Nicolai Dalchimski, a mad KGB agent steals a notebook full of names of "sleeping" undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950's. These agents got their assignments under hypnosis, so they can't remember their missions until they're told a line of a Robert Frost poem. Dalchimski flees to the U.S. and starts phoning these agents who perform sabotage acts against military targets.
Acting
Donald Pleasence unhinged as poetry-quoting villain
Direction
Don Siegel's efficient no-nonsense thriller mechanics
Practical Effects
Pre-digital explosions hit different, clumsier
Director
Don Siegel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Siegel directed this right before Escape from Alcatraz; Bronson was his replacement for Clint Eastwood.
The 'sleeper agent' panic peaked in '77—this rode the same wave as The Manchurian Candidate revivals and actual CIA MKUltra revelations hitting press.
US
