Juggernaut (1974 film)

Juggernaut is a 1974 British crime suspense film starring Richard Harris, Omar Sharif and Anthony Hopkins. The film, which was directed by Richard Lester, was largely shot on location on the TS Hamburg in the North Sea. It was inspired by a real events aboard the QE2 in May 1972 when Royal Marines from the Special Boat Service were parachuted on to the ship because of a bomb hoax.

The ocean liner SS Britannic is in the middle of a voyage in the North Atlantic with 1200 passengers on board when the shipping lines owner Ian Holm in London receives a telephone call from a man with an Irish accent styling himself as Juggernaut, who claims to have placed seven barrels of amatol high explosive aboard the ship which are timed to explode and sink it at dawn on the following day. He warns that the barrels are boobytrapped and that any attempt to move them will result in detonation, and offers that technical instructions in how to render the bombs safe will be given in exchange on a ransom being paid to him of 500,000. As an indication of his seriousness he then sets off a demonstration attack with a series of small bombs on the ships bridge, which injure one crewman. Unable to order an evacuation of the ships passengers via lifeboats due to rough seas besetting it, the shipping lines management is inclined to yield to the ransom demand, however when the police are called in British government officials inform the company that if it does so they will withdraw the companys operating subsidy in line with the Governments policy of nonappeasement of terrorism.Instead a Royal Navy officer, Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon Richard Harris, leading a bombdisposal unit is dispatched, arriving on the scene by air transit and parachuting into the sea, with orders to board the ship and defuse the barrelbombs before the deadline. Meanwhile, back in London Supt. McCleod Anthony Hopkins, whose wife and two children happen to be holidaying on board the ship, leads Scotland Yards investigation against the clock to capture the criminal masterbomber. ........

Source: Wikipedia