Juggernaut

1974
PG
1h 49m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

6.5K

YOUR RATING

Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, Shirley Knight, David Hemmings, Clifton James, and Roy Kinnear in Juggernaut (1974)

A blackmailer demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he placed aboard the transatlantic liner Britannic.

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Disaster Psychological Thriller Action Drama Thriller

A blackmailer demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he placed aboard the transatlantic liner Britannic.A blackmailer demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he placed aboard the transatlantic liner Britannic.A blackmailer demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he placed aboard the transatlantic liner Britannic.

Director
- Richard Lester
Writers
- Richard Alan Simmons
- Alan Plater
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

6.5K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Richard Lester
Writers
- Richard Alan Simmons
- Alan Plater
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Juggernaut (1974) was shot mainly aboard a real ocean liner. The Hamburg had recently been sold by its German owners to the Soviet Union. Before the Soviets took delivery of the liner, they rented it to the movie company. The liner was painted in the livery of a fictional shipping line, very similar to the livery used by the Soviet Morpasflot line, and renamed the "Britannic." Advertisements were run in British papers, soliciting extras who would take a lengthy cruise in the North Sea for free, but with the knowledge that the ship would actually seek out the worst possible weather, as the story demanded seas too rough for the lifeboats to be lowered, trapping the passengers on board.

They received 2,500 applicants and had to select 250. Weather was bad; Sir Ian Holm did not go on location but says he heard "reports of horrible storms off Iceland and everybody getting drunk to deal with it. The story was the bar closed only between seven and seven-thirty in the morning."

Goofs
During the very final defusing scene where the red wire is cut on the detonator, there follows sequential views of the red wire being cut on all the other bombs, however the rough random drill marks of the hole cut to access this is identical on all the bombs meaning it is in fact the same one filmed five times just with a different member of the bomb disposal team cutting the wire each time.

Quotes
Corrigan: Would you mind telling me why we're traveling in circles?
3rd Officer Jim Hardy: In circles, sir?
Corrigan: Yeah. A little while ago the waves were coming from the front of the ship, now they're coming from the side.
3rd Officer Jim Hardy: Well, it's that kind of sea, sir. North Atlantic, you know.
Corrigan: A half hour ago the sun was on the port side, now it's on the starboard - is it that kind of sun?
3rd Officer Jim Hardy: They must be checking the steering gear - just routine.
Corrigan: Uh-huh. And about that explosion this morning?
3rd Officer Jim Hardy: Just blowing Number 2 Boiler, sir.
Corrigan: Buddy, I am by profession a politician: the mayor of a rather large city, as a matter of fact.
3rd Officer Jim Hardy: Yes, sir?
Corrigan: In my line of work you have to learn how to lie with remarkable precision. You also have to know how to recognize a lie when it bites you in the ass... and I have just been bitten.
3rd Officer Jim Hardy: I'll, uh, convey your complaint to the captain, sir.

Crazy credits
Actor Roy Kinnear's character, "Social Director, Mr. Curtain" is misspelled in the end credits as "Mr. Curain."

Connections
Edited into Final Voyage (1999)

Soundtracks
Auld Lang Syne
(1788)
Traditional Scottish 17th century music
Lyrics by Robert Burns
Played by a band when the Britannic is leaving port

User reviews82

Review

Featured review

6/10

Tough, unforgiving, unsentimental suspense thriller...

Richard Lester directed this mad-bomber saga with such a cold, jaded eye, one might assume his approach totally unsympathetic or indifferent. Instead of being heartless, Lester is actually straightforward and compact, and the film is very involving. A transatlantic ocean-liner with 1200 people aboard no sooner leaves England's port then a genius-psychotic alerts the ship's representative that 7 booby-trapped bombs are set to go off in a matter of hours if he's not paid a fortune in ransom. Getting the bomb-experts aboard the ship via parachutes was a great touch--though once they're all in place, the movie has to bide a lot of time until the inevitable wire-cutting gets under way. Still, this is an exciting journey, filmed in bleak, damp colors, and Lester has done a terrific job at scaling down his actors. Omar Sharif (looking sensational in his Captain's uniform) had not been this real and human in years; Richard Harris, though he does his usual drinking and spouting off, successfully portrays the chief bomb-detonator as a swaggering man awash in a series of inconsistencies, acting with focus and tightly-wound energy. Good show! **1/2 from ****