Pluskylang Great Film overall

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

JohnHowardReid The other side is the good side in this ingenious thriller which also benefits from an extensive use of real locations. The screenplay, however, is somewhat thin on characterization. The narrative is fleshed out with two plots which only come together via the odd telephone call. Nonetheless, the pace is brisk and there is plenty of boom-boom action.Constant changes of locale also keep our attention focused. All in all, the film is reasonably enjoyable for those of us who don't pay too much attention on the dopey plot and are just along for the ride.The ever-reliable Pat Magree presents us with a brief but enjoyably hammy performance. Badel, however, is reduced to stooging. Donald Pleasense is not presented with many opportunities for fine acting either, even though his role is comparatively large.!

moonspinner55 Charles Bronson usually excels when he's surrounded by top talent on his action films, and on this explosive political thriller he has Don Siegel as director, Peter Hyams and Stirling Silliphant as the screenwriters (adapting Walter Wager's novel) and Lee Remick as his co-star (one assumes Bronson might have preferred his wife and frequent co-star Jill Ireland for this role, but Remick fills the bill nicely). Plot concerns "sleeper agents" (or Russian spies) placed all over the US during the Cold War, average-seeming men and women who have been brainwashed into believing they are ordinary but who can be 'activated' by special code into sabotaging military or civil structures and facilities--followed by their own suicides. Donald Pleasence is the sinister KGB clerk who has come to America in the hopes of straining US-Russian relations by methodically setting off agents over the telephone to cause destruction in various American cities. Bronson, a KGB major, is selected to kill Pleasence, while talkative Remick is an agent assigned to pose as Bronson's wife. Globe-trotting, fast-moving, perfectly mindless entertainment; when it stops for some character interaction, the director and his scenarists are really just catching their breath. Great fun for Bronson buffs, though Remick really has a tough time lighting his fuse. This well-dressed honcho is stoic and unemotional, and the movie is all business. **1/2 from ****

lost-in-limbo Nicolai Dalchimski, a now rogue secret agent for KGB has stolen an important notebook which has the names and phone numbers of sleeping undercover KGB agents living in America. Under hypnosis they were given instructions, that when they hear a certain poem resided it triggers them to unknowingly act upon their mission which is a suicidal act on mainly military targets. Dalchimski heads to America to begin the process, so the Soviets send Colonel Borzov over there to put a stop to it before it causes a world war three.A curiously low-key, but plodding espionage cold war thriller (taken off Walter Wager's novel) by stalwart director Don Siegel. I'm really caught here, as the plot remains stimulating due to the novelty of its new slant (involving a KGB assignment of brainwashed sleepers living in the USA, who could be used to destroy an important target when a certain quote is mentioned to them), but I found it durably grinding than excitingly gripping. There was so much opportunity arising from the situations to the let the tension gradually build-up (as the concept is an alarming one), but despite some tight drilling set-pieces it never manages to tie them together to create a rampant urgency throughout. It's quite a spotty cross-country trip (spending a lot of time with Charles Bronson and Lee Remick), which gathers a head of steam before letting go the in the final third when the two parties finally come to blows (some underground car parking) and then delivering a well-staged, but underwhelming climax.The plot-work (by Peter Hyams and Stirling Silliphant) is quite constructive (if outrageous) with its sober script consisting of humorous quirks, but Siegel's efficiently grounded direction tries to cleverly milk out the dramatic suspense, but is forced to sourcing the material in an mechanical fashion. Although Pleasance's phone calls of stating Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods" to trigger of the sleepers are eerily achieved. Those familiar with his work though would come to appreciate the use of the well positioned camera (photographed by Michael Butler), from the leering frames to the long, expansive shots of the surrounding backdrops. Siegel truly had an eye for those details. The music was composed by no other Lalo Schifrin (who's done quite a few scores for Siegel --- "Dirty Harry" (1971) comes to mind), as he chips in with an engrossingly simmering and characteristic score that works with its dangerous tone.The performances are acceptably spot-on with a sturdy as ever Charles Bronson and Lee Remick shines with her affable presence. The two worked together very fittingly, but sometimes their moody interludes did take away from the bigger picture. Donald Pleasance gleefully turns it up as the rogue Russian agent, but in the end I wished there was a little more to his character. Patrick Magee, Sheree North, Jacqueline Scott also show up good support roles and Tyne Daly appears in something of a disposable character, well for laughs anyway. The way she was brought in, I thought there might have been more made of it. Also if you look at the cast there are some regulars, if only used in small parts that feature in other Bronson and Clint Eastwood films… with the likes of character actors Ed Bakey, John Mitchum and Roy Jenson.Hypnotically established gear work that's leisurely paced, but bestows little to no fireworks.

martin-chemnitz Telefon is a fantastic Cold War spy film. Tough guy Charles Bronson tries to track down nerdy Donald Pleasance before he triggers World War III via activating brain-washed, embedded KGB-planted saboteurs. The movie foreshadows our modern computer hackers, who couldn't win a fist-fight with a teddy bear, much less a KGB agent. However, sulking in secrecy, carrying out a pre-planned attack like modern Trojan-horse programs, Pleasance, as Nicolai Dalchimski, both for money, revenge, and sadistic fun, tries to bring down the world from afar. The beautiful Lee Remick plays an American double-agent as Bronson's US partner, who's willing to kill *if* it will stop WWIII. So lovely is she, that she can even turn Bronson's commie killer heart to abandon his career by movie's end. So beware if suddenly the phone rings, and you hear, "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, ... "