Black Sunday
Production:
- Released 1977 by Paramount Pictures, color, mono sound, 100 mins.
- Directed by John Frankenheimer
- Written by Ernest Lehman and Ivan Moffat and Kenneth Ross based on the novel by Thomas Harris
- Produced by Robert Evans and Alan Levine
- Original music by John Williams
- Cinematography by John A. Alonzo
- Film editing by Tom Rolf
- Art direction Walter H. Tyler
- Set decoration Jerry Wunderlich
- Costume design by Ray Summers
- Sound by Howard Beals
- Sound effects editing by Gene S. Cantamessa
- Special effects by Logan Frazee and Gene Warren Jr.
- Football technical advisor Nat Moore
- Blimp pilot Nick Nickolary
Cast:
- Robert Shaw as Kabakov
- Bruce Dern as Lander
- Marthe Keller as Dahlia
- Fritz Weaver as Corley
- Steven Keats as Moshevsky
- Bekim Fehmiu as Fasil
- Michael V. Gazzo as Muzi
- William Daniels as Pugh
- Walter Gotell as Colonel Riaf
- Victor Campos as Nageeb
- Joseph Robbie as Himself
- Robert Wussler as Himself
- Pat Summerall as Himself
- Tom Brookshier as Himself
- Walter Brooke as Fowler
- James Jeter as Watchman
- Clyde Kusatsu as Freighter Captain
- Tom McFadden as Farley
- Robert Patten as Vickers
- Than Wyenn as Israeli Ambassador
- Jack Rader as Pearson
- Nick Nickolary as Simmons
- Michael Joseph Reynolds as Jackson
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Notes:
Bruce Dern plays a former navy blimp pilot who is now a Goodyear blimp pilot. He joins Black September terrorists to shoot thousands of steel darts into Miami Orange Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday to kill all 80,000 spectators. The film uses a semi-documentary style and footage from the Superbowl X Pittsburg Steelers-Dallas Cowboys game, won by Pittsburgh 21-17. Director John Frankenheimer is in a cameo as a TV director covering the Miami game. The film did not do very well at the box office because of the parallel release of "Two-Minute Warning" that had a similar plot. The late 1970s was a period in American history when terrorism was becoming a real-life threat. Harris wrote his novel following the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September.
Scenes:
ca. 1'30 - Dern has learned he was not chosen to fly the blimp on Super Bowl Sunday, is sitting in his living room in Navy uniform, shows his medals, including good view of half-wing emblem of a blimp pilot, talks about "how it was."
Sources:
revised 11/10/06 by Steven Schoenherr | Filmnotes
