Eye of the Needle (1981)

Director:

Richard Marquand

Writers:

Ken Follett (novel)
Stanley Mann (writer)

Release Date:

24 July 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | War

Tagline:

Codename: "The Needle". Only one person can stop him: The woman who loves him !

Plot:

A ruthless German spy, trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband.

Plot Keywords:

Submarine | Race Against Time | Barnstorming | Stranded | Extramarital Affair

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Donald Sutherland	...	Heinrich 'Henry' Faber
Stephen MacKenna	...	Lieutenant
Philip Martin Brown	...	Billy Parkin
Kate Nelligan	...	Lucy Rose
Christopher Cazenove	...	David Rose
George Belbin	...	Lucy's Father
Faith Brook	...	Lucy's Mother
Barbara Graley	...	David's Mother
George Lee	...	Constable
Arthur Lovegrove	...	Peterson
Colin Rix	...	Oliphant
Barbara Ewing	...	Mrs. Garden
Chris Jenkinson	...	German SS Officer
William Merrow	...	German Radio Operator
Patrick Connor	...	Inspector Harris

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

German | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | USA:R (certificate #26243) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Blackbush Airport, Hampshire, England, UK

Company:

Juniper Films

Trivia:

The Needle's motorcycle is a Velocette

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: 1981 Juniper Films version on MGM DVD copyright 2000. The final, aerial scene edited onto this version must have been not-too-carefully reversed: one is flying away from the beach and up and around the lighthouse, and smoke is going *down* the chimney!

Quotes:

Faber: The war has come down to the two of us.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

Sutherland proves that having sex is easier than riding a bike!

Eye of the Needle is based on historical fact - the allies deceived the Germans into thinking that the D-Day invasion would take place at Calais rather than Normandy by assembling a dummy military force in Kent (not East Anglia as in the film). However, the intelligence and counter-intelligence manoeuvres that took place in maintaining this deception were rather more complex than in this simplistic movie.

The best part of the film is the culminating love affair on a remote Scottish island between the murderous German spy, Faber (Donald Sutherland), and the sexually frustrated Lucy (Kate Nelligan), which is credible and convincingly portrayed. Sutherland also has a few good scenes in the earlier parts of the movie, though certainly not the opening sequence with his curious accent and ludicrously stiff one-handed cycling! But most of the other characters are cardboard stereotypes, and the dialogue would not have been out of place in a 1930s B picture. (In particular, Ian Bannen as an MI5 sleuth makes the least of some especially ludicrous lines.)