Black Sunday

"It could be tomorrow!"

1977 2h 23m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 171

ActionDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An Israeli anti-terrorist agent must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet cooperating in a Black September PLO plot to commit a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl.

“It could be tomorrow!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Robert Shaw
Kabakov
Bruce Dern
Lander
Marthe Keller
Dahlia
Fritz Weaver
FBI Agent Sam Corley
Steven Keats
Moshevsky
Bekim Fehmiu
Fasil
Michael V. Gazzo
Muzi
William Daniels
Pugh

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Frankenheimer
Writers: Ivan Moffat, Kenneth Ross, Ernest Lehman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

49 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Frankenheimer, shot by John A. Alonzo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Tom Rolf shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Robert Shaw and Bruce Dern and Marthe Keller carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "It could be tomorrow!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0075765 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Frankenheimer directs. John A. Alonzo behind the camera. John Williams scores. Tom Rolf cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

149 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by John Frankenheimer, shot by John A. Alonzo. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by John Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Tom Rolf shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Robert Shaw and Bruce Dern and Marthe Keller carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "It could be tomorrow!".
7IMDB entry: tt0075765 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: John A. Alonzo
Original score: John Williams
Editing: Tom Rolf
Costume design: Ray Summers
Makeup / hair: Robert Dawn
Sound: John Wilkinson
Stunt coordinator: Everett Creach
Runtime: 143 min · 2h 23m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $8,000,000
Box office: $15,769,322
Return: 197% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Black Sunday (1977)

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John Frankenheimer

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Dark Jedi2014-05-16
★ 6/10
I read the book that the movie is based on a long time ago back in the times when books by definition where made out of paper. I honestly do not remember much from the book except that I thought it was a good enough book. I also generally like Robert Shaw as an actor so when I saw that this movie was given on Paramount Channel I decided to record it for a rainy day. Well, yesterday was not a rainy day but there was not really anything else on that I felt like watching so I put this one on. It is a fairly good movie. At least up until the end. It is a pretty much standard political thriller with the rather common basic story of a couple of terrorists planning a terrorist strike on US soil and a couple of good guys trying to stop them. Of course one of the good guys are a foreign operative with less restrained ideas about how to achieve the desired outcome. There is nothing hugely inventive about the story, although I guess it might have felt a bit more fresh in 1977 when the movie was produced, but it is mostly well implemented. I do like that the movie, as is all to often the case, does not try to “explain” the terrorists and justify their actions, at least not too much. Compared to many movie of this type (and that is why I generally do not like these movies) this one is rather neutral in terms of political sides. There are a few outbursts of “why” but in general the movie focuses on the preparations and the chase. As I wrote, in general the movie is well implemented. The acting of both Robert Shaw and Marthe Keller, who plays the female terrorist, is not at all bad. Maybe not Oscars material but definitely not bad and, as I also wrote before, I do like Robert Shaw. For most of the movie we get to follow the preparations of the terrorists and the work of the good guys trying to unravel the plot and stop it. A few sporadic outbursts of action breaks the otherwise not so fast pace of the movie. Classical thriller material and quite enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately by the time we come to the ending it appears like the classical Hollywood I-do-not-have-clue-but-lets-throw-in-some-action people took over and it drags down an otherwise fairly well-made movie. Once the plan is uncovered the movie turns into just another let’s-spot-the-faults Hollywood B-movie. For instance, once it is clear that there is a severe threat, why is the stadium not evacuated? At least they should have gotten the president out. Given the situation why did they not have an officer or agent on the blimp in the first place? Why did Kobakov have to run all over the stadium to talk to the TV-guys, there should have been someone with communication in their hut already? And then we have the blimp chase. There was a potential threat to the president and all they could muster was a single police chopper that got shot down and another chopper that they hijacked? Kobakov laying on the blimp fumbling to get hold of the hook was also dragged out in absurdum. As I wrote I do not remember much details from the book but this ending sure dragged down the movie for me. It is at least a star off for the ending. Still, most of the movie was enjoyable.

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