Black Sunday (1977)

Director: John Frankenheimer

Starring, Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller

More Info: IMDB

Taglline: There has never been a motion picture adventure like...

Plot: An Israeli anti-terrorist agent (Shaw) must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet (Dern) cooperating in a plot to commit a terrorist plot at the Super Bowl.

My Rating: 7/10

Would I watch it again? Yes

There are many reasons to watch this. Robert Shaw, one of the greatest actors of the 70s, turns in another wonderful performance. He's convincing as a man who will stop at nothing to do what has to be done. Another is Bruce Dern. No one, and I mean no one, can go from zero to psycho in less than two seconds like Dern. He gets lots of screen time to show a tremendous amount of range - more than anyone else in the film by a long shot. He's brilliant. Keller's good but she pretty much delivers a one-note performance since all she has to do is act worried and bitchy.

Then you've got Frankenheimer's direction. He keeps thinks moving along, giving us a lot of ground to cover.. At times we're following the three main characters in three locations around the world. He's got a good script (based on a Thomas "Hannibal Lector" Harris novel) with some very good actors. It's suspenseful and effective. You probably feel you know how it's going to end but even so, you are on the edge of your seat during the final 20 minutes. It gets down to the wire and you just don't know how it's going to turn out. Very nice.

Then there's a wonderfully tense score by John Williams, who, that same year, cranked out his landmark scores for STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND!!! This was just two years into his amazingly prolific and brilliant period of scores from 1975 to 1984. Everything he cranked out during this time (with one exception - HEARTBEEPS) is utterly fantastic. BLACK SUNDAY is no exception. His music along with Frankenheimer's direction & editing build this thing to the intense finale that just won't let up. It held me to the end of it's 2 hour and 23 minute run time and that's no small feat.