A movie from the 70s. Muslim terrists plan to attack the Superbowl. Robert Shaw as an
Israeli agent trying to foil the plot, and it's one of his movies just after Jaws.
The villain is played by the ever creepy Bruce Dern. In a Corporal Flashback kind of role. Because all vets are PTSD powderkegs ready to explode, ya know.
The idea is to attack the Superbowl by flying a modified Good Year Blimp over the game. Strapped beneath is a ginormous Claymore mine.
And the Superbowl in the movie is the Pittsburg Dallas one. I thought it was the first one I ever remembered, XIII but that one was probably too late. Saw that game with me grandfather and brother in the basement TV room of our house. 35 to 31. And I remember my grandfather saying that that score reflected how he felt the quality of both teams were. Pittsburg on top, but Dallas a very close second.
In reality it was probably actually Superbowl X, and it looked like the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to film parts of the movie during the game on the sidelines and whatnot. But, this is fiction... And while Staubach and Bradshaw were shown, and both participated in both games X and XIII, a president Carter was shown, glimpses from a distance, attending the game to help his sagging poll numbers and feed his supposed football fandom. He couldn't have been at X as president, and the movie came out in '77, while game XIII was 1979. So lets call the superbowl in the movie Eleven and Three Quarters.... Whatever that is in Roman numerals.
Unrealistic things about the move. The Muslim partner to Dern was a smart urbane and independent muslim woman, that wasn't considered property or furniture of some muslim man's. Also there is a Colt Snubby fitted with a silencer. And that really took my head out of the movie.
The bad guy uses one, the good guy uses one, there are suppressed revolvers everywhere. Well, it's prolly the same prop colt snubbie several times with different actors. Plenty of other guns in the movie though, including a plethora of 70s vintage 9mm submachineguns. That was nice
It is my understanding that the film crew didn't have permission for the scene where the blimp buzzes the field. Or at least the players were not warned that the blimp was coming down so low.
ReplyDeleteYep, but it DID have guns!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteFWIW: The female terrorist character was likely inspired by Black September's Leila Khaled. The Soviets were financing and training most of these groups back then, not the Saudis.
ReplyDeleteThe barn scene is one that stuck with me for a long time.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's tainted with giggles now that I've seen Spaced Invaders and the presentation of the tri-nitro-toulene award.
"The Muslim partner to Dern was a smart urbane and independent muslim woman, that wasn't considered property or furniture of some muslim man's."
ReplyDeleteThis is because the movie took place in the '70s, when Wahabbists were just fringe weirdos hanging around Cairo and Riyadh mosques, stirring sh!t.