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Telefon
Directed by	Don Siegel
Produced by	James B. Harris
Written by	Walter Wager (novel) Peter Hyams Stirling Silliphant
Starring	Charles Bronson Lee Remick Donald Pleasence
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	December 16 1977 U.S. release
Running time	102 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Telefon is a 1977 spy film, starring Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence and Lee Remick. It was directed by Don Siegel (of Dirty Harry fame). It is based on a 1975 novel with a mind control theme by Walter Wager.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Trivia 3 Compare with 4 External links

During the Cold War of the 50s, the Soviet Union planted a number of long-term, deep-cover sleeper agents all over the United States, spies so thoroughly brainwashed that even they didn't know they were agents; they could only be activated by a special code phrase (a line from Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"). Their mission was to sabotage crucial parts of the civil and military infrastructure in the event of nuclear war.

Over twenty years pass, and the Cold War gradually gives way to Détente. Nikolai Dalchimsky (Pleasence), a rogue KGB officer, travels to America, taking with him the Telefon Book, which contains the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all the agents. He starts activating them one by one. American counterintelligence is thrown into confusion when seemingly-ordinary citizens (even a clergyman) start blowing up what are, in some cases, long-abandoned facilities.

The KGB dares not tell its political leaders, much less the Americans, about its negligence in deactivating the spy network. Major Grigori Borizov (Bronson), who is selected for his photographic memory, memorizes the contents of the only other copy of the Telefon Book and is sent to find and stop Dalchimsky quickly and quietly, before the politicians on either side learn what is going on and either embarrass the KGB or start a full scale nuclear war. He is given the assistance of only a single agent planted in the U.S., Barbara (Remick).

Eventually, Borizov discovers the method behind Dalchimsky's madness: he is choosing the sleeper agents he activates by the initials of their names, "writing" his own name in sabotage across America. Using this information, Borizov is finally able to track Dalchimsky down and kill him.

However, there are a number of twists. Barbara has orders from the KGB to assassinate Borizov once he succeeds in his mission, in order to get rid of a dangerous loose end. She is a double agent, but when she informs her American superiors, they also tell her to kill Borizov; they want her to gain the confidence of the KGB. However, she has fallen in love with her would-be target. She informs Borizov, and together they blackmail both sides into leaving them alone, holding the threat of the remaining Telefon agents over their heads.

• 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, Montana.
• During the Houston scenes (shot on a Hollywood backlot), the interior of the Hyatt Regency is not the same as the real-life Houston location (the Houston, TX Hyatt Regency in Downtown Houston does not have the space-age elevators); the interior was shot at the 5 Embarcadero Center location instead in San Francisco, California.
• The fictional Halderville, Texas has a 214 area code (as depicted on a phone) – there is no Halderville, Texas in real life. At the time of the movie, 214 was the area code for the northeastern portion of Texas, including the city of Dallas and the eastern half of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. It remains one of the three area codes used in Dallas and the eastern Metroplex.
• As parts of the film were shot in Finland, there are several cameo appearances by Finnish movie stars, most notably by Ansa Ikonen, arguably the most popular leading lady in the history of the country's cinema.
• Prior to Telefon, Donald Pleasance and Charles Bronson worked together in the World War II film The Great Escape.
• The music heard over the opening credits was used as the theme music for CBS Sports' TV coverage of the PGA Tour (golf) from 1978 to 1984

• The Manchurian Candidate
• The Simultaneous Man

• Telefon at the Internet Movie Database
• Telefon at All Movie Guide
• Telefon at the TCM Movie Database