The year 1974 saw the release of Juggernaut, a British crime film that was deemed a disaster movie, an untrue categorization that director Richard Lester claimed contributed to it bombing at the box office. The American filmmaker, who would go on to make Superman II (1980) and Superman III (1983), joined the project after two other directors left weeks before shooting. Lester noted that he managed to finish the movie on time, despite the filming schedule being reduced by two weeks. The screenplay was originally written by Richard Alan Simmons but then rewritten by the director and Alan Plater—the new and improved version of his work did not sit well with Simmons, which resulted in him asking to be credited as Richard DeKoker instead.
The inspiration for his script was a real-life incident that happened aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1972, when a bomb threat turned out to be a hoax. In Juggernaut, sevens bombs have been placed on the transatlantic liner the Britannic, while a man who goes by the name Juggernaut asks for ransom in exchange for information on how to dismantle them. Starring the likes of Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, Anthony Hopkins, Shirley Knight and Ian Holm, Juggernaut is an exciting film that favors characters and genuine suspense over theatrics.
In 1972 a neophyte Spanish media company created a rare platform for artists to explore classic genre imagery with a sophisticated cinematic sensibility.
After Peter Hyams made a successful TV movie called "Goodnight, My Love", producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler approached him with the desire of...
