Telefon is a 1977 spy film directed by Don Siegel and starring Charles Bronson , Lee Remick and Donald Pleasence . The screenplay by Peter Hyams and Stirling Silliphant is based on the 1975 novel by Walter Wager .
25-560: [REDACTED] Look up telefon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Telefon may refer to: Telefon (film) , a 1977 film directed by Don Siegel, starring Charles Bronson " Telefon, Telefon ", a song by Margot Hielscher Telefon Bay , in the South Shetland Islands Telefon Point , west of the entrance to Admiralty Bay, King George Island Telefon Ridge , in
50-532: A number of long-term, deep-cover sleeper agents all over the United States, who were so thoroughly brainwashed that even they did not know they were agents. They can be activated only by a special code phrase, a line from the Robert Frost poem " Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening " – followed by the agent's real first name. Their mission was to sabotage crucial parts of the civil and military infrastructure in
75-533: A number of twists. Barbara has orders from the KGB to assassinate Borzov once he succeeds to get rid of a dangerous loose end. In addition, she is a double agent and actually works for America. When she informs her American superior, Sandburg, he also tells her to kill Borzov so that she will retain the confidence of the KGB. However, Barbara has fallen in love with her would-be target. She informs Borzov, and together, they blackmail both sides into leaving them alone by holding
100-504: A scene, responded, "I don't dare. He'll bite me!" As parts of the film were shot in Finland, there are several cameo appearances by Finnish movie stars, most notably Ansa Ikonen . Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "Though there are action sequences in 'Telefon,' they are never sustained, and the screenplay only occasionally comes up with witty substitutes for the missing plausibility. However, to describe 'Telefon' as synthetic
125-473: A war. Borzov is given the assistance of only a single agent, Barbara, who had been planted in America years before. Eventually, Borzov realizes the method behind Dalchimsky's pattern of attacks: he has chosen the agents by the first letters of their American hometowns by "writing" his own name in sabotage across America. Borzov thus anticipates Dalchimsky's next chosen agent and kills Dalchimsky. However, there are
150-406: Is an agent who gets caught as a double agent and is forced to mislead the foreign intelligence service. F.M. Begoum describes the re-doubled agent as "one whose duplicity in doubling for another service has been detected by his original sponsor and who has been persuaded to reverse his affections again". A triple agent is a spy who pretends to be a double agent for one side while they are truthfully
175-524: Is that the filmmakers lay out this story blueprint so doggedly that the audience is invariably 25 pages of expository chitchat ahead of them. Following 'Telefon' is about as thrilling as being kept on hold for the better part of the day." Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "This dismal attempt to ring some changes in the spy genre—the protagonist is a KGB agent, his mission is to preserve East-West cordiality—is fatally undercut both by its surprisingly lukewarm plot and unengaged characters and by
200-412: Is to take it more seriously than it's taken by anyone connected with it." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called the film "pleasant escapism" with a story that "runs its interesting if predictable course until fadeout romantic clinch as the stars tell their respective employers to let them live in peace somewhere nice and idyllic, which by this time is really asking too much of audiences." Gene Siskel of
225-582: The Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and wrote that it "is by no means a great picture — just solid action held together by a string of explosions. In other words, it's a good movie to eat popcorn by." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a sleek diversion that hasn't much more to it than a routine TV movie." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated, "The real problem
250-717: The turning (switching sides) of previously loyal agents of the controlling organization by the target. The threat of execution is the most common method of turning a captured agent (working for an intelligence service) into a double agent (working for a foreign intelligence service) or a double agent into a re-doubled agent . It is unlike a defector , who is not considered an agent as agents are in place to function for an intelligence service and defectors are not, but some consider that defectors in place are agents until they have defected. Double agents are often used to transmit disinformation or to identify other agents as part of counter-espionage operations. They are often very trusted by
275-640: The Houston Hyatt Regency was portrayed by 5 Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, California – the location which was also used in The Towering Inferno . The scenes with fires and explosions at a rocket engine test site were filmed at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the mountains northwest of Los Angeles. According to director Siegel, actress Lee Remick was terrified of Charles Bronson , and when asked to touch his face during
