EYE OF THE NEEDLE is an exceptional wartime thriller that I had heard very little about before watching, which is a surprise as I rate it alongside such classics of the genre as THE EAGLE HAS LANDED and DAY OF THE JACKAL, two films which it feels very much like. It's a story set in rural Britain, where ruthless Nazi spy Donald Sutherland has just got wind (and evidence) of the fake Calais invasion plans and must get word back to the Fatherland. The whole outcome of the war hinges on whether he manages to do so, which makes for one of those thrillers that's packed with suspense from the very beginning until the very end. This is a film made with a gritty, nasty streak to it and Sutherland is thoroughly convincing here, just as good as he was playing the hero of DON'T LOOK NOW and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. The film possesses a great cast, all of whom do no wrong, and in the second half it turns into a small-scale but riveting psycho thriller of the kind that would become popular in Hollywood a decade later. I really recommend it.
Review of Eye of the Needle
