Black Sunday (1977)

March 25, 2025 3:29 PM

When a Black September terrorist group begins a plot to carry out a massive terrorist attack in the United States, an Israeli commando works with the FBI to identify the target and conspirators, and prevent the plan from succeeding.

The moral of the story is: If you roll up on someone stealing a blimp, don’t be a hero.

posted by Lemkin (11 comments total)

Pretty wild that Thomas Harris got five of his six novels adapted into movies.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 3:42 PM on March 25 [2 favorites]

It’s telling that no one seems interested in doing Cari Mora.
posted by Lemkin at 3:56 PM on March 25

My summery from the rewatch 4 years ago:

John Frankenheimer’s Black Sunday with a deranged, young Bruce Dern (and with ‘Frank Pentangeli’ as a Libyan agent). Up until the last 30 minutes of Blimp over Super Bowl action, it’s just a long, sloppy Middle-Eastern terrorist cliche-filled story.
posted by growabrain at 1:26 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]

It’s telling that no one seems interested in doing Cari Mora.

Harris completely shat the bed with Hannibal, one of those sequel books that is not merely bad but causes one to re-evaluate the previous book. Black Sunday has a couple of very anodyne 70s tropes--Middle East-based terrorists and the disturbed Vietnam vet--bolted onto a single slim idea (looking at the Goodyear blimp as it floated over a packed stadium and thinking "wow, that sure would kill a lot of people if it went Hindenburg right now"). Going from that to Red Dragon was a big shift for Harris, and really made his career, but he eventually ran that into the ground.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:52 AM on March 26 [2 favorites]

Seriously, the guy writes a few airport paperbacks, and they get picked up and made into films by John Frankenheimer, Michael Mann, Jonathan Demme, and Ridley Scott, and they win a whole bunch of Oscars. It’s crazy.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 8:50 AM on March 26 [1 favorite]

Harris completely shat the bed with Hannibal, one of those sequel books that is not merely bad but causes one to re-evaluate the previous book.

I always felt like there was a strain of author anger through Hannibal from his reaction to people thiking "awwww, true love between Clarice and Lecter" from the movie adaptation. I recall distinctly hearing in my head a voice saying "oh, so you want them to be in love, fine... eat it, this is what you wanted"
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:06 PM on March 26 [2 favorites]

I will say that there's a valid case to be made for Hannibal being a case of the author deciding to give the people what they want, good and hard, what with its villain who literally drinks martinis made from the tears of abused children. Even then, though, it's a bit too much of a much.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:50 PM on March 26

I'm fairly confident that Harris had no desire to write a sequel to Silence at all, and was determined to make everyone who demanded it pay. But it's clear he's having a great time. Hannibal Rising, on the other hand, is definitely only a paycheck.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:28 AM on March 27

Late 70s Frankenheimer films are a tough bunch (tho I do like Prophecy for the wrong reasons) as the director was struggling with alcoholism and a string of poor choices. This one is one of them. Very uneven.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:00 AM on March 27

Apart from Silence of the Lambs and Manhunter, the most interesting take on Hannibal is Bryan Fuller's TV series, which is as much a dissection and critique of the original as anything else. Except the very last episode, which I had terrible, terrible problems with.

On the other hand, I see something like this and I just think "propaganda".
posted by Grangousier at 1:37 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I read this book last year, and I think it's fair to call it politically problematic. The movie is, too, but the main problem is that it's very boring for long stretches.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:57 PM on March 27