The other side is the good side in this ingenious thriller which also benefits from an extensive use of real locations. The screenplay, however, is somewhat thin on characterization. The narrative is fleshed out with two plots which only come together via the odd telephone call. Nonetheless, the pace is brisk and there is plenty of boom-boom action.Constant changes of locale also keep our attention focused. All in all, the film is reasonably enjoyable for those of us who don't pay too much attention on the dopey plot and are just along for the ride.The ever-reliable Pat Magree presents us with a brief but enjoyably hammy performance. Badel, however, is reduced to stooging. Donald Pleasense is not presented with many opportunities for fine acting either, even though his role is comparatively large.!

Charles Bronson usually excels when he's surrounded by top talent on his action films, and on this explosive political thriller he has Don Siegel as director, Peter Hyams and Stirling Silliphant as the screenwriters (adapting Walter Wager's novel) and Lee Remick as his co-star (one assumes Bronson might have preferred his wife and frequent co-star Jill Ireland for this role, but Remick fills the bill nicely). Plot concerns "sleeper agents" (or Russian spies) placed all over the US during the Cold War, average-seeming men and women who have been brainwashed into believing they are ordinary but who can be 'activated' by special code into sabotaging military or civil structures and facilities--followed by their own suicides. Donald Pleasence is the sinister KGB clerk who has come to America in the hopes of straining US-Russian relations by methodically setting off agents over the telephone to cause destruction in various American cities. Bronson, a KGB major, is selected to kill Pleasence, while talkative Remick is an agent assigned to pose as Bronson's wife. Globe-trotting, fast-moving, perfectly mindless entertainment; when it stops for some character interaction, the director and his scenarists are really just catching their breath. Great fun for Bronson buffs, though Remick really has a tough time lighting his fuse. This well-dressed honcho is stoic and unemotional, and the movie is all business. **1/2 from ****

Riveting political thriller. Bronson plays a Russian intelligence major assigned to stop programmed Stalinist agents from carrying out a possible doomsday plan. Bronson's a member of a reformist wing of the Soviet Communist Party that has replaced hardline Stalinists. However, the earlier doomsday plan remains in effect, and now it's being executed in the US by a renegade Soviet agent (Pleasance). Fortunately for Bronson, the winsome Remick is assigned by Soviets to assist him. Problem is if Pleasance is not stopped he could well set off a nuclear catastrophe.The movie has two elements from earlier Cold War films: The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Dr. Strangelove (1964). Like Laurence Harvey in the former, agents here are programmed by trigger words to carry out their mission in robotic fashion. At the same time, there's the overhang of a possible doomsday as in Strangelove. Here those elements are skillfully blended to build suspense.What really distinguishes the film, however, is an overall absence of Cold War good guys and bad guys. There's really only one villain, the unreformed Stalinist. Unlike 50's Cold War films, this one treats operatives of both sides strictly as professionals doing their duty without noticeable favorites. One possible exception is Remick. Despite her coy girlish manner, she's also been assigned to eliminate partner Bronson once he succeeds in killing Pleasance. That way, no one will be left to spill the beans about the aborted plan and embarrass the new Soviet regime. So Bronson is to be rewarded by his superiors with death. Maybe that's a good enough reason, but not unarguably so. Meanwhile, Bronson's his usual steely self, while Remick plays up the girlish appearance, leaving us to guess how much of a façade it is. But stealing the show is Tyne Daly as the plain-looking brain behind the American side. Her superiors appear rather addled much of the time, while she deftly maneuvers clues behind her bank of computers. Good touch. Most of the action comes from explosions that blow up real good. I don't know how they did them in 1977, but they're impressive as heck.Anyway, the movie suggests a possible waning of Cold War passions on our side, perhaps because of growing recognition of what a nuclear exchange would entail. Be that as it may, the movie remains a taut and under-rated political thriller, helmed by the masterful Don Siegel.

Charles Bronson, (Maj. Grigori Borzov),"Twinky",'69 played a Russian KGB agent who was assigned to stop a possible World Ward III with the United States. Many years back there was a secret plan called "Telefon" which had a mysterious ability to capture a person's brain and set them off in all kinds of destructive evil deeds. Lee Remick,(Barbara),"No Way to Treat A Lady",'68, played the role of an agent for the United States and was assigned to work with Maj. Grigori. Barbara tries to turn Grigori on by all kinds of advances towards his manhood, but he is like a cold fish and strictly doing his assignment given him by the KGB. Donald Pleasance,(Nicolae Dolchinsky),"The House of Usher",'88, plays his usual role of the evil character who starts all kinds of trouble by just simply making telephone calls. Bronson and Remick were a great team together, however, the ending turned out completely different than what I had thought it would have ended.