Director Robert Wise helmed this film about the Hindenburg conflagration, touched off when the German zeppelin landed in Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937. George C. Scott is a conflicted German security officer aboard, Anne Bancroft is a wayward countess, William Atherton (DAY OF THE LOCUST) a possible saboteur, Roy Thinnes (TV’s "The Invaders") a fanatical Gestapo officer and Charles Durning (DOG DAY AFTERNOON) the Hindenburg’s captain. Recipient of two Oscars for Special Achievement in Sound Effects (Peter Berkos) and Visual Effects (Albert Whitlock, Glen Robinson).

Director Richard Fleischer brings his usual straightforward approach to this underrated adaptation of former cop-turned-author Joseph Wambaugh’s bestseller. George C. Scott is excellent as the seasoned police veteran who shepherds young newcomer Stacy Keach in the ways of the street. Initially hoping to support himself by police work until he gets his degree, law student Keach is gradually worn down by the pitiless grind and lets go of his ambition and family (including wife Jane Alexander). The job likewise takes its toll on Scott, but he is better at keeping his emotions hidden – until it is too late.

Paul Newman is unforgettable as pool shark Eddie Felson who shakes his loser persona when heartless gambler George C. Scott teaches him the psychology of winning. Eddie realizes too late that obsessive victory over the unbeatable Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) is empty, since the cost is the destruction of his crippled alcoholic lover (Piper Laurie), in this intense, back-alley poem by director Robert Rossen.