Black Sunday

[Todd Fredericks]

I couldn't resist the online price of $5.95 for this new release at Deep Discount. I watched it last night and it's still a pretty damn good movie. Robert Shaw is still sadly missed. Actually it's still pretty gripping because of the times we live in today. The last time I saw this film was when I was a mere child when it was in theaters.

[jdw]

I thought that Paramount would never reissue "Black Sunday" because of its September 11th implications. The company certainly hasn't given the DVD any hype or promotion, so it will probably stay under the radar...

This is a very good film that has been neglected over the years. It came out at the end of a cycle of 1970s "disaster" movies and was undeservedly labelled into that category. After 9-11, it doesn't seem so unbelieveable any more. The director, the late John Frankenheimer, deserves credit for keeping the film gritty and realistic.

Seeing the movie years ago interested me enough to read the original novel, the first book by Thomas Harris (who later wrote "Silence Of The Lambs"). I think the book is great, too...

There are some other worthwhile John Frankenheimer (1930-2002) films released on DVD;

The Birdman Of Alcatraz (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Seven Days In May (1964)
The Train (1964)
Seconds (1966)
French Connection 2 (1975)

(all except "Birdman..." have director's commentary tracks. Unfortunately, Black Sunday does not have a commentary)

[JohnG]

Great movie. I also saw in the theater at the time. Glad to have it finally on dvd! :D

[MikePh]

Todd,

Thanks for the suggestion...I'm always looking for obscure [ to me :) ] movies, being so bored with the standard DVD fare...