Black Sunday? Where do I begin? Until The lord of the Rings series, nothing could dethrone what should have been a classic as my all time favorite film. It is the film that made me want to write movies.
This is a movie that has a sad history. One of the reasons attributed to BS not making a lot more money was because Two Minute Warning which was a horrible film from Universal came out three months before it.
Black Sunday was a perfect child of seventies movie-making - believable characters thrown into an unbelievable situation. Frankenheimer allowed the audience to see what was motivating each of the main characters, so that when the conclusion happened we cared. Not to mention, the action and stunts at the end combine to make one of the best chase sequences today.
Yes the blimp crashing could have been done better, but they probably didn't have the fx or the budget. But still, it is amazing film-making.
Having just looked at it again on my new DVD I have new appreciation for it. Robert Shaw comes across as having seen it all. He's tired. Bruce Dern isn't just crazy. We learn why he is crazy. In a weird way, although he is a murderer I still feel sorry for him when he pleads with Marthe Keller to help him. And even Fritz Weaver doesn't come across as an idiot FBI agent which is what we are spoon-fed in almost every movie. John William's score is one of his best.
This is definitely a classic. And a tension-building movie that would be hard to make today. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a thriller that starts off small and ends with a bang. Literally.
Way ahead of its time considering the horror of 9/11.
This is a movie that has a sad history. One of the reasons attributed to BS not making a lot more money was because Two Minute Warning which was a horrible film from Universal came out three months before it.
Black Sunday was a perfect child of seventies movie-making - believable characters thrown into an unbelievable situation. Frankenheimer allowed the audience to see what was motivating each of the main characters, so that when the conclusion happened we cared. Not to mention, the action and stunts at the end combine to make one of the best chase sequences today.
Yes the blimp crashing could have been done better, but they probably didn't have the fx or the budget. But still, it is amazing film-making.
Having just looked at it again on my new DVD I have new appreciation for it. Robert Shaw comes across as having seen it all. He's tired. Bruce Dern isn't just crazy. We learn why he is crazy. In a weird way, although he is a murderer I still feel sorry for him when he pleads with Marthe Keller to help him. And even Fritz Weaver doesn't come across as an idiot FBI agent which is what we are spoon-fed in almost every movie. John William's score is one of his best.
This is definitely a classic. And a tension-building movie that would be hard to make today. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a thriller that starts off small and ends with a bang. Literally.
Way ahead of its time considering the horror of 9/11.