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 .... Kabakov
- Bruce Dern .... Lander
- Marthe Keller .... Dahlia
- Fritz Weaver .... Corley
- Steven Keats .... Moshevsky
- Bekim Fehmiu .... Fasil
- Michael V. Gazzo .... Muzi
- William Daniels .... Pugh
- Walter Gotell .... Colonel Riaf
- Victor Campos .... Nageeb
- Joseph Robbie .... Himself
- Robert Wussler .... Himself
- Pat Summerall .... Himself
- Tom Brookshier .... Himself
- Walter Brooke .... Fowler
- James Jeter .... Watchman
- Clyde Kusatsu .... Freighter Captain
- Tom McFadden .... Farley
- Robert Patten .... Vickers
- Than Wyenn .... Israeli Ambassador
- Jack Rader .... Pearson
- Nick Nickolary .... Simmons
- Michael Joseph Reynolds .... Jackson
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"
Links:
History Department | Filmnotes | revised 8/30/99 by Schoenherr
