Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Scott LeBrun George Segal plays Shaver, an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, currently on suspension for belting a superior. He then finds himself recruited by the Special Branch (a Canadian version of the C.I.A.) to get his hands on Henke (Val Avery), a troublemaker whom it's believed will be out to get the Soviet premier Kosygin. Well, Shaver finds out that there's a more sinister conspiracy afoot, and he must rely on his own wits to survive and prevent the assassination from happening.Segal manages to overcome his rather offbeat casting with a solid heroic performance. The movie itself takes a while to really grab a hold of its viewers, but becomes quite watchable in its rousing final reel. This action sequence was actually handled by Anthony Squire, as director Lou Lombardo (usually an editor who'd cut films for Peckinpah and Altman), was often high on drugs throughout the filming. That the movie actually turns out alright is a testament to a capable cast and crew, and a reasonably engrossing story, which is based on a novel by Tom Ardies.It's nice to see a movie shot in Canada that's *supposed* to be set in Canada, and the use of the British Columbia locations is impressive. The music by Michael J. Lewis is also noteworthy. Segal is backed up by an ace group of actors, including Cristina Raines as his girlfriend, Bo Brundin as a KGB psycho, Denholm Elliott as the Special Branch agent Petapiece, Gordon Jackson as Hardison, Peter Donat as McDermott, Richard Romanus as Detroit hit-man Ragulia, Nigel Stock as Ferguson, Graham Jarvis as Benson, Louise Fletcher as Midge, and Doug McGrath as Lars.While not overly slick or distinguished, "Russian Roulette" is still a pretty good thriller, and fans of the spy & action genres should dig it.Seven out of 10.

gridoon2018 George Segal is slightly out of his element in the action-spy genre, but he handles himself well enough; the major problem with "Russian Roulette" is a disjointed script, as a result of which very little happens in the film for about an hour! Once the main idea of the plot - and it's a pretty good one - is revealed, the film does improve somewhat, and there are three or four admittedly great stunts (the only memorable moments of "Russian Roulette"). Segal's co-star, Christina Raines, is pretty, she reminded me of Ali MacGraw, I wonder why she is so forgotten today. And the biggest mystery: why hire an actress of Louise Fletcher's caliber (who won the Oscar the same year for "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest") only to give her such a completely throwaway bit part? ** out of 4.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Tense and high wire-like thriller set in the Canadian city of Vancouver about an attempted assassination of Soviet Primer Kosygin by a rouge KGB group thats in charge of his protection. With the Cold War winding down it looks like the USSR will cut it's military expenditures including those for the dreaded KGB. This has a number of KGB officers led by Col. Sergi Vostick, Bo Brundin, in a panic. Charged to protect Primer Kosygin on his visit to Vancouver Col. Vostic plans to have a CIA informer and violent anti-Communist Rudolf Heke, Val Avery, who hates the Soviet Union for what it did to him and his family in Soviet-controlled Latvia, to blow himself up and take Preimer Kosygin with him. The only thing wrong with that is that Heke doesn't know that he's going to do it.RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, cpl. Shavers, George Seagal, who's on suspension for belting his boss Inspector McDermott, Peter Donat, in contacted by the Special Branch, the Canadian CIA, commander Petepice, Denholm Elliott, to see that Heke is kept off the streets until the Kosygin visit is over. After being kidnapped and held hostage with his girlfriend Bogna, Christina Raines, who works in the Royal Mounted Police record room and gave cpl. Shavers the vital information that he needed to find out just who Henke really is, a CIA undercover informant, did he realize just who was out to get Soviet Perimer Kosygin, and it sure wasn't Rudolf Henke. By having Kosygin assassinated in a western country that borders on the USA it would re-start the Cold war and provide all the funds and manpower the KGB would ever need. As well as reinforce the iron-grip that the KGB have on that nation. The movie "Russian Roulette" builds up to an exciting final as cpl. Shavers breaks out, together with Bogna, from the rouge KGB's captors hideout and against the clock speeds down, with a borrowed 1960 car low on gas, to the Vancouver Hotel in Vancouver. Shavers then tries to prevent Col. Vostick and his thugs from possibly starting WWIII in order to hold on to their power. With the KGB's conspirators commandeering a police helicopter with Henke drugged and tied on it, together with a number of explosives attached to his body, they plan to do Premier Kosygin in before he gets to the hotel.Cpl. Shavers has the almost impossible task to first get away from Col. Vostic, who's trying to shoot him, as they both jockey for position on the roof of the 16 floor 200 foot Vancouver Hotel to either make sure, in Col. Vostick's case, that the plot to kill Preimer Kosygin succeeds or, in cpl. Shaