Black Sunday

United States

1977

143 Min

Color

2.35:1

English

Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
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PROD Robert Evans, Alan Levine

SCR Ernest Lehman, Kenneth Ross, Ivan Moffat

CAST Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller, Fritz Weaver, Steven Keats, Bekim Fehmiu, Michael V. Gazzo, William Daniels

Terrorist organization Black September is planning an attack on the United States. A woman called Dahlia is the one overseeing the operation. She was in the Middle East with the other members of the organization, discussing the operation when some Israelis came in; the leader, Major Kobakov had his gun on her but didn’t shoot her. Kobakov then informed the US what they found. Though they don’t know what their operation is, Kobakov assures them that it will be devastating. So, with FBI man, Corley, they try to find out what it is before it’s too late. But they both have different ways of doing things, and since Kobakov is the visitor, he is warned to watch it. Dahlia’s “partner in crime” is Michael Lander, a Vietnam P.O.W., who is psychologically scarred by that experience, thus making him very susceptible to her machinations. –IMDb

Director

John Frankenheimer

Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he realized his natural talent to handle a camera. After his military discharge he began a TV career in 1953 convincing CBS to hire him as an assistant director, which consisted mainly working as a cameraman at that time. He eventually started to direct the show he was working on as an assistant director. Frankenheimer still didn’t want to direct films. He liked to direct live television, and he would have continued to do it if the profession itself hadn’t cease to exist. He first turned to the big screen with The Young Stranger (1957) which he hated to do because he thought he didn’t understand movies and wasn’t used to work with only one camera. Disappointed with his first feature film experience… read more

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Nelson Núñez

22Dec11

Un thriller tenso y efectivo con el tema del terrorismo político de fondo (Israel y Palestina, Septiembre Negro) . La película se toma su tiempo para desarrollar a cabalidad las motivaciones de los personajes, tanto "buenos" como "malos". No llega a la densidad reflexiva de Munich, aunque comparte la misma premisa de fondo acerca del sinsentido de la violencia como solución de los conflictos políticos.

Don't Get Nasty Brother

9May12

Una de las de Frankenheimer que aún no sé porque no he visto.

Spencer Draper

27Mar11

Is overlong in places, but the depth of the main characters more than makes up for it. Bruce Dern is wonderful, but Robert Shaw makes the movie.

Christopher Smith

5May10

Entertaining thriller offers some solid suspense and action, even if it does go on way too long. Some generic thriller conventions are given extra depth by strong characters - particularly Bruce Dern's whacked-out ex-GI terrorist. Director John Frankenheimer's gritty, no-frills style brings a much needed sense of reality to the somewhat absurd story. Great score by John Williams.

Lauren Kemp likes this