Billion Dollar Brain

When ex-agent Harry Palmer recieves a mysterious request to deliver a flask to Finland in return for a fee, Col. Ross forcibly re-employs him with British Intelligence. Palmer is ordered to proceed to Finland with the flask (which contains deadly nerve gas), in an attempt to infiltrate the organisation of Texan oil billionaire Gen. Midwinter, who is believed to be behind an anti-Soviet plot of some kind.

The third and final of the Harry Palmer films (if you don't count the two woeful straight to cable efforts of the mid-nineties) is generally considered to be the weakest. The strength of both 'The Ipcress File' and 'Funeral In Berlin' was that they were the complete antithesis of the Bond films, portraying the spying game as mundane, shadowy and unglamorous. However, with 'Billion Dollar Brain' maverick director Ken Russell presents the audience with an outlandish plot and large futuristic sets, which seem at odds with the style of its predecessors. The result is that the film appears to be aping Bond, and as such the character of Palmer is less effective.

Despite these shortcomings there are pleasures to be had. Michael Caine once again displays wit and charm as Palmer, Guy Doleman is his usual droll self as Ross and Oskar Homolka makes a very welcome return as Col. Stok. Ed Begley gives his all as the lunatic Midwinter, Karl Malden provides reliable support as an old aquaintence of Palmer, and the tragic Francois Dorleac lends an exotic mystery to her character. The snowbound Finnish locations are beautifully filmed and the production design by Bond man Syd Cain is very stylish.

Ultimately the film is let down by rather wild and undisciplined direction and a cartoonish finale. It's a shame that 'Billion Dollar Brain' strayed so far from the template of the previous films, but its by no means all bad, and can be reasonably entertaining if you're in the right mood.

A mad Texas general wants to start to overthrow parts of the satellite Eastern Block using his own private army and super computer. Reluctant secret agent - and former crooked army sergeant - Harry Palmer is given the job of trying to stop him before it is too late.

Last of the three HP films made for the cinema.

What a silly idea this film is based on. For a start the plot is far too James Bond for a series whose raison d'etre is to be anti James Bond and besides how can a basic Honeywell Computer (with punch cards) be worth a billion dollars? The thing had about as much power as a Sinclair Spectrum!

Star Caine looks bored to death with all this nonsense and chases around Finland looking like he would rather have been anywhere else but here - and I don't think it is all skilled acting. Director Ken Russell has his supporters and fans, although every passing years his supporters seemed less-and-less inclined to put their hands in their pocket for his product. He became a clapped out old duffer very early in life.

Danger, tension and silly are not easy bedfellows and even solid pros like Malden, Begley and Caine cannot breath much life in to this race-and-chase nonsense. Although Ed Begley chews up the set as a red-baiting Texan general gone mad in a bunker. Part Hitler, part Sterling Hayden in Doctor Strangelove.

Russian general Colonel Stock (Oskar Homolka) turns up again to reprise his role from Funeral in Berlin, even though it makes no sense to the plot - why would the enemy (in the cold war) help a British agent? Last thing on earth he would do unless he had gone stark raving mad or liked Gulag food.

Despite the series coming back much later as a made-for-TV double (made back-to-back) the show had clearly had its day. I could have lived without seeing this and you could too.

I'm baffled by the dislike afforded this enjoyable sixties romp. The charge that it is less realistic than the previous films is groundless because the others weren't the real world either. The first featured some daft business with a psychedelic torture chamber and the second some far fetched romps around the Berlin wall. Of course, the events in 'Brain' are no less credible. The kremlin wouldn't allow a top Colonel to be chums with a British spy, let alone allow him to wander around Latvia taking photographs. The real purpose is to open the plot and make it more colourful, and also the opportunity to satirise entrenched positions and the madness of humanity. Recent events in Russia, especially under Yeltsin, prove that truth is definitely stranger than fiction. The score is terrific and the breath-neck direction may be enough to make it accessible to young, contemporary film fans.

The cast is superb. Guy Doleman is brilliant again as the supercilious Colonel Ross. The scene where he spills the cereals and refuses to move his feet while Palmer sweeps them up is priceless. The Russian spy Anya gives a hilarious speech of ennui about her father on the boat with Palmer and Oskar Homolka as Colonel Stock gives a short, classic lament on the ice flow written by John McGrath who does a great job here, especially in his cutting swipes at blinkered thinking. "The air in Texas is pure. That's why I haven't set foot outside of Texas in twenty five years" yells the batty General Midwinter. But the most chilling and truthful exchange occurs between Palmer and amoral spy Leo Newbigen. "When he gets between five miles of the Latvian border, every alarm in the world is gonna blow and four minutes later no one is going to be around." - "You want your money, don't you?"

Ken Russell began his career doing documentaries about classical composers and his experience pays off here in his use of sound with image. Anyone bored with current fair and hasn't seen this trilogy could do worse in giving them a go. This one was the best, in my opinion.

