Telefon

1977
PG
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

6.5K

YOUR RATING

Charles Bronson and Lee Remick in Telefon (1977)

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

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Dark Comedy Political Thriller Action Crime Drama Thriller

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

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

6.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 2:35

Trailer

Photos45

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Director Don Siegel asked Charles Bronson to shave his trademark mustache off for this movie. Bronson replied, "No mustache, no Bronson." Siegel said in his book 'A Siegel Film: An Autobiography', "I felt that as much as Bronson wore a heavy mustache in Russia, it would help his disguise if he had no mustache when he arrives in Canada. However he didn't want to shave it off."

Goofs
All of the KGB characters shown in uniform at the beginning of the film are "out of uniform." Although Borzov, Bronson's character, and the others are clearly meant to be in the KGB, the uniforms they wear are trimmed in red, the color of the regular Soviet Army, not the KGB. During the era of the film KGB uniforms were trimmed in Royal Blue. Also, the uniforms in the film lack the distinctive "Sword and Shield" patch worn by KGB officers on their jacket and coat sleeves.

Quotes
Nicolai Dalchimsky: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. Remember. Miles to go before I sleep.

Connections
Featured in 42nd Street Forever, Volume 3: Exploitation Explosion (2008)

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

User reviews54

Review

Featured review

7/10

The Ultimate Détente Film

If you look at the history of American Cold War films, you see they often, but not always reflect the current state of Western-Soviet relations. Many of the B-movies of the 1950's reflected the anti-communist paranoia that existed stateside; and that decades's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (also directed by Don Siegel) brilliantly parodied McCarthyism. Now we find ourselves in the late 1970's. Gone are Stalin and Kruschev - now we have Breznev and Nixon/Ford and Jimmy Carter and a gradual policy of rapprochement and cooling of tensions. In this film, neo-Stalinists are purged by the pro-Détente Soviet leadership. One such old guard agent, played by Donald Pleasance (who is always in fine form with these 'oily' character representations) decides to unleash an old Soviet conspiracy hatched by leaders in the 50's and unknown to most of the current Soviet brass. I am not going to rehash the entire plot, but let it suffice to say that we have a top Soviet Army General (played by Charles Bronson who mercifully does not even attempt a Russian accent) working together with American double agent Lee Remick, to battle forces more sinister than the current leadership of either the US or the USSR. This truly is the movie that best reflects the détente political philosophy in vogue at this time.