Juggernaut

A thriller set on a ship. A large passenger liner has left Britain and is out in the Atlantic. The passengers are on holiday, the crew is working, the ship is on schedule. Then a call comes to the company. The caller says he has placed seven bombs on board, asks for money and sets a deadline. In the shore sections the police try to find the caller. At sea a bomb disposal team is lowered onto the ship by helicopter. At the centre of the film is the disposal work. Fallon and his team open the devices and have to decide which wire to cut; the scenes are held long, the talk is technical, and the tension comes entirely from patience. The second line is the captain: stopping the ship and going on are both risks, and the decision is his. The third line is the passengers. The company is trying to tell nobody anything and the entertainment programme continues; that split is the best thing in the film. Richard Harris plays Fallon and Omar Sharif the captain. David Hemmings and Anthony Hopkins are in the cast. It was shot on a real ship at sea; the bad weather went into the picture as it came. Richard Lester directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1970s disaster and suspense films, especially ones built on technical detail. Who it is not for: anyone expecting fast action; the film is built almost entirely on waiting and talk.