After performing poorly at the box-office in 1970, John Huston's "The Kremlin Letter" had at least one network showing (on ABC in 1974), then disappeared without a trace.
I haven't seen this John Huston directed thriller since the year of its release (I saw it at the drive-in where it played second fiddle to another obscure movie, "Barquero" with Lee Van Cleef). I was but a lad at the time and it struck me as intriguingly perverse, packed end-to-end with double-dealing, backstabbing characters who made James Bond and his villainous opponents look like boring Boy Scouts. The cast, including Patrick O' Neal in a rare leading role and "Peyton Place" veteran Barbara Parkins, is excellent, but it's the great Richard Boone who steals the show with a commanding performance.
Is "The Kremlin Letter" as superb as I remember, or was I too young to recognize it as trash the first time I saw it? Until it's rescued from the vault, it's a purely academic question. 20th Century Fox recently released "Myra Breckinridge," another of their neglected (and in that case, deservedly so) 1970 titles on DVD. It's time for them to do the same for "The Kremlin Letter."
I haven't seen this John Huston directed thriller since the year of its release (I saw it at the drive-in where it played second fiddle to another obscure movie, "Barquero" with Lee Van Cleef). I was but a lad at the time and it struck me as intriguingly perverse, packed end-to-end with double-dealing, backstabbing characters who made James Bond and his villainous opponents look like boring Boy Scouts. The cast, including Patrick O' Neal in a rare leading role and "Peyton Place" veteran Barbara Parkins, is excellent, but it's the great Richard Boone who steals the show with a commanding performance.
Is "The Kremlin Letter" as superb as I remember, or was I too young to recognize it as trash the first time I saw it? Until it's rescued from the vault, it's a purely academic question. 20th Century Fox recently released "Myra Breckinridge," another of their neglected (and in that case, deservedly so) 1970 titles on DVD. It's time for them to do the same for "The Kremlin Letter."