Review of Juggernaut (1974) by Ben S — 20 May 2008

Director Richard Lester gives this British pseudo-disaster movie about a bomb threat on a cruise liner a peculiarly detached tone. He mines some good suspense out of several prolonged bomb-defusing sequences â?? thanks to a terrific central performance by a salty Richard Harris â?? but most of the rest of the film is in as much of a distracted daze as its bewildered cast of characters.

This isnâ??t necessary a strike against the film, as Lester has always been at his best when heâ??s exploring the strange textures of life or when heâ??s mounting elaborately executed comic set pieces; just donâ??t come to Juggernaut expecting a typical disaster flick (or an articulated truck, for that matter).

The cast is a whoâ??s who of British thesps, many early in their careers: Anthony Hopkins, Ian Holm, David Hemmings, Roy Kinnear, Freddie Jones, Julian Glover, Gareth Thomas. Aside from Harris, Kinnear scores big in a melancholic role as the shipâ??s entertainment director.

Bond fans will get a kick out of seeing Clifton James as a vacationing American who sure knows how to tell when heâ??s being bullshitted.