Development Richard Alan Simmons's script was inspired by a real life bomb threat against the
Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1972, which resulted in Special forces (one SAS, two from the Special Boat Squadron and a Welsh bomb disposal expert of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps) being parachuted into the Atlantic to board and search the liner, as dramatized in the film. The film was the second of a three-picture deal produced by
David V. Picker after he resigned as head of production for United Artists (the first was
Lenny). It was made by his company, Two Roads. United Artists would distribute. In November 1973 it was reported that
Bryan Forbes was to direct, with Simmons producing and Richard Harris starring, with filming set to begin in January 1974. On 6 December 1973, it was reported that
Bryan Forbes had left the project - "there were minor disagreements" claimed Picker - and been replaced by
Don Medford. On 5 February 1974, it was reported that Medford, too, had left the project. He was fired by Picker who was reportedly dissatisfied with the state of the script and casting. Lestser was attracted to the challenge of the film, saying "It shows a government governing and I knew I should show it in thriller terms. A ship had been chartered which meant that I only had 12 days before I had to begin shooting." On taking over the film, Lester completely rewrote the
script with writer
Alan Plater. "I feel I'm hired to bring something of myself to an assignment and so I rewrote much of the script," said Lester. "I think if I'd sat carefully and thought about it I wouldn't have done it," said Lester later. "It was very exciting. And I think that energy of getting it right carried it through. It was a wonderful experience, great fun." The film's writer/producer,
Richard Alan Simmons, was so unhappy with the reworked script that he had himself credited as Richard DeKoker on the finished film.
Filming Filming took place in March and April 1974. The film was shot mainly aboard the real
cruise ship TS Hamburg. The German vessel had recently been sold to the
Soviet Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed TS
Maxim Gorkiy. Before the
Soviets began operating the ship for paying passengers, the British production company
chartered the ship. Advertisements were run in British papers, soliciting extras who would take a lengthy cruise in the
North Sea for free, but with the knowledge that the ship would actually seek out the worst possible weather, as the story demanded seas too rough for the
lifeboats to be lowered, trapping the passengers on board. They received 2,500 applicants and had to select 250. Weather was bad; Ian Holm did not go on location but says he heard "reports of horrible storms off Iceland and everybody getting drunk to deal with it. The story was the bar closed only between seven and seven-thirty in the morning." The ship's charter was negotiated at a set rate in February 1974, while oil prices were continuously skyrocketing due to the still-ongoing
1973 oil crisis. As a result, the Soviets, who paid the vessel's operating costs during filming, ended up losing money on the deal. Lester says the film was scheduled for ten weeks and completed in six. Some interior filming was completed on stages at
Pinewood Studios. Location shooting was also done in and around London. A room at
St Thomas' Hospital in
Lambeth overlooking the
River Thames doubled as the office of the managing director of the shipping line. The movie marked the film debut of
Simon MacCorkindale. ==Reception==