This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

A fact-based drama adapted from an acclaimed stage play, this Halmark Hall of Fame production is one of the finest films ever made for television; in fact I can't think of one that's better. Pack of Lies is good enough to have been a a theatrical release. A fascinating true story with disquieting moral and social issues makes for compelling viewing. POL has been given a first-class production with excellent acting and directing, and even if her British accent wavers, Ellen Burstyn gives a powerful performance, and a surprisingly cast Teri Garr has never been better. Unfortunately, POL is unknown and rarely shown though it deserves to be, and after 25 years its subject is as timely as ever.

Television adaptation of Hugh Whitemore's play about an older British couple in a suburb of London circa 1961 learning from the police that their best friends of three years--a Canadian couple who live across the road--may be involved with a notorious Russian spy. Not-bad "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production is a bare-bones dramatic presentation coasting on the performances of its cast, with the emphasis on Ellen Burstyn as the otherwise-friendless housewife who feels betrayed by chatty, lively neighbor Teri Garr. Garr is working seriously here, but there's too many close-ups of her looking puzzled, asking the same redundant questions; Burstyn fares a bit better, even if her accent comes and goes (which can be overlooked). Still, Ellen's character deteriorates under the pressure of falsehood far too soon (everyone, at some point, becomes a liar in this teleplay--a gimmick that is heightened in the dialogue but, thankfully, not underscored too strenuously). The downbeat conclusion--and the two useless melodramatic tags--is unsatisfying, as is Alan Bates' role (and over-the-top performance) as a British agent. Worth-seeing for the intriguing first-half, but the hysteria which follows feels canned.

***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** This movie is about two Families who are close friends and they do everything together. They go to art class, shopping and they visit each other. They have such a bond with each other, they're lives are wrapped up in this friendship--there's nothing that can break up this friendship.......or is there??????Underneath the apparent innocence of Helen(Terri Garr)and her husband Peter is a dirty secret-they are both Russian spies. One day, a British agent named Stewart(Alan Bates)pays them a visit. He tells them that they are looking for a man who has been seen in the neighborhood by the name of Powell. Stewart Asks them to corporate with them-so he can keep an eye on the neighborhood from their upstairs bedroom window. If that was all there was to it-then it's not too bad....but it goes from bad to worse.When Powell is seen leaving Helen & Peter's, the chain of events that follows is the beginning of a fall-from which there was no getting up from. Barbara(Ellen Burstyn) and her husband are asked by British agents to allow them to spy on Helen & peter-24 hours a day. A 24 hour watch as they call it. And of course, they had to maintain secrecy. This means a pack of lies-not only on the part of Helen & Peter-but Barbara had to lie too-to maintain secrecy. They could not under any circistances let Helen & Peter know what is going on.I know how easy it is to feel for Barbara & her husband, after all they were lied to & been betrayed by their best friends. There's another issue here-that is national security. Helen & Peter are guilty of passing classified information to the Russians-this constitutes espionage-and It is against the law. And it's very dangerous. They violated the law-so they go to prison.It's a shame, isn't? to have best friends-who are spies?

I saw this film when it was first presented on network TV sponsored by Hallmark Hall of Fame.What we see is a beautifully made film about, Love, friendship and deceit. The movie is set in the early sixties and is about the lives of basically two families are have become close over the years.Ellen Burstyn gives an outstanding performance as a British homemaker who spends her days happily performing the tasks of her simple life while enjoying a close friendship with the neighbor across the street played by Teri Garr. We watch as both families happily intermingle and enjoy their lives until one day a British agent appears at the door of Burstyn explaining that they are looking for a spy who seemed to be operating in their neighborhood and soon after the agents set up a surveilance from the house. From this point on in the movie we experience the drama of a family trying to hide thier fears. We see Burstyn on the brink of a breakdown knowing in her heart that she was deceived by the only true friend she had. We see even before she does that the Garr charecter and her husband are not what they appear to be making the the final realization of Burstyn that mush more heartbreaking...I taped this film back in 1987 and have watched it often and it still has a profound effect on me......