Post by Jeff Goldblum on Feb 12, 2009 21:21:16 GMT -5
Telefon
The operation that could trigger 51 human time bombs!
Bronson stars as a KGB agent with a photographic memory that tracks a mad Russian bomber played by Donald Pleasance. Just think about that for a minute.
Pleasance is running across the US, activating sleeper agents who are unaware they've been brainwashed. He simply calls the civilian up, recites a few lines from Robert Frost, and the subject defaults to an unconscious suicide run.
It's a clever twist on an old theme. Ironically, the Frost poem used (Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening) is arguably among the most famous. I don't think I've ever met anyone who couldn't recite those final lines. You'd think the Russians would've gone with something a little more obscure- lest their plot be triggered by accident. Then again, maybe it's little things like this that explain why they lost the Cold War.
What I love about this film is that Bronson plays a Russian...and he plays it exactly like all his other roles. A few of the cast attempt a slight Russian accent, but Bronson is having none of it. It's nearly twenty minutes into the film before he makes his first appearance, but when he does, he's in Leningrad coaching a kid's hockey team. So, well worth the wait.
He's also an incredibly cold-blooded bastard here. Major Grigori Borzov not only wants to catch the bomber- he wants to keep Operation Telefon from being uncovered. This means killing any civilians that happen to get activated along the way. For example, when an elderly priest survives his suicide run, Bronson makes sure the man isn't available to be questioned by the police.
Afterwards, Bronson delivers a really great threat to Lee Remick- his US counterpart assisting with the mission. After forcibly taking her face in his hands, he coldly intones: I'd like to go back to Moscow remembering you as being alive. Could you help me accomplish that?"
Overall, it's a slick Cold War thriller directed by Don Siegel, and essentially Bronson's last hurrah as an A-list star.