Telefon (1977)

A Russian officer is sent to USA to try and stop sleeper agents who will mindlessly attack government entities when they hear certain coded words.

Director:

Don Siegel

Writers:

Peter Hyams (screenplay), Stirling Silliphant (screenplay)

Stars:

Charles Bronson, Lee Remick, Donald Pleasence

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charles Bronson	...	Major Grigori Borzov
Lee Remick	...	Barbara
Donald Pleasence	...	Nicolai Dalchimsky
Tyne Daly	...	Dorothy Putterman
Alan Badel	...	Colonel Malchenko
Patrick Magee	...	General Strelsky
Sheree North	...	Marie Wills
Frank Marth	...	Harley Sandburg
Helen Page Camp	...	Emma Stark
Roy Jenson	...	Doug Stark
Jacqueline Scott	...	Mrs. Hassler
Ed Bakey	...	Carl Hassler
John Mitchum	...	Harry Bascom
Iggie Wolfington	...	Father Stuart Diller
Hank Brandt	...	William Enders

Storyline

The KGB is looking for one of their people, a man named Dalchimsky because he has stolen something important but, unfortunately, he manages to get through the border. Later in the U.S. some seemingly ordinary people after receiving a phone call go out and destroy key American military installations. Back in the U.S.S.R. General Strelsky and Colonel Malchenko send for Grigori Borzov, a KGB agent who has been to the U.S. on missions before. They inform him that after the U-2 incident in fear of the possibility that a war with the U.S. will occur; they were part of an operation called TELEFON that involved recruiting young agents and then brainwashing them into believing that they are Americans. They would assume the identity of an American who died a long time ago and who would be their age now. They would be situated in a city that is near or where a key U.S. military installation is located. They were also programmed to destroy upon receiving the command phrase. They have been ...

---

Plot Keywords:

espionage | kgb | sleeper agent | photographic memory | sabotage | 

---

Taglines:

Your next phone call may be your last!

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 December 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Telefone

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Russian news media agency 'Izvestia' was highly critical of this American cold war thriller movie and this became international news.

---

Goofs

No foreign cars were allowed to be used by KGB officials back in 1970s. Instead of filmed Mercedes Pullman KGB general should've been driven in ZIL or Volga.

---

Quotes

Grigori Borzov: I think you are a very capable person and I value you very much. So far, we've made a good team. But, you know, you talk too much.
Barbara: If, I mean when, we get Dalchimski I suppose you'll be going home. You going home to anyone, I mean, do you have a wife?
Grigori Borzov: No.
Barbara: Lucky girl.
Grigori Borzov: [chuckles]
Barbara: I know, I talk too much.

---

Connections

Spoofed in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

---

Soundtracks

The Yellow Rose of Texas
(uncredited)
Traditional American folk melody

User Reviews

A fine action thriller, despite its incredible storyline

One effect of watching this one is that you will always read Frost's "Stopping By Woods" from a very different point of view.

No question, there's a whole lot of good acting in Don Siegel's "Telefon" (from Tyne Daly, for instance), but the story, from Walter Wager's novel, is, at least partly, ridiculous. Criticism of international secret policy comes off o.k., claiming that what intelligence agencies have always lacked most is intelligence. But it's more about suspense and action; especially the blowing up of a whole valley is staged with Siegel's dynamic perfection routine.

The film has got Charles Bronson in its center and he does his usual fine job as an ultra-cool Soviet major smuggled into the U.S. in order to exterminate a fellow KGB agent (Donald Pleasence) who has gone crazy there and is now endangering the whole Cold War balance system.

Please note the important rôle telephones play throughout the whole film, not just for Pleasence's ambitions. And watch out for Roy Jenson as his last victim, a man who has played lots of minor parts in major movies. - And don't forget listen to the film, as Lalo Schifrin's score is very fascinating once again.