JUGGERNAUT (1974)

It’s not surprising that the 1974 thriller Juggernaut (aka Terror on the Britannic) is based on true events, given the documentary-like approach it takes with its subject matter. Inspired by a bomb hoax for the passenger ship Queen Elizabeth 2, this film sees politicians, ship orderlies, and bomb disposal experts left in disarray after an anonymous caller claims that there are bombs attached to the ocean liner SS Britannic. The faceless villain behind them states that they will be detonated if a ransom is not supplied, and herein lies the trouble, with politicians proving unwilling to acquiesce to terrorists’ demands. With 1,200 passengers onboard the ship, the stakes couldn’t be any higher. So it is strange that it hardly ever feels that way.

One of Juggernaut’s strongest traits is how seamlessly it switches back and forth between different characters and locations, a quality it showcases in spades in its opening scene. Flitting between other passengers and onlookers awaiting the SS Britannic’s departure, director Richard Lester (A Hard Day’s Night) never loses his focus on the many characters viewers follow here amidst the scale of this production. Not only is the ship an enormous beast that would intimidate even seasoned directors at the thought of filming—Juggernaut was largely shot on location aboard the TS Hamburg—hidden amongst the throngs of people, party streamers they hurl off the ship, and frantic shouting from all angles are many of the film’s protagonists.

Seeing these different characters at their stations (as workers, passengers, onlookers, and those waving goodbye to loved ones by the dock) is an authentic and absorbing way of reminding audiences of the human lives soon to be at stake. There’s enough significance at this moment to make it clear that not only will much of the film take place on this vessel, but that sheer calamity will be at risk of occurring; there couldn’t be such a joyous occasion without the threat of impending doom lurking in the not-so-distant future. The only minor flaw here, surprisingly, is watching Superintendent John McLeod (Anthony Hopkins) clumsily flailing his arms towards his family onboard, where the viewer feels just as awkward as he does. He fights to make himself distinct from a giant crowd but isn’t all that successful. The same can be said of McLeod in this narrative, with the always-talented Hopkins shrinking into the background of this movie’s narrative not long after this scene.

Though Lester’s film is perfectly competent at transitioning between locales and plot strands, the downside is that some of its characters are left to the wayside along this journey. This is often true of the passengers, the subset of characters in this large roster whose safety we should be holding out hope for against what seem like insurmountable odds. Instead, watching their attempts to make sense of a reality that won’t cohere around reason—that they could perish very soon—is an exercise in waiting for an illuminating character insight or feeling of spontaneity, but consistently coming up disappointed. Juggernaut doesn’t satisfyingly look beyond the surface level with these characters. It could have formed a subplot centred on McLeod’s family’s struggle to stay afloat mentally, knowing that their time together is precious. What little we see of this incomplete family unit is lacking. Attempts by the workers to quell guests’ anxieties also ring false notes; Roshan Seth as ship attendant Azad is particularly unconvincing.

Certain flaws, some of which also relate to the performances, can be more easily dismissed as products of their time. The child acting is noticeably weak, while at least one conversation contained obvious dubbing in post-production. More distracting is just how unthreatening this unknown terrorist is, whose voice is akin to what a leprechaun would sound like if one were to spring to life from a fairy tale. This movie might be crowded with characters, but the only one worth hanging out for is Lieutenant Commander Anthony Fallon (Richard Harris), a man hellbent on finishing the job he was hired for, disregarding the dire consequences that could arise from his obstinacy.

Harris is easily the most compelling actor here, especially when he erupts into furious, impassioned outbursts. But even he cannot redeem some of the film’s paltry lines of dialogue. “Another booby trap and I’m the booby,” he utters at one point, and one can’t help but feel sorry for the actor for having to make the best of such lines. Like his character, Harris gamely presses on, with the film’s scriptwriting generally rising above such ill-advised lines to craft the impression of a well-executed thriller. But despite the talented editing and arresting cinematography that’s sometimes on display, even when Juggernaut is intriguing it’s never really tense. That issue is compounded by how little it’s able to make one care about the wellbeing of its passengers, but even beyond this the often straightforward, workmanlike approach to its direction prioritises competence over immersion. This movie is often vaguely interesting but never remarkable.

