Telefon

(USA, 1977, 102 minutes)

A rogue KGB clerk awakens a Cold War-era network of Russian sleeper agents in the US, and the Russians sends a top agent to stop him setting off World War III. B-grade spy thriller, cleverly plotted and briskly handled but hampered by miscast leads and a mystifying computer sub-plot that seems shoehorned from a different film.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a Siegel film. Starring Charles Bronson, Lee Remick; also starring Tyne Daly; Alan Badel, Patrick Magee, Sheree North; and Donald Pleasence. Directed by Don Siegel; produced by James B. Harris; screenplay by Peter Hyams and Stirling Silliphant, based on the novel by Walter Wager, Telefon; music by Lalo Schifrin; director of photography (Metrocolor), Michael Butler; production designer, Ted Haworth; costume designers, Jane Robinson, Luster Bayless, Edna Taylor; film editor, Douglas Stewart.