I have been saving this movie for when the Super Bowl comes around because the plot is hinged on the big game. Somehow, I’ve missed the deadline three years running thanks to illness or other emergencies. It isn’t on Netflix lately so I will have to go on memory regarding the details.
Black begins with an IDF-Mossad raid on the terrorist hideout of Black September (Palestinians) near Israel’s border or the occupied territories. The majority of the enemy are killed but commanding officer Kabakov spares one of the women they encounter (Dahlia), probably out of the bias of women being incapable of terrorist acts. They destroy the base yet not the entire organization because the raiders stumble upon plans for an attack in the US. So Kabakov travels to America to warn the FBI. Our government is skeptical since the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict has never played out in the Western hemisphere (The Seventies). The Mossad agent decides to carry out his own investigation while trying to play it cool, he’s a visitor in America and has no real authority.
Meanwhile, Dahlia uses her opportunity to carry out the attack. The key to her operation is a crazed Vietnam veteran she’s sexually manipulating. He’s a Goodyear Blimp pilot which is how they plan to detonate a bomb into the Orange Bowl during Super Bowl X. When Black was made, Vietnam vets working with our enemies wouldn’t be cliche for a few more years. Cowboys fans probably would’ve preferred Black September’s success due to the Steelers rallying in the fourth quarter would be a bigger disaster in their minds.
In short, Black is rather mediocre. One of those by-the-numbers thrillers in the Seventies. Maybe it was scarier then. I’m just grateful no one has gotten around to remaking it.