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Juggernaut, a 1974 British suspense drama starring Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, and Anthony Hopkins, is a thrilling story about a cruise ship, the Britannic, stuck in dreadful weather conditions in the middle of the Atlantic. A criminal calling himself Juggernaut threatens to blow up the ship unless his demands are met. Nicholas Porter, a director of the shipping line, receives the call from this mystery man, who explains there are several drums rigged with explosives in various locations of the ship. If Juggernaut doesn't receive £500,000 in cash by the next sunrise, the Britannic will be on its way to the bottom, along with its 1,200 passengers. Can the expert bomb-disposal team led by Commander Fallon render the explosives harmless in time? And who is Juggernaut?
![]() Richard Harris |
Lt.-Commander Anthony Fallon |
![]() Omar Sharif |
Alex, the Captain |
![]() Sir Anthony Hopkins |
John McLeod |
![]() David Hemmings |
Charlie Braddock |
![]() Ian Holm |
Nick Porter |
Richard Alan Simmons, a well-known American television writer, wrote the original version of the screenplay and co-produced the film. However, when Richard Lester joined the production (very late in the day, after two other directors had dropped out), he insisted on a number of changes being made in the script, and brought in Alan Plater, who rewrote the dialogue entirely over a two-week period. Simmons was greatly annoyed by this, and managed to ensure that Plater was credited only with "additional dialogue"; however, the changes were made to Lester's satisfaction, and he gave Plater a great deal of credit in interviews. Simmons, by way of protest, took his writing and producing credits under the name "Richard de Koker".
The cameo performances of Cyril Cusack and Michael Hordern (one scene apiece) were both uncredited.
Fallon: The tea-break is over.
Mr. Curtain: [surveying the freezing ocean]: It could be worse.
Barbara Bannister: What do you mean?
Mr. Curtain: No icebergs.
Fallon: Remember what the goldfish said - "There must be a God. Who else changes the water?"
Barbara Bannister: [anticipating the ship's sinking]: Will the water be very cold, do you think?
Mr. Curtain: In my professional opinion...not hot.
Fallon: You're a good man, Charlie Braddock.
Richard Lester became the director of this film only two weeks before shooting was due to begin, after both Don Medford and Bryan Forbes had dropped out of the film following disagreements.
The ship used in the film, aboard which some two weeks of location shooting were completed, was a Russian one, the Maxim Gorki. Director Richard Lester complimented the Russian crew on its professionalism, but added ruefully that the big problem of filming aboard ship was that the weather had been too good.