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As a suggestion for cynical Super Bowl counterprogramming, a film like John Frankenheimer's 1976 thriller "Black Sunday", in which terrorists attempt to explode the Goodyear Blimp over the Super Bowl (with the President in attendance), is almost too obvious of a call-along the lines of recommending "Psycho" or "Mommie Dearest" for Mother's Day. However, the movie, a relative flop when it was originally released, has held up surprisingly well throughout the years and is more tense and gripping than most thrillers of recent years. In adapting the Thomas Harris novel (the first thing he wrote, years before his Hannibal Lecter cottage industry), Frankenheimer made a smart drama that never flags (despite running nearly 2 1/2 hours) and which effectively blends action setpieces (including the finale, which was partially shot during the actual playing of Super Bowl X) with genuine drama and even allows the villains (including Bruce Dern and Marthe Keller) the space to fully justify their actions instead of reducing them to cardboard baddies (which may have contributed to its disappointing performance because of the controversy it caused-at the time, the film was attacked for being anti-Semitic throughout the world). Controversy aside, the film is still worth a look for the fine performances (Robert Shaw is also effective as the commando trying to foil the plot) and reminds us once again just how effective of a filmmaker John Frankenheimer (at the time between the early triumphs of "Seconds" and "The Manchurian Candidate" and the comebacks of "Ronin" and his cable movies in the 90's) could be with the right material in his hands.

BTW, I predict that the Patriots will win, "Sky Commander and the World of Tomorrow" will have the coolest ad for a movie and that millions of people will go to sleep with visions of Pink in a gladiator outfit dancing in their heads.

Written by Ernest Lehman, Kenneth Ross and Ivan Moffat. Directed by John Frankenheimer. Starring Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, Marthe Keller, Fritz Weaver and Bekhim Fehmiu. 1976. Rated R. 143 minutes. A Paramount Home Video release. $19.95

-- DVD Review by Peter Sobczynski

Copyright © 2004 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.