Telefon (1977)

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.!

The radical Russian Nicolai Dalchimsky (Donald Pleasence) steals some names and codes and flees to the United States of America with the intention of beginning the Third World War. The list is formed by ordinary American citizens that are actually brainwashed Russian agents that have been programmed fifteen years ago to destroy military bases and facilities and are triggered through a phone call with a message. The responsible for the secret program, General Strelsky (Oatrick Magee) and Colonel Malchenko (Alan Badel) summon Major Grigori "Gregg" Borzov (Charles Bronson) to travel to the United States to eliminate Dalchimsky. Gregg teams up with the Russian agent Barbara (Lee Remick) that was instructed to obey his orders but does not know what is happening. But Barbara has a secret agenda from her superiors to accomplish by the end of their assignment. "Telefon" is presently a dated rip-off of the central idea of "The Manchurian Candidate", with Russian agents with sleepy instructions and programmed to destroy but it is still engaging. Don Siegel was a master of action and "Telefon" never disappoints. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Telefone" ("The Telephone")

Telefon has several good trumps, but suffers here and there in a painful way from budget restrictions. The latter becomes clear within the 5 first minutes, as we see KGB people using a Mercedes van, while a top man sits waiting in a limo from the same German car company. Not really substantial, but it nevertheless gives the movie instantly something cheap, a made for TV-only label. One could debate about whether the presence of Donald Pleasance is helping or not. His acting is always a double edge sword: on the one hand, it is funny to see him exploit at the maximum the small roles he got, by using the most futile objects like a handkerchief ("Hell is a city"). On the other hand, he often portrayed the bad guys in a somewhat too pronounced and stereotypical way, which takes away a part of the suspense. His role in Fantastic voyage is a good example, and the same happens in Telefon. His blond whig he uses in the beginning of the movie adds to the "cheapo" character of the movie. Maybe the budget was somewhat mismanaged ? The blowing up an entire valley surely was impressive, and added credibility to the real menace the USA was facing. On the other hand, a few fireballs less here and there, but eastern European looking cars in stead would have been a nice compromise. Not withstanding these small imperfections, I quite liked this decent movie. Using brainwashed people to perform dirty jobs of course wasn't a new idea. In movies such as the Manchurian Candidate and Parallax View, this road already had been explored. What gives Telefon that extra menacing touch, is the fact that the 50 people on the KGB list live ordinary lives, unaware of the looming danger. We briefly meet a mother planning to make pancakes for her kids, a priest busy decorating his church, the owner of a helicopter taxi with money and marital problems, the owner of a car repair shop etc. And then, each of them is abruptly called away from their ordinary day-to-day lives. It almost would make you look quite suspiciously at friendly neighbors, who might or might not be too on a KGB-list, waiting to be activated and perform one specific task of death and destruction. The fact that one of the victims is used to destroy a disaffected military installation even adds an extra dimension to that lurking menace. This juxta-position of potentially dangerous people amids an innocent surrounding is of course no new formula. Still, it is used with cleverness here in Telefon. Still, maybe the generally somewhat too mild tension needed some extra punch here and there to make this a classic spy movie. (By the way, was it the CIA who was taking pictures from Borshov and Barbara, when they met at the airport ? It's not really followed up) Bronson was strictly "mission first" during 90 % of the movie, and immediately set the tone by asking Barbara not to be "so damned cheerful." But the American sun and beautiful all American girl Lee Remick had no trouble at all to melt the Soviet ice, and working at a détente at personal level. They look a bit like an unlikely silly pair, with no sparks flying around, just some decent double entendre (miles and miles to go...) Still, I always liked silly pairs ! Certainly much more than the all too obvious and slick matches such as in Hitchcock movies à la North by Northwest. Urk !Anyway, don't let such details spoil the fun. Nor should you be distracted by the very 1970's cheap looks of the motel rooms etc. "Domino principle" too had similar shortcomings, still it is fun to see that movie again every now and then for its own merits. Telefon is indeed –as another reviewer pointed out- "the ultimate détente movie", made in an era in which strategic arms limitations were agreed upon, and the Helsinki agreements were signed by 35 countries. Before that, in the post-Watergate period, we already got some movies, critical of the CIA or more shadowy agencies and security companies, such as "The Conversation", "Three days of the Condor" and "The Domino Principle". Here, things are even taken a step further: Russian agents are on high alert, because one of their own renegades is trying to trigger off a Third World War. So they send their top agent to the USA to clean up the mess... If a new McCarthy would have emerged under Reagan,Bronson and Remick would have been blacklisted because of what would have been labeled this "pinko" movie. In a way, the international diplomatic situation got once more reflected in the history of movie making. In 1943-45, there were some very pro Russian movies made by Hollywood,such as The North Star (1943) or Mission to Moscow (1943). After that came red scare movies such as the Red Menace or I married a Comminist. Things chanced again after the death of Stalin and the disgrace of Sen. Mc Carthy. The Bette Davis movie "Storm Center" (1956) for ex. is one of those movies that takes a more balanced approach to communism. Sputnik and Cuba once again made the pendulum move to the other side, while it swung back to the center left with efforts like Telefon. As such, this movie is an interesting witness of its time.

This film really isn't that well done, and yet if I happen to flick through the TV channels, and it is on, I find myself getting caught up in it. I guess I like telephone movies. Or better yet, I like movies that don't have cell phones. I know if they remade "Telefon" they would ruin it with cell phones. The key to this movie is that Donald Pleasence does most of his acting in phone booths. A lot of actors of lesser talent might let this restriction hamper their performance, but Pleasence really shines as the bad guy. My favorite DP moment is when we first see him wearing the toupee. I couldn't help but think how clever those Soviet spies were with their disguises. He looks like he is on his way to an Arte Johnson look-alike contest. I'm not sure why he doesn't keep it on through the whole movie. I would have liked to have seen him get strangled while wearing it.