He toiled for years in the second-tier of movie casts. Then along came Death Wish, and Charles Bronson muscled into the top ranks of action stardom. He brings iron-willed resolve to the spy thriller TELEFON (Side A), direc... more »ted by Dirty Harrys Don Siegel. Enemy agents have slipped into the U.S., programmed to carry out acts of Cold War sabotage when they are triggered by lines of a Robert Frost poem. Bronsons job: stop the would-be terrorists before its too late. The woods are lovely, dark?and deadly. The star plays a crime writer caught up in a web of crime in ST. IVES (Side B), the first of his nine films with director J. Lee Thompson. Jacqueline Bisset and John Houseman co-star in a corpse- and twist-filled mystery.« less
"I have been waiting for Telefon to be released on DVD for years and I must say that I am somewhat disappointed with the picture quality. I have found the image to be unusually soft in many places - mostly the interior scenes. There is a definite lack of sharpness. The movie itself is excellent."
Great two for one Bronson DVD
Ratspit | California, United States | 06/29/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Both films are decent (I repeat, decent, not the best ever) films in the Bronson catalogue. They are both in the mystery sort of direction, but have some action here and there. For me, St. Ives. was the best of the two. And up till now, as far as I'm aware, Telefon was not available at all on dvd. Having them both together is a nice deal. I pre-ordered it, and watched both films. Keeping in mind that they are products of their time and don't strive to be much more than that, I'd advise Bronson fans to check out these films. They look and sound decent enough, the pictures are clear, about what you would probably get on a decent video tape. Don't expect DTS sound and all the bells and whistles. They are not going to have frame by frame digital restoration, but they look real nice and the image holds up well. If you are new to Bronson, I recommend RED SUN (his best film in my opinion), CHATO'S LAND, THE MECHANIC, HARD TIMES, BREAKHEART PASS, DEATH HUNT, and of course, DEATH WISH. I'd also recommend ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE OLD WEST. But that is a heavy one. Some people people might want to look elsewhere if they are not into pictures that concentrate heavily on atmosphere and the slowing of time to tell a story. It's a masterpiece, but not for everyone understandably. Bronson Rules!"
Telefon transfer is an embarassment!!!
Tuco | Phoenix, Az USA | 10/31/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I have a copy of Telefon in widescreen taped from TV that was a much better transfer than this. The DVD picture is so soft on this new release that it appears to almost be out of focus altogether a great deal of the film. A great disappointment that they felt Telefon needed to be released as a two-fer with another title that was already out, and then released with some generic cover. What was wrong with the great theatrical artwork?!?!
Sure you can say "At least it got a release" but this scares me for the remaining Bronson DVD releases that have not yet arrived - Stone Killer, White Buffalo, Machine Gun Kelly, and From Noon til Three.
Maybe Region 2 will do it some justice. If you do buy this release, get it on the cheap and lower your expectations...."
Excellent Movie, Poor Image
J. Matlock | Lawton, OK USA | 03/28/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Thanks to Amazon, I finally was able to add Telefon to my Charles Bronson collection; however, be warned that this DVD is very poor in picture quality. The content of the movie itself is excellent. One would think that Warner could make a sharper image on this DVD. Maybe one day, we will have the technology to get sharp pictures on all DVDs."
Charles Bronson Collection
Mark A. Simini | Niles,Ohio | 12/13/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I've been a huge fan of Charles Bronson since I was in my early teens. The guy was one hell of an actor...God rest his soul. He was great in just about every movie I've seen him in. He's among my list of favorite action film stars.He played a great part in both Telefon and St.Ives.