Juggernaut (1974)

A blackmailer demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he placed aboard the transatlantic liner Britannic.

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

Richard Alan Simmons (as Richard De Koker), Alan Plater (additional dialogue)

Stars:

Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, David Hemmings

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Harris	...	Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon
Omar Sharif	...	Captain Alex Brunel
David Hemmings	...	Charlie Braddock
Anthony Hopkins	...	Supt. John McCleod
Shirley Knight	...	Barbara Bannister
Ian Holm	...	Nicholas Porter
Clifton James	...	Corrigan
Roy Kinnear	...	Social Director Curtain
Caroline Mortimer	...	Susan McCleod
Mark Burns	...	Hollingsworth
John Stride	...	Hughes
Freddie Jones	...	Sidney Buckland
Julian Glover	...	Commander Marder
Jack Watson	...	Chief Engineer Mallicent
Roshan Seth	...	Azad

Storyline

Some unknown maniac is threatening a navigation company to blow up one of its luxury transatlantics, the "Britannic", now in high sea with one thousand two hundred passengers. He is asking for a five hundred thousand pound sterling ransom, otherwise the seven bombs aboard will explode. An experienced anti-bomb squad is sent to the "Britannic", but although all the bombs are located, a very high skill level will be necessary to dismantle them. Perhaps that task is impossible.

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Plot Keywords:

time bomb | character name as title | nickname as title | bomb | ransom | 

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Taglines:

Only one man to save 1200 lives! [Richard Harris]

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Juggernaut

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$3,400,000, 31 December 1974

Company Credits

Production Co:

David V. Picker Productions, Two Roads Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (DeLuxe) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The poem, from which Barbara Bannister (Shirley Knight) quotes, is, "Not waving, but drowning" written by Stevie Smith, 1972.

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Goofs

During the very final defusing scene where the red wire is cut on the detonator, there follows sequential views of the red wire being cut on all the other bombs, however the rough random drill marks of the hole cut to access this is identical on all the bombs meaning it is in fact the same one filmed five times just with a different member of the bomb disposal team cutting the wire each time.

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Quotes

Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon: May you inherit the earth.
Charlie Braddock: Yeah, six feet of it, I think.

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Connections

References You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1973)

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Soundtracks

Auld Lang Syne
(1788)
Traditional Scottish 17th century music
Lyrics by Robert Burns
Played by a band when the Britannic is leaving port

User Reviews

An enjoyable watch

It is New Years' Eve and six bombs are found on-board passenger cruiser BRITTANIC, below and above sea level. The anonymous perpetrator demands 500,000 pounds (a suspiciously low sum even in 1974.) Facing choppy seas and 'force 8 winds,' the crew are unable to unload passengers into life-rafts or rescue vessels, and so a team of bomb-disposal experts are flown in.

JUGGERNAUT is a well-paced film and can boast an all-star cast. Richard Harris plays the chief expert as a world-weary drinker who been in the job too long and faced imminent death so many times that he has lost all pretence for morality. David Hemmings has a smaller role as his assistant. A younger - but still grey haired - Anthony Hopkins heads the landside manhunt for the bomber. Ian Holm puts in a lovely performance as the compassionate head of the shipping company, who insists upon paying the ransom, even as the hard-on-terrorists British government threatens to withdraw its generous tax subsidies. Michael Hordern has a cameo, as too does Julian Glover. Rounding off the cast is an understated Roy Kinnear who plays the bumbling cruise director, offering hapless pleasantries to the passengers as well as falling short of a comfort after the bombs presence on board are revealed.

This is a very British film - these is little swearing, no resolute American hero, sandwiches are the meal of choice -offered to the bomb experts and the passengers - who are told relatively early of the threat - take the news with surprising grace, the British upper-lip prevailing over the typical Hollywood hysterier or sentimentality