The Domino Principle

The Domino Principle (1977)

Trust no one. No one.

Roy Tucker, a Vietnam war veteran with excellent shooting skills, is serving a long prison sentence when a mysterious visitor promises him that he will be released if he agrees to carry out a dangerous assignment.

Date of release
1977-03-23
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (83)
Runtime
1h 38m
Genres
Thriller, Action
Director
Stanley Kramer

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $6M
  • Filmed in: Santa Monica

The Domino Principle is a 1977 American neo-noir thriller film starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, and Richard Widmark. The film is based on the 1975 novel of the same name and was adapted for the screen by its author Adam Kennedy. It was directed and produced by Stanley Kramer.

Production

The Domino Principle was based on the sixth novel by former actor Adam Kennedy. New American Library purchased the paperback rights for $250,000 and there was considerable interest in the film rights before publication. The novel came out in 1975. The Los Angeles Times praised the book's "power and originality". The New York Times praised Kennedy as "a fine writer who maintains suspense until the end."

In November 1975, Stanley Kramer announced he had purchased the rights for a reported $250,000. Kramer said the novel "is not only an exciting adventure but also stresses that such things could happen here."

In March 1976, Kramer announced he had signed a deal with Lew Grade to make two films; the first was to be The Domino Principle with Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen, and the second was to be The Sheikhs of Araby, a comedy with Sid Caesar and Don Rickles. The latter film would ultimately never be made.

Kramer said he never identified who hired the assassin or their target because "that is not the point of the picture. The point I tried to make is that there are powerful, undetected forces that affect our destiny without even us suspecting they exist."

Filming took place in April and May 1976. On the first day of location filming in San Quentin Prison, a guard was stabbed by an inmate.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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