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#1732875951513300-638: The South Shetland Islands Telefon Rocks , a group of rocks in King George Island, the South Shetland Islands The Norwegian steamship SS Telefon "Telefon", by Jesper Kyd from the 2018 Indian film Tumbbad Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Telefon . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
325-512: The Soviet Union ran an article critical of the film, claiming it aimed to stir up trouble and demonised the Russians. Don Siegel denied this saying the film was "pro Russia and pro peace." "I have to face the fact the story is cockamamie at best," said Siegel. "So I've been particularly painstaking to give the movie a feeling of authenticity." The city skyline depicting Houston , where part of
350-519: The act itself. The KGB does not dare tell its political leaders, much less the Americans, about its negligence in not deactivating the spy network. KGB Major Grigori Borzov, who was selected in part for his photographic memory , memorizes the contents of the only other copy of the Telefon Book and is sent to find and stop Dalchimsky quietly, before either side learns what is happening and possibly starts
375-414: The controlled demolition of the old Paris Gibson Junior High School. The explosion scene was filmed on February 20, 1977. The present day Paris Gibson square was undamaged, but the explosion started roof fires on a couple of nearby houses that were quickly extinguished by city firefighters hired by the movie company on stand by. The Houston scenes were shot on a Hollywood backlot , while the interior of
400-456: The controlling organization since the target organization will give them true, but useless or even counterproductive, information to pass along. [REDACTED] Red Orchestra [REDACTED] Gestapo [REDACTED] Nazi Germany [REDACTED] Soviet Union [REDACTED] South African citizen [REDACTED] South African citizen [REDACTED] South African citizen A re-doubled agent
425-606: The event of war. More than 20 years pass, and the Cold War gradually gives way to détente . Nikolai Dalchimsky, a rogue KGB headquarters clerk, travels to America and takes with him the Telefon Book , which contains the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all the sleeper agents. He starts activating them, one by one. American counterintelligence is thrown into confusion when seemingly-ordinary citizens start blowing up facilities that were once important but now have little, if any, value. The agents either commit suicide or die in
450-487: The fact that its updating is already out of date, Russian-American détente having sprung many leaks." James Monaco wrote that Telefon don't do much but play with paranoia. "It was a typical Siegel film," Siegel said later. "It made absolutely no sense. I did the film because basically I'm a whore." The film holds a score of 44% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews. Quentin Tarantino later wrote that "just because
475-417: The field of counterintelligence , a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organization for the target organization. Double agentry may be practiced by spies of the target organization who infiltrate the controlling organization or may result from
500-456: The late 50s and said "I wanted to do this one because of Bronson. I think we would make a natural team." Bronson's wife Jill Ireland often worked with her husband and Bronson said the female lead was "perfect for her" but he did not insist and Lee Remick was cast instead. Principal photography began in January 1977. Some of the film was shot in Finland, which doubled for Russia. A magazine in
525-540: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Telefon&oldid=1250163436 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Telefon (film) After the Cuban Missile Crisis , the Soviet Union planted
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#1732875951513550-515: The premise is nutty doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, it’s far out enough that in the right hands, it could have been a stone gas. But those right hands definitely didn’t belong to old fart Siegel, who blew the picture’s chance for success by de-emphasizing the kooky elements and emphasizing the dull ones. Siegel not only wasted his time, he wasted the Stirling Silliphant and Peter Hyams (who should have directed) script." Double agent In
575-406: The story line occurred, is actually that of Great Falls, Montana , where the majority of the film was shot. During filming, the crew had to order two truckloads of snow needed for one of the scenes, because the chinook winds in the area took away the snow they had. They were trucked from the mountains. Filming in downtown Great Falls was also included. The exploding building in one scene is actually
600-560: The threat of the remaining Telefon agents over their heads. MGM bought the film rights to the novel in October 1974. The novel was published in April 1975. The New York Times called the novel "a doozie of a thriller". Peter Bellwood was the first writer. Then Peter Hyams wrote a script. Hyams says Dan Melnick then head of MGM told him he wanted Hyams to write and direct, but his last film Peeper had flopped and Hyams said "he knew there
625-526: Was no way he was going to let me direct it." They did like the script but brought in Richard Lester to direct. Hyams rewrote the script for Lester, who then left the project and Don Siegel came on board. Hyams would leave to make Capricorn One and Stirling Silliphant rewrote the script. In August 1976 it was announced Don Siegel would direct and Charles Bronson would star. Siegel had directed Bronson in TV in
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