Thanks for the memories!

Must See Movie...

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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 ****

No-nonsense Russian agent Major Grigori Borvoz (a credible performance by Charles Bronson) gets assigned to stop deranged renegade Stalinist defector Nicolai Dalchimsky (the always reliable Donald Pleasence in fine sinister form) from carrying out his nefarious plan to trigger brainwashed sleeper undercover agents hidden throughout America from committing extreme acts of terrorism.Director Don Siegel keeps the far-fetched, but still engrossing and exciting story moving at a steady pace, makes neat use of numerous exotic locations, and stages the action scenes with his trademark skill and aplomb. Lee Remick adds plenty of charm and vitality as cheery and helpful American agent Barbara. Tyne Daly likewise delights as spunky computer whiz Dorothy Putterman. Moreover, there are sound supporting contributions from Sheree North as harried housewife Marie Wills, Patrick Magee as the stern General Strelsky, Frank Marth as shady CIA head honcho Harley Sandburg, John Mitchum as amiable mechanic Harry Bascom, Roy Jenson as the hearty Doug Stark, and Jacqueline Scott as the shrewish Mrs. Hassler. The depiction of the sleeper agents as plain everyday folks gives this picture an extra chilling edge. Lalo Schifrin's robust score does the rousing trick. Michael C. Butler's slick cinematography provides a pleasing polished look. A fun film.

This movie is one of my favorites. Lee Remick and Charles Bronson were the perfect pair for this thriller. Donald Pleasance was also well casted. Who cares if a KGB uniform was not exactly correct as some people have commented on! When I see a movie I want to be entertained and this one had me on edge from beginning to end. Bravo! I would love to get a copy of this film as these type of movies are ones that you could watch over and over again. The chemistry of Lee Remick and Charles Bronson happened as soon as they laid eyes on each other and their performances were excellent. I was also intrigued by the surprise ending

I've always liked this movie. But watching it now it is difficult not to laugh out loud at the ridiculous scenes featuring Tyne Daley and her "supercomputer." This stuff was out of date when the film came out, relying on "Lost in Space" style simplicity.But that's forgivable. What really kept the flick from really being a classic, however, is that it is totally missing the third act! The film ends abruptly with the villain, Dalchimsky, done away with in a fairly simple manner in the small town bar. In the novel, Dalchimsky is also killed in the bar, but not before passing along the coded message that set off the last "sleeper" who then proceeds to make his way to blow up Hoover Dam (or some big dam—can't remember off the top of my head). Then Bronson and Remick's characters had to race to stop the impending disaster. It was a big, exciting ending and I can't understand why they left it out. Maybe they just didn't have the budget. I think spending the dough it would have taken to include the book's ending would have helped mitigate the low budget "TV Movie" feeling "Telefon" often suffers from. But producers knew that Bronson's name would consistently pull a certain audience no matter what, so they rarely tried to do anything big in his films and he never insisted on it—a fact that eventually led to the decline of his career.