Telefon [VHS] (1977)

I truly wanted to like this more, but it's a hard film to be enthusiastic about. There's a good movie here trying to get out, but the screenplay's lack of ambition holds it back after a barnstormer of an opening. There's a general sense of telefoning it in, and it often feels like a high budget TVM of the era, rather than a theatrical feature directed by no less than Don Siegel. The cast feel underserved by a flabby script that spends a hundred minutes telling 70 minutes of story. Speaking of the cast, I don't dislike Bronson in the right films, but his impassivity didn't work for me here. Eastwood might have been better, someone like Robert Shaw better still. Also, Donald Pleasence famously agreed to appear in anything he was asked to, schedule permitting, and he is grievously underused here in a role that asks nothing of him. There's never a sense of a battle of wits going on here. The CIA subplot never really impacts on the film as a whole, which is a shame because Tyne Daly is great as ubernerd Dotty Putterman. Lee Remick does what she can to add what little life the main plot exhibits, and bless her for it.This all sounds very negative, but I'm frustrated by how much potential is on show, and yet the whole never equals the sum of its parts. If you've got some spare time, worth seeing for the bones of a good film that, just for once, deserves and would hugely benefit from a smart remake.

TelefonAn interesting film, firmly based in the Soviet/American cold war days, about seemingly ordinary Americans, who are in fact Russian agents. They have been programmed to react to certain phrases from a poem, spoken to them over the phone, to destroy what were American key defence sites in the 1950's. A rogue soviet agent, played with his usual sinister demeanour by Donald Pleasance, has started to activate the dormant agents by ringing them with the poem, so that mayhem starts to erupt. The Soviet High Command realize pretty quickly what is happening, and send Charles Bronson to eliminate Pleasance, or anybody else who gets in the way. Lee Remick, in a soviet sleeper agent role, helps Bronson track Pleasance down, and Pleasance is eventually killed just before he is able to activate another brainwashed agent over the phone.The numerous action scenes are handled with panache, and the first three quarters of the film are hard to fault, considering the fim is now 35 years old. It's a shame then, that the film actually ends with a whimper rather than a bang.

Most other movies which were inspired on the cold war were from the view of "our side" this one was inspired on the Russian KGB side.I've seen this movie a lot of times on tv, and it is one of the best.The story line is like that of a thriller, ordinary people who can be triggered with one sentence into dangerous terrorists and do what they were programmed to do. And that the list of these poeple fell in the wrong hands.Well a good storyline is not all, it has to be worked out well also.And they did that, the suspense is building up slowely, first finding the agents and stopping them and then finding the person who triggers them.Ofcourse this goes with a lot of action, but not to much to forget the story, Most movies make that mistake nowadays.Let's say it's an action movie with also a good storyline.Charles Bronsen puts down an excellent Grigori Borzov.And makes this movie a true timeless masterpiece.

great film

I would give this a definate 5 stars for the film, but this is basically just a poor transfer from a video. In fact I think my video copy has better quality picture, so if you are buying this in the hope of a perfect dvd quality picture maybe best to save your money and wait for a well deserved proper release, which the film certainly deserves.

The woods are lovelyDark and deep bug I have miles to go before Incan sleep, lol

Made during the cold war,good story line.

A stolid, if, un-involving film. A miscast Bronson, with a horrible TV style flat image not helping things. The Rockford Files, was much more cinematic.A misconceived film all round, that riffs on the vastly superior The Manchurian Candidate.For Bronson and Siegel completists only.