Black Sunday (1977)

Sexy Palestinian terrorist, Dahlia Iyad (Marthe Keller) finds the perfect boyfriend in Vietnam Vet Mike Lander (Bruce Dern) who works once a week as a Goodyear blimp pilot for the National Football League (NFL).

To make a point about America’s support for Israel, she convinces him to fill the blimp up with explosives and blow up a Miami stadium during the Super Bowl, which the President will be attending.

But badass Israeli Mossad agent David Kabakov (Robert Shaw) is on her tail. He tracks her down to the US and joins forces with FBI agent Sam Corley (Fritz Weaver) to identify her plan and stop her.

Eventually, the blimp’s attack on a packed stadium – an iconic image from late ’70s cinema – is an exercise in superb editing craftsmanship (using every trick in the book from the pre-CGI era) and a roller coaster of totally implausible entertainment.

Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie got the NFL to allow extensive filming at a real Super Bowl game and the use of copyrighted team names and logos. Additional footage of the stampede at the game was shot at the Orange Bowl after the game with thousands of extras.

Based on an early novel by Thomas Harris, who later created Hannibal Lecter and wrote the various books about the cannibalistic shrink’s exploits.

David Kabakov
Robert Shaw
Mike Lander
Bruce Dern
Dahlia Iyad
Marthe Keller
Agent Sam Corley
Fritz Weaver
Moshevsky
Steven Keats
Fasil
Bekim Fehmiu
Muzi
Michael V. Gazzo
Pugh
William Daniels
Colonel Riat
Walter Gotell
Nageeb
Victor Campos
Joseph Robbie
Himself
Robert Wussler
Himself
Pat Summerall
Himself
Tom Brookshier
Himself
Fowler
Walter Brooke

Director
John Frankenheimer

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