Director John Frankenheimer was responsible for some of the best films of the '50s and '60s. BLACK SUNDAY, released in 1977, illustrates that Frankenheimer had lost none of his touch when he came to direct this top-notch contemporary thriller. It's pretty obvious from the poster and the packaging that the Goodyear blimp is a memorable and climactic part of the plot, but the intricacies of arriving at this conclusion are quite fascinating and compel attention.
Bruce Dern, in all his crazed glory, plays a Vietnam vet, a former pilot, severely damaged with PTSD, who is obsessed with committing an act of extreme terrorism by teaming up with a member of the terrorist group Black September. Marthe Keller, the lovely Swiss-born actress, plays--at least for a time--his partner in crime. She portrays her inner conflict, both moral and emotional, very effectively, holding her own opposite the wonderful Robert Shaw in a heroic role as an Israeli agent determined to liquidate the terrorists.
Shaw, was a still-athletic late forties when he took on this role, shortly after making JAWS. A few years later, at age 51, he died, tragically, of a massive heart attack. Here he is required to do a lot of physical stuff, particularly running. Since much of the action was shot during an actual Super Bowl game, it is quite something to see Shaw in these running shots, knowing full well there was only one opportunity to get the footage needed. The film's cracking good ending is almost matched by one of the most exciting action sequences from the 1970s in which a terrorist tries to hijack a car and Robert Shaw gives chase. It's an incredible action scene of heart-thumping choreography. And something I personally appreciated about this film was that, despite being made in the more liberal 1970s, it is virtually free of any profanity. This is highly unusual, and most welcome, at least in my household.
BLACK SUNDAY is truly one of those edge-of-your-seat thrillers that is so effective because the plot, characters and execution are so skilfully blended, transcending the genre to assume the mantle of Art. That was John Frankenheimer.
Bruce Dern, in all his crazed glory, plays a Vietnam vet, a former pilot, severely damaged with PTSD, who is obsessed with committing an act of extreme terrorism by teaming up with a member of the terrorist group Black September. Marthe Keller, the lovely Swiss-born actress, plays--at least for a time--his partner in crime. She portrays her inner conflict, both moral and emotional, very effectively, holding her own opposite the wonderful Robert Shaw in a heroic role as an Israeli agent determined to liquidate the terrorists.
Shaw, was a still-athletic late forties when he took on this role, shortly after making JAWS. A few years later, at age 51, he died, tragically, of a massive heart attack. Here he is required to do a lot of physical stuff, particularly running. Since much of the action was shot during an actual Super Bowl game, it is quite something to see Shaw in these running shots, knowing full well there was only one opportunity to get the footage needed. The film's cracking good ending is almost matched by one of the most exciting action sequences from the 1970s in which a terrorist tries to hijack a car and Robert Shaw gives chase. It's an incredible action scene of heart-thumping choreography. And something I personally appreciated about this film was that, despite being made in the more liberal 1970s, it is virtually free of any profanity. This is highly unusual, and most welcome, at least in my household.
BLACK SUNDAY is truly one of those edge-of-your-seat thrillers that is so effective because the plot, characters and execution are so skilfully blended, transcending the genre to assume the mantle of Art. That was John Frankenheimer.