Film Review: Telefon (1977)

US and Western mainstream media have recently spent a lot of time and energy accusing Russians of US election interference, having their puppet installed in the White House and even turning Star Wars fans against their favourite franchise following Last Jedi. In the old days, even under the darkest clouds of Cold War paranoia, claims of similar magnitude would have been rejected by most sensible people and instead laughed off as parodically inefficient propaganda. This happened even to somewhat more believable concept of the same nature when it served as basis for plot for Telefon, 1977 action thriller directed by Don Siegel.

The script by Peter Hyams and Stirling Silliphant is based on the novel by Walter Wager, published in time of 1970s Détente, when USA and Soviet Union were improving their frosty relationship. Soviet leadership tries to secure this process by purging potentially dangerous hardliners, but their efforts fail in case of Nikolai Dalchimsky (played by Donald Pleasance) who escapes from Moscow. Soon afterwards US authorities are baffled with the series of strange incidents in which ordinary middle-aged citizens inexplicably conduct suicide bombing missions against military bases and strategic infrastructure facilities, including those that were closed years ago. One of very few people given answer to this mystery is Major Grigori Borzov (played by Charles Bronson), top KGB operative.

He has been summoned by his superiors and informed that Dalchimsky took notebook containing the names, addresses and phone numbers of Soviet deep cover agents implanted into USA during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Prior to their missions, the agents were subjected to advanced brainwashing techniques making them forget their real identities and now they believe that they are actually ordinary Americans; the thing that triggers them into conducting their task is a code message over the phone. Vengeful Dalchimsky uses the notebook and sends messages in order to embarrass its government and trigger Third World War. Borzov, who possesses photographic memory, reads the copy of the notebook and travels to USA in order to stop him. In his dangerous mission he is assisted by KGB field operative Barbara (played by Lee Remick), but she might not be who she claims to be.

Telefon was greeted badly by the critics, and this sentiment was later shared even by its director. Siegel, known as the action genre specialist, was served poorly by the script. Hyams and Silliphant, on one hand, streamlined the complicated concept behind The Manchurian Candidate and made it more accessible to the audience, but they also added unnecessary elements that made the film overlong. One such elements is subplot involving CIA analyst played by Tyne Daly as one of Hollywood’s first female computer geeks. The other is Lee Remick, actress of great talent and beauty which looks completely wasted in ultra-cliched role and predictably unconvincing romantic subplot.

Donald Pleasance, on the other hand, is obviously having great fun in the role of insane villain, thus adding some “guilty pleasure” quality to the film. What lifts this film over mediocrity and making it entertaining for less demanding audience is Charles Bronson. Like in many films of his 1970s film, Bronson’s skilfully plays no-nonsense protagonist who gets things done and doesn’t allow audience time to ask too many questions that would make Telefon look even worse than it was.

RATING: 5/10 (++)