Some time has passed since Harry Palmer was in the employment of the British Government and he refuses to go back despite a 'friendly' offer from his old boss Colonel Ross. However when Harry takes a case on the basis of a mysterious call he winds up in Helsinki to meet a mysterious Dr – only to meet his old colleague Leo Newbigen who invites him to join him on his most recent area of work. Harry suspects everything is not as it seems and investigates further – only to find that he has stumbled into the middle of something big; a finding given greater validity by Ross kidnapping him and ordering him to infiltrate Newbigen's group and get to the bottom of a plot to bring down communism in Russia with the aid of a billion dollar supercomputer.

Having watched Tommy earlier the same day, I thought I was pushing my luck by watching two Ken Russell films in the same day – surely I would hate at least one as a result of his excessive 'flair'? But no – not only did I enjoy Tommy and this film, but also I was surprised to find that Russell had actually directed this pretty much straight down the line. So great was my surprise that Oliver Reed did not get naked and beat Palmer or that we had no masturbating nuns in the mix that I almost found the plot difficult to follow as I checked the IMDb to check that it was THAT Ken Russell. Almost found it difficult but happily I was able to pull myself together and focus on a plot that almost totally throws off the admin-focused world of Ipcress File and has a plot to kick off a revolution in a manner that could easily have a few car chases added to it to make it into a Bond movie. Despite this expansion, the plot is actually pretty sharp and witty – if you remember that the communists are usually the bad guys then the film is making a very obvious point by having a ranting American seeking to destroy communism as the bad guy here! Today that is sharp but it must have been even more pointed in the mid-sixties!

While it gradually becomes too overblown to really be appreciated on the level of a 'serious' film, it is still pretty enjoyable, although it is apparent how Palmer has become more Bond-like with this third film than he was in the first (where he was almost the anti-Bond). It still stands up as a good spy movie but it may annoy people who loved Palmer in the Ipcress File simply because he has changed so very much. I'm not sure who caused this change but Caine seems happy with less of a grey little man and more of an international spy character and plays it well. He still has plenty of snide humour but also does the spy thing with a lot more style than was allowed him in Ipcress. Madden and Homolka both give very good support as Leo and Stok respectively, but the film is stolen at times by a wonderful performance from Ed Begley who manages to be both OTT and spot on at the same time!

Overall this is a good spy that starts in the realm of Ipcress File but ends up trying to be a sort of Bond-lite! This may annoy fans of the original Palmer but I enjoyed it and found it more than held my attention despite not doing anything too gripping. The performances are good and the film is made more enjoyable by the fact that the tables are turned on the normal situation with the communists working with Palmer while the baddie is none other than an American 'patriot' seeking to rid the world of 'the reds'!

This is the third of the Harry Palmer spy stories which made Caine a big name star as a sympathetic crook turned into an expert secret agent. Nowadays, Harry forced into retirement and working as a private eye . Henry encounters himself privately recruited by the British Secret Agency and he's again hired by MI6 and colonel Ross (Guy Doleman, usual in the Palmer trilogy) . He must deliver a thermos flask containing some strange eggs to an American (Karl Malden) resident in Finland . Harry gets a little help from a gorgeous woman (Francois Dorleac sister to Catherine Deneuve and unfortunately deceased by car crash), but treachery is all around and he starts doubting on his partners. Meanwhile, a Texan millionaire (an overacting and blustering Ed Begley) prepares a military uprising in Estonia with the help of a billion dollar computer. His objective is the overthrowing communist by means of a coup de'Etat in Riga. Meantime, the Russian intelligence officer (a wickedly comical Oskar Homolka who appeared in 'Funeral in Berlin' as defector) in charge of Russian espionage tries to detain it.

Michael Caine as a deadpan , flabby anti-hero is phenomenal , he makes a delightful creation as the cockney secret agent, an immensely agreeable role . Packs solid scenes such as the final spectacular icebound highlights, among others . There appears uncredited Donald Sutherland as a scientist at computer . This exciting picture displays a James Bond style , in fact the producer is Harry Saltzman in charge of OO7 series production. Emotive musical score including sensitive leitmotif by Richard Rodney Barrett . Colorful cinematography reflecting splendidly the freezing outdoors by cameraman Billy Williams. The motion picture was well directed by Ken Rusell, who adds his peculiar style in some frames .

The best adaptation based upon the bestseller by Len Deighton is ¨Ipcress file (1965)¨ by Sidney J Furie with Gordon Jackson, Sue Lloyd, Nigel Greene, Guy Doleman , it's followed by ¨Funeral in Berlin¨ (1966) by Guy Hamilton with Oscar Homolka, Eva Renzi, Guy Doleman, "Billion Dollar Brain" by Ken Russell with Karl Malden, Oscar Homlka, Ed Begley. And continuing the series with inferior renditions for TV, titled ¨Bullet to Beijing (95)¨ by George Mihalka with Mia Sara, Jason Connery, Sue Lloyd Patrick Allen and ¨Midnight in Saint Petesburg(97)¨ by Douglas Jackson with Michael Gambon, Vlastra Vrana, Jadon Connery.