Black Sunday (1977)

Directed by John Frankenheimer. Starring Bruce Dern, Robert Shaw, Marthe Keller, Fritz Weaver, Steven Keats, Bekim Fehmiu, William Daniels, Michael V. Gazzo, Walter Gotell, Victor Campos, Tom McFadden. [R]

Slick, disquieting thriller with Dern as a disgruntled Vietnam vet who joins Palestinian terrorist operative Keller in a plot to fly a Goodyear blimp loaded with plastic explosives into a football stadium during the Super Bowl. Shaw plays the Mossad agent leading the efforts in the field to uncover and stamp out the threat. Impersonal but involving entertainment with the cold, meticulous steadiness of the similar-minded nail-biter The Day of the Jackal; co-writer Kenneth Ross even adapted the script for that film, while Thomas Harris’ same-named novel served as the basis for this one. Despite some dated special effects and an overreliance on rear projection during the climactic clash, Frankenheimer skillfully ratchets up the tension as the film progresses, aided by John Williams’ scintillating music (easily overlooked during the same year he composed the scores for Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind). Never quite riveting, and the scenario implausibilities pile up high before the end, but it’s hard not to get caught up in the hysteria. The championship game being depicted is Super Bowl X from January 1976 between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers; several real-life sports figures appear as themselves, including Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier.

73/100