Telefon [1977] Charles Bronson

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Telefon (1977)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076804/

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Telefon is a 1977 spy film, starring Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence and Lee Remick. It was directed by noted action film director Don Siegel. The film is based on a 1975 novel about mind control, by Walter Wager.

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



As parts of the film were shot in Finland, there are several cameo appearances by Finnish movie stars, most notably Ansa Ikonen, arguably the most popular leading lady in the history of the country s cinema.

The city skyline depicting Houston, Texas in the film is actually Great Falls, Montana, where the majority of the film was shot. The exploding building in one scene is actually the controlled demolition of the old Paris Gibson Junior High School in Great Falls.

The Houston scenes were shot on a Hollywood backlot, while the interior of the Houston Hyatt Regency was portrayed by 5 Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, California - the location which was also used in The Towering Inferno.


Your next phone call may be your last! proclaimed the ads for Telefon (1977), an improbable though intriguing espionage yarn based on Walter Wager s novel of the same name. Nicolai Dalchimsky (Donald Pleasence), a KGB records clerk, is upset by the current detente between the Soviet Union and the United States. He steals a notebook filled with the names of sleeping undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950s. These operatives received their assignments under hypnosis, so they can t remember their missions until they hear four key lines from Robert Frost s poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening . Dalchimsky escapes to America and starts phoning these agents who perform acts of sabotage against military targets. Since the Soviets can t disclose the crisis to the U.S. government, they send Colonel Borzov (Charles Bronson) and Barbara (Lee Remick), an American double agent and military intelligence officer, to find and eliminate Dalchimsky before his actions trigger a war.

Key in the casting was Bronson (fresh from such hits as Death Wish (1974) and Breakheart Pass, 1975), as Borzov, a craggy, taciturn character that perfectly suited Bronson s tough screen persona. Bronson, who has never been known as a master of dialects, wisely decided to play the character straight, since a bad Russian accent could have resulted in an unintentionally funny performance.

Clearly, Bronson knew his audience well and understood the reasons for his popularity. As a result, he could be very uncompromising with directors and fellow actors during the filming of his movies. The director of Telefon, Don Siegel, documented some of their disagreements in his memoirs, A Siegel Film: An Autobiography. His first problem with Bronson arose when he asked him to shave off his moustache for a scene, I felt that inasmuch as Bronson wore a heavy moustache in Russia, it would help his disguise if he had no moustache when he arrives in Canada. However he didn t want to shave it off. Bronson felt that his moustache was his meal ticket and told the director without it I never earned any money. The moustache stayed but Siegel made it quite clear that he was unhappy with Bronson s reasoning. More surprisingly, Bronson had a problem with kissing his beautiful co-star (Lee Remick) for an arrival scene at the airport. Bronson s answer to why he wouldn t was curt - When my wife meets me at an airport, we never kiss. Siegel told Remick to embrace him anyway. Remick responded with But, Don, I don t dare. He s liable to hit me! Fortunately, the scene went without a hitch.

Tensions came to a boil during a sequence that was filmed in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco. One scene called for Bronson to walk off a beautiful glass elevator. Siegel had marked in black tape where Bronson should get off so he could keep the glass elevators in the shot. According to Siegel, Bronson exploded You don t have to show off by telling me how to get off an escalator! Siegel led Bronson out of earshot from the crew to explain why the tape was there. Bronson still felt he was being made fun of but became more reasonable when Siegel threaten to walk off the picture; they shook hands and a truce was made.

Yet, despite the difficulties of working with Bronson and a plot the director referred to as, impossible to believe, Siegel succeeded in making Telefon a stylish action thriller that followed in the tradition of earlier Siegel fare like Dirty Harry (1971) and Charley Varrick (1973). All the hallmarks for a good spy flick are here: car chases, fight scenes, explosions, international locations and sharp editing. Add a crack supporting cast including Tyne Daly (providing fine comic relief as a wisecracking computer expert) and Donald Pleasence (whose sinister appearance and unsettling manner make him an ideal screen villain), and Telefon stands out as one of the more entertaining entries in the genre of Cold War espionage thrillers.