Rosebud
Rosebud
| 24 March 1975 (USA)
Rosebud Trailers

In a bold coup a Palestinian terrorist group captures the yacht Rosebud and kidnaps the millionaires five daughters on it. At first they demand film clips to be shown on major European TV stations. Undercover agent Martin is hired to hunt the terrorists down.

Reviews
Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
nycexpatagain Spot Cliff Gorman (Cathy Casserole of The Boys in the Band), John V. Lindsey (of the Mayor's office of New York City -- wow, he was handsome!) and Kim Cattrell (Liverpool-born, but who put the sex in Sex and the City) Hint: none of these emblematic New Yorkers are sporting New York accents. Isabel Huppert and Otto Preminger and Peter Lawford are amusingly findable, too. Okay, now you've had the fun that's to be had from this sadly prophetic, but soft-core version of terrorism. Plenty of tiresome speeches about Palestine and "the Jews," and Israel, all of which are far, far past all expiration dates. Oh yes, one other pleasure for those of a certain age is a bit of retro-tourism for the way Europe looked thirty-forty years ago. Enjoy.
bkoganbing The most famous clue in cinema history is the title of this film by Otto Preminger about the kidnapping of five young girls who are the daughters of prominent individuals in their countries by the Black September terrorists. Rosebud instead of being the childhood toy sled of Charles Foster Kane is the name of a yacht where the girls are kidnapped from.The Seventies were the first decade of Islamic terror and certainly it was a hot button topic. How then could Otto Preminger make such a boring film as this is beyond me. Certainly for the man who took such loving care in making Exodus, the survival of Israel was an issue near and dear to his heart. The players look like they were sleep walking through their roles. The head of Black September in this film is of all people Richard Attenborough who plays an English scholar who converted to Islam and there's nothing like the zeal of a convert. He's actually based on a real life character Abdullah Philby who was the father of Communist spy Harold Kim Philby. Abdullah was a Mid-east scholar who did in fact convert to Islam. He never participated in anything like Black September however. Through a little detective work by Peter O'Toole, a British mercenary working for the American CIA, the girls are set free and Attenborough captured. How it's done is for you to see if you want to watch Rosebud. It should only be as easy to capture Osama as it was to take Attenborough in this film. Quite ridiculous and I know you'll agree if you bother to watch.Nice location cinematography in Europe and America is all this film really has to recommend it. That and an attempt by former Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York to get an acting career going. He plays a United States Senator five years before he actually tried to become one.
Psalm 52 After reading so many reviewers opinions written against this film, I am very glad I saw it tonight. It is the 70's "Syriana" and/or "Munich." It is NOT James Bond, thank god! O'Toole was fine by my taste, just as I'd like a Newsweek-writer-cum-CIA-agent to be portrayed. I especially enjoy his verbal banter w/ the one the father's of the kidnap victims, and his verbal battle w/ the German dyke, photo shop owner. While some reviewers complain that the pacing is s-l-o-w, it requires just this type of feel for what is a docu-film disguising itself as a studio release. The few scenes w/ Attenborough are all that is needed to establish the evil in terrorism. It's no coincidence this film was made in the 70's ... our little geo-political landscape hasn't changed.
Kenneth Anderson I had heard of this film for years, its reputation of being one of Otto Preminger's worst preceding it in every film reference book I'd encountered. Well, it certainly doesn't disappoint. "Rosebud" looks like a novice director's first effort, not the work of the man who gave us "Carmen Jones" and "The Man With the Golden Arm.""Rosebud" unfolds awkwardly detailing the kidnapping of 5 millionaire's daughters by a Palestinian terrorist group and the attempts by the parents (among them former New York mayor John Lindsay in his film debut/swansong) to retrieve them without starting a holy war. As ransom demands are made and we are forced to endure endless footage devoted to kidnap victims being trotted to and fro with bags on their heads, wizened secret agent Peter O'Toole is called in to save the day (Preminger seems to be engaging in a little joke by having the very chalky actor with the legendary booze problem drink milk in one of many pointless scenes).Much talking and little acting (or action) ensues as we reach a finale that must have appeared idiotic and reactionary in 1975 but seems practically prescient in post-9/11 America. "Rosebud" is almost alarming in its awfulness. The cluttered international cast is full of professional actors who come off as amateurs, and obvious amateurs coming off like…amateurs (If I'm not mistaken that's Preminger's son, Erik, by Gypsy Rose Lee in the role as a computer wiz. It is Erikwho is responsible for the leaden screenplay). The many clashing accents and laughable performances give the impression that many learned their lines phonetically.Though the plot is not too bad (just hard to follow motives and motivations) and suffers from a needlessly slow and artless execution, it's the acting that really torpedoes "Rosebud." O'Toole looks like he's about to keel over any minute; as the villain, an Englishman converted to Muslim, Richard Attenborough unthreateningly lisps his way through his role; and as the kidnap victims, Preminger couldn't have assembled a more annoying and untalented group of girls. Were we intentionally supposed to wish for their execution?Their scenes in their subterranean prison are laugh riots of high school level acting and bad blocking. Rather astounding to see a very young Isabelle Huppert embarrass herself as one of the pluckier debs…though she deserves an Oscar for the stomach churning scene in which she has to seduce and kiss the cadaverous bare chest of O'Toole. "Sex and the City"'s Kim Catrall makes her film debut here and makes clear why it took her over two decades to become a star.For anyone out there who wishes to actually see this film- if just for the bragging rights to bearing witness to Otto Preminger's decline- here are a few things to look for to add to the fun:1) The 70's clothes and "Brady Bunch" curly hairdo of the political activist character. 2) In the cat-fight between the kidnap victims; slaps are delivered and heard but never received. 3) The guys in the tennis togs (short shorts) air dropped onto the "Rosebud" 4) John Lindsay…nuff said. 5) The militant boy scouts with the knee-socks and bare chests. 6) Kim Catrall's a capella rendering of Nilsson's "I guess the Lord must be in New York City. 7) O'Toole's battle with the terrorist with the killer corkscrew.