Just like in the film’s opening scene, the difference in power and social strata between these characters is a wide gulf, yet none of their anxieties over what might happen should the bombs explode in this packed ship are easy to access. Similarly, the introduction of ideas about how to correctly approach a terrorist’s demands, and whether the means can ever justify the ends in this regard, suggest a fascinating back-and-forth dialogue throughout the film that never materialises. It’s no surprise that the film’s unknown villain sports an Irish accent, given the terrorist acts perpetrated by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in England during this time, but Juggernaut has little to offer in the realm of geopolitics.

In some ways, it’s a minor miracle the film turned out as a cohesive viewing experience, with multiple directors being fired from their posts on the project. Lester, who had previously directed the Beatles-led musical comedies A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965), was close to wrapping up filming The Three Musketeers (1973) when he got the call asking him to agree to work on Juggernaut at the last minute. After accepting, he rewrote the script entirely with co-screenwriter Alan Plater. The film’s original writer, Richard Alan Simmons, was so disgusted by these changes that he had his credit changed to Richard DeKoker for the movie’s release. The film shoot began just three weeks after Lester first received a call about directing Juggernaut. According to him, the movie miraculously was made far ahead of schedule, having been completed in a six-week shoot even though 10 weeks was the planned timespan.

Despite being able to impressively overcome these hitches, Lester comes up short of making this film as tense as it so desperately needed to be. Only its final scene is effective at keeping viewers on their toes as they wait with bated breath for the high-stakes moment this film has only been able to promise up until then. When the moment finally arrives, it’s fantastic. But it’s too late to redeem such a tame experience.

UK • USA | 1974 | 109 MINUTES | 1.66:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Limited Edition Blu-Ray Special Features:

• 1080p HD presentation with optional English subtitles.
• Limited edition O-card slipcase.
• NEW Audio commentary with British cinema experts Melanie Williams and James Leggott. This commentary track discusses Juggernaut in exhaustive depth, with plenty of trivia about the actors and the rest of the film’s production. This includes key actors’ retrospective thoughts on the film, as well as its contemporary reviews. The smallest of visual details here are thoroughly explored in terms of their subtext, often informing the film’s subtle use of humour.
• NEW interview with film historian Sheldon Hall (20:17). An in-depth breakdown is provided by Hall of the prevalence of disaster films released in the same year as Juggernaut, as well as this genre’s popularity in the 1970s at large. But he also explores how Lester’s film differentiates itself from this contemporaneous slew of films, alongside an in-depth overview of Juggernaut’s production. This eloquent and detailed account of the film explores its ironic approach to archetypal disaster films with clarity and compelling arguments.
• NEW audio commentary with Neil Sinyard, author of The Films of Richard Lester (27:33). Sinyard discusses the actors and actresses involved in the production, analysing even the film’s side characters and their importance to the narrative. The film professor explores Lester’s vision for Juggernaut, along with the movie’s quietly playful tone.
• Trailer for ‘Juggernaut’. Although hampered by the narrator and music, this trailer is still absorbing and cleverly edited. It wisely uses footage from the film’s joyous opening scene, only to quickly dispel that spirit of calm, not with tension, but with the helplessness of the situation that unfolds aboard this vessel. It is only later in the trailer that it, just like the film itself, continually shortens the length of a given shot before cutting to the next moment. As the tension gradually escalates, so too do the implied stakes, hinting at a thrilling experience in store for viewers.
• Collector’s booklet with NEW writing by British film scholar Laura Mayne, as well as a written piece by Richard Combs. While Richard Combs explores the film’s day-in-the-life approach of a vessel in action (and crisis), Lara Mayne writes of the production of Juggernaut itself, particularly in terms of its director’s experience of shooting the film.

Cast & Crew

director: Richard Lester.
writers: Richard Alan Simmons (credited as Richard DeKoker) & Alan Plater.
starring: Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, David Hemmings, Anthony Hopkins, Shirley Knight, Ian Holm, Roy Kinnear, Caroline Mortimer & Clifton James.