Russian Roulette (film)

Russian Roulette
Directed by	Lou Lombardo
Produced by	Elliott Kastner; Jerry Bick
Written by	Stanley Mann (writer); Arnold Margolin (writer); Tom Ardies (novel); Jack Trolley (screenplay)
Starring	George Segal; Cristina Raines; Denholm Elliott; Louise Fletcher
Music by	Michael J. Lewis
Cinematography	Brian West
Edited by	Richard Marden
Production; company	Bulldog; ITC Films
Distributed by	Rank Film Distribution (United Kingdom) ; Avco Embassy (United States)
Release date	20 August 1975 (US) ; 2 May 1976 (UK)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	Canada; United Kingdom
Language	English

Russian Roulette is a 1975 British-Canadian thriller film directed by Lou Lombardo and starring George Segal, Cristina Raines and Denholm Elliott.

Plot

Shaver (George Segal), a disgraced former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, receives an offer to keep an eye on a Latvian dissident during an upcoming visit to Vancouver by a renegade Soviet Premier in exchange for eventually being reinstated to the force. However, upon accepting the assignment, he finds himself engulfed in a KGB conspiracy to kill the premier during his visit and must clear his own name.

Cast

George Segal as Cpl. Timothy Shaver
Cristina Raines as Bogna Kirchoff
Bo Brundin as Col. Sergi Vostick
Denholm Elliott as Commander Petapiece
Gordon Jackson as Hardison
Peter Donat as Insp. Peter McDermott
Richard Romanus as Raymond Ragulin
Nigel Stock as Ferguson
Val Avery as Rudolph Henke
Louise Fletcher as Midge
Graham Jarvis as Bension, RCMP
Constantine Gregory as Samuel
Jacques Sandulescu as Gorki, KGB Goon
Wally Marsh as Taggart
Hagan Beggs as Kavinsky

Production

The film was the directorial debut for Lombardo, who is noted primarily as a film editor. It was adapted from Tom Ardies' novel Kosygin Is Coming. It was filmed primarily in Vancouver, where the story also took place.

Release

After being released theatrically in 1975, the film was released to home video on VHS in 1986, and on DVD by Shout! Factory in October 2013 as part of a double feature with Love and Bullets, a Charles Bronson thriller originally released in 1979.[1]

References

Hodgson, Mark A. (June 23, 2009). "Russian Roulette (1975) - not on DVD". Black Hole Reviews. Retrieved 2012-01-14. Director Lou Lombardo indulges the cast to throw in improvised dialogue to add to the realistic feel. The best example is a scene where Segal tries to get an old lady to remember a really important message. The worst is his throwaway line to a traumatised Raines in the middle of a car chase, "How do you feel, killing a man?" Sometimes his comedy touch makes the film a little lighter than the subject deserves.

External links

Russian Roulette at IMDb

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[1] Hodgson, Mark A. (June 23, 2009). "Russian Roulette (1975) - not on DVD". Black Hole Reviews. Retrieved 2012-01-14. Director Lou Lombardo indulges the cast to throw in improvised dialogue to add to the realistic feel. The best example is a scene where Segal tries to get an old lady to remember a really important message. The worst is his throwaway line to a traumatised Raines in the middle of a car chase, "How do you feel, killing a man?" Sometimes his comedy touch makes the film a little lighter than the subject deserves.