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
12/30/22
Full Review
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