74_75_78_79_ wrote:Black Sunday...not the more-famous catch of his near mid-field, but Swann’s sideline catch I believe was seen close-up in the film only for the camera to then zoom-in across the field on the investigator walking up the stands. I believe that’s how the shot went. When the Goodyear blimp lowers onto the field and you see the Steeler and Cowboy players scattering off the field in all directions, you can tell they were extras dressed up in the unis and not the actual players. Just imagine all the players from both teams, and coaches, being asked to hang around after the game to shoot that scene. All the fans being asked to stay as well.
1976 and this flick wasn’t about...Russia invading the SB, but a terror attack by a Palestinian group. Eerily ahead-of-its time this was. I believe in an interview, Bruce Dern said something along those lines.
Miami police weren't happy about CBS showing the film the same night as the game--with plenty of buildup via promos and hype, saying that it might inspire terrorists. One of the guys in charge also made a prescient comment: "Terrorism is coming. You're going to see it. It's just a matter of time." That comment got Pete Rozelle po'ed during his annual press conference, saying that the NFL always worked with local law enforcement. Of course, 40 years later, the game now gets top priority by the federal government.
ABC offered a less controversial football-themed movie that night--the second showing of The Longest Yard. Interestingly, one year earlier, they showed a crappy made-for-TV movie, "Superdome," the week before Super Bowl XII, though there were no similar complaints. This mashed together an attempted fix, a chase for a killer--and no football scenes, with two fictional teams represented
The two "star" quarterbacks were played by Ken Howard and a pre-Magnum Tom Selleck, with the movie bad enough that it was used for a Mystery Science 3000 episode.
I've mentioned before that one of the Black Sunday scenes they filmed during the game was Robert Shaw running on the sidelines in pursuit of terrorists. Apparently, nobody made security aware of this and they predictably freaked out.