The main character in this film, Peter Hubbard (played by Michael Billington), is a KGB 'sleeper' agent who has been living in Los Angeles under an assumed identity for many years. His KGB handlers want him to steal computer microchips, in an operation that will inevitably expose his cover, and then return to Moscow. He believes he won't reach Moscow alive and so aims to defect, offering the CIA information about KGB operations as a bargaining point. He then has to play both sides in order to survive.
This film has a complex but not too complex plot, an unpredictable ending, exciting action scenes in all the right places, competent acting and a tight script. I liked it better on watching it for the second time. The first time, I was more struck by its flaws, it felt a little unsatisfactory. The biggest flaw is that Peter Hubbard's girlfriend, Adele Martin, is given no background and her character is underwritten, and so it is impossible to figure out why she agrees to stay with him at all after she finds out he is not what he seemed and his actions have put her in terrible danger. As a character, she seems empty. The other major flaw is that the information about what happened to Peter Hubbard's Russian family should have been revealed earlier in the film to be most effective. Placed quite late in the film, it derails the plot slightly and seems too convenient a plot device. If it was revealed earlier it would have made Peter Hubbard a more believable and relatable character.
The script, too, is a little uneven. In a lot of the scenes, the sparse dialogue is exactly right. In others, it isn't quite enough to drive the plot or make the characters relatable. But there is nothing wrong with the quality of the acting.. Michael Billington is perfectly suited to the "action hero" lead role. Sally Waterman (claim to fame: she was Major "Hot Lips" Hoolihan in M. A. S. H.) is good as a hard-nosed, wise-cracking CIA agent.
This is worth a watch if you like spy films - and if you can find it. It seems to have only ever been released on VHS; I've seen the odd copy appear on ebay. Myself, I got it on DVD from an American company that specialises in copying obscure films for film collectors.
