Black Sunday

I'm a sucker for movies with blimps and hot air balloons (from Jules Verne to James Bond). A movie where the Goodyear Blimp plays a major role is right up my alley. But that's not all. This is one of the most realistic political thrillers ever filmed. Each actor regardless of the size of role in this film simply blows away most of what passes for acting today. Frankenheimer's direction (style later copied on Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue) was perhaps ten to fifteen years ahead of its time, and the editing at times perhaps second only to Jaws and maybe a Hitchcock film or two (though it does slow down in the middle). This is a film where the obvious villain, played by a colorful Bruce Dern, is the central character driving the story, and Robert Shaw's underplayed hero somewhat of an antagonist getting in the way. Dern's character is not glorified (as many of that film era were such as in Bonnie and Clyde, The Sting, and Butch Cassidy). The camera is there so we may understand his character without romanticism or sympathy. We are left to make up our own mind about his villainy, and Dern's performance leaves little to question that he is a deranged lunatic. Perhaps this is why the film is not so known today. Vietnam vets returning home was a fairly new topic for films at the time (ironically "Coming Home" with Bruce Dern as a sympathetic vet was the first big film about this subject). The "crazed Viet Vet" became a stereotype and politically incorrect. It is too bad this film was lumped into that group, because it is as good as a thriller can get. Next to "Jaws," this is Shaw's best performance. This is a film that can be watched over and over because it is so complex. I recommend buying the film as opposed to renting it, so you can savor it like a good wine.

While Black Sunday may not be considered an actual classic, it's still the most edge of your seat movie I've ever seen! I was definetly glued to the TV the first time that I saw this film. It's a shame this movie didn't turn out to be a huge success, because I think it's very underrated. Next to Jaws and From Russia With Love, this is one of Robert Shaw's finest performances. It's too bad he passed away while he was probably in the heyday of his film career. Bruce Dern also gives a great performance as a disturbed Vietnam Vet turned blimp pilot who becomes an aid for the terrorist plot on the Super Bowl. The film should be considered very well-maid for it's time when they didn't have the special effects like they do today. The aerial shots were fantastic as was the ability to combine the football scenes in the movie. I recommend this thriller even though the first hour had it's share of dull moments, but you can't deny that the climax was a nailbiter.

"Black Sunday" is a nice example of how good action films used to be, before the 80s and 90s saw dumb scripts and dumb characters undermine the genre forever (films like "The Rock" for example). Instead of going for non-stop pyrotechnics, John Frankenheimer and Ernest Lehman serve up a tense, exciting build-up with interesting characters along the way that culminates in a grand finale that was partly filmed during Super Bowl X between Dallas and Pittsburgh. Robert Shaw, at long last given the chance to play the hero in a movie, is quite good as the weary Israeli agent and Bruce Dern is at his psychotic best as the deranged blimp pilot.

"Black Sunday" is a flat out exciting motion picture about the planning and execution of a terrorist attack during the Super Bowl. Robert Shaw plays the head of an agency trying to prevent the attack. Bruce Dern is at his creepy best as a brainwashed Vietnam vet enlisted by the lovely Marthe Keller to help carry out the sinister plan. Dern is a blimp pilot and the perfect person to help detonate a contraption that will send thousands of deadly needles into the unsuspecting crowd. Dern was born to play parts like this and it's a reminder of how terrific an actor he is and how sad it is that he doesn't work as much as he used to.

The final 40 minutes is intercut between the game (actually shot during the real Cowboys-Steelers Super Bowl game of 76) and the unfolding of the final stages of the plot. It's tense and exciting as Shaw and cohorts commandeer helicopters to try to catch the blimp heading to the big game to unleash its deadly attack.

Kudos to director John Frankheimer for keeping the pacing on this 2 hour 25 minute thriller moving. The editing is first rate and the music score by John Williams is one of his best though it is never mentioned when his name comes up.

If you like a good thriller that is never boring and will keep you on the edge of your seat, I highly recommend "Black Sunday."

Black Sunday was considered a "what if" disaster movie in the '70s, although it's not a disaster movie along the lines of Earthquake!, Flood! or the others. Now of course it seems less like a "what if" movie and some of the lines of "fictional" dialogue have actually been quoted in the news recently. This is an absorbing thriller, and does not rely on the special effects that so many thrillers like "The Siege" (and probably The Sum of All Fears, which I haven't seen) employ. Too bad Robert Shaw passed at such a relatively young age--in all of the movies I've seen him in (The Sting, The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3, Jaws and this one), he created such different types of characters. I didn't even recognize him at first in this one, going from the Irish accent of Jaws to the Israeli accent in Black Sunday. John Frankenheimer gripped my attention for the whole movie, and considering its length (nearly 3 hours) this is no small feat. Even Bruce Dern, doing his usual psycho thing, was good. Highly recommended.