Review: Telefon


Russian agents who were hypnotised, programmed to kill and then planted as US citizens who have laid dormant for years (the plan was apparently scrapped, but the agents never deprogrammed) are suddenly awakened/activated by the reading of a certain Robert Frost passage by nutty Stalinist Donald Pleasence who gets them to carry out kamikaze sabotage missions across the US. Charles Bronson is the dour Russian agent sent to stop all the mayhem, with Lee Remick as his contact in the States. Tyne Daly is a plucky computer expert working for the American Feds, Patrick Magee is a Soviet intelligence chief.



Drab-looking but enjoyable little espionage thriller from 1977 directed by Don Siegel (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, “Hell is For Heroes”, “Dirty Harry”) boasts fine performances from well-cast Bronson and Pleasence, a sturdy cameo by Magee, and lively work by Daly in an ultimately superfluous role. It all sounds very silly, but Siegel and Bronson handle it all with grim-faced seriousness and dedication, so that it doesn’t quite enter camp territory.



As scripted by Peter Hyams (writer-director of “Outland” and “Capricorn One”) and Stirling Silliphant (“In the Heat of the Night”, “The Poseidon Adventure”, “The Towering Inferno”), it’s nothing brilliant, hell you probably won’t even remember it a week later, but it does intrigue in the moment. A lot of films don’t even do that. The script is based on the novel by Walter Wager (whose novel 58 Minutes served as the basis for “Die Hard 2: Die Harder”). Worth a look.



Rating: B-

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