Studio wants their money back

THE TERRORISTS —–the worst movie of Sean Connery’s career?  Dull as the driven dishwater, not even Jerry Goldsmith on the soundtrack or Sven Nykvist manning the camera can breathe any life into the frozen direction (Caspar Wrede, guilty) or permafrost writing (Paul Wheeler, sentenced) that kill off this 1975 muddle.

89 minutes crawl by as ‘Scandinavian’ (generic here, though it was filmed in Norway) police chief Connery has to deal with some standard ruthless bastards (led by Ian McShane) who’ve hijacked an airliner. Confusing, flatlined with drab dialogue, leaden action scenes and no payoff worth squirming through.

Also known as Ransom, it was filmed in Jan-Feb of ’74, but release was held up until spring of the following year, likely when the suits realized how their $1,500,000 had been wasted. With Jeffrey Wickham, Isabel Dean, John Quentin, Robert Harris and John Cording. Sean followed this dead herring with a pair of prize marlins, The Wind And The Lion and The Man Who Would Be King. Land those trophies and toss this chumm overboard.

He’ll need these to find an audience for this one. Reindeer, perhaps?