david-546 John Frankenheimer was it seems a visionary director. His films always seemed to be ahead of its time. And Black Sunday is no different. While ostensibly based off the Munich Olympics attacks of Black September the attack on the Super Bowl seemed to almost forecast events like 9/11 and the incessant war on terrorism that envelopes us today. Frankenheimer did not stray from controversy. He drew a picture of the terrorists far more than many others might have. We feel the bitterness of Dahlia Iyad (Marthe Keller)on how the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has impacted her life, her family and the Palestinian people. We even have some sympathy for Michael Lander (Bruce Dern) who while playing his crazed best is actually a tortured soul clearly suffering from PTSD and his feeling of embitterness towards his wife who deserted him and his eventually court martial even though he spent years in prison as a POW in Vietnam (probably Hotel Hilton and was no doubt tortured). He may have received the silver heart (or was it purple?) but he was deeply embittered and a perfect foil for the Iyad led terrorists to be the fall guy for their planned attack on the Super Bowl. Lander is an ex pilot and when he was normal he was the pilot for the Goodyear blimp that hovers over the Super Bowl. But it wasn't just the terrorists who were drawn well. Major David Kabakov (Robert Shaw) is clearly a Mossad agent even though it never seems to utter the word Mossad. He is a ruthless killer whose sole purpose is to track down terrorists like Iyad and assassinate them. That he seems to be given a somewhat sympathetic portrayal suggests they needed someone to act like the good guy. But there was little good about him and especially not his ruthless sidekick Moshevsky (Steven Yeats).If there was anyone who actually came off as a bit of a good guy it was the FBI agent Sam Corley (Fritz Weaver).My one complaint about the film was turning Robert Shaw into a latter day James Bond with his phony heroics to hook up the blimp to the helicopter to drag it away from the Super Bowl before it blows up. It was all a bit too neat and tidy.Black Sunday is a superb action and political thriller worthy of Frankenheimer's better pictures. Considerable tension and the music score of John Williams added to the tension. The shot of of the Goodyear blimp coming in over the Super Bowl was superb and the ensuing panic was filmed not CGI'd. We felt the panic. *** out of 4.

sol- Government agents from the United States and Israel team up to prevent a Palestinian terrorist attack on American soil in this action thriller directed by John Frankenheimer. The film notably provides an insight to the way the terrorists think. Of the two main terrorists, we learn that the female one (a Palestinian, played by Marthe Keller) grew up repressed with her family killed. The male one (an American, played by Bruce Dern) is a Vietnam War POW camp survivor whose life was torn apart defending a country that has done nothing for him, adrift after the army convinced his wife that he was dead. The relationship between the pair is curious too as it is unclear whether Keller is just using Dern due his army connections and disgruntlement. Unfortunately neither the chief FBI nor the chief Israeli agent are half as interesting, and the film is a whole lot less enticing when focused on their attempts to stop Keller and Dern, who get up to some fascinating mischief, experimenting with weaponry. Despite their solid characters, Keller and Dern are hardly top rate (her accent is overdone and his high-strung emotional scenes sometimes ring false), but the weakest element here is the fact that the central action (involving the blimp on the DVD covers and posters) is confined to final half-hour with over an hour and half (!) of dialogue-heavy exposition leading up to it. The climax is hardly memorable enough to justify the build-up. Never to mind, a powerful music score by John Williams constantly drums up suspense while the terrorist insights render the film less biased than one might expect.

jmillerdp My all-time favorite thriller! Magnificently mounted by director John Frankenheimer. An excellent cast, sharp script and pitch-perfect cinematography all work together to make this one of the best thrillers on film.Even with everything else in its favor, the highlight is John Williams' score. It's tense, terse and tightly written. This was the score Williams did just before "Star Wars," so John was definitely in the zone!The real-life terrorism we have been confronted by very much underscores this film. Regardless, this film is as thrilling as it was when it was released.********** (10 Out of 10 Stars)

Dark Jedi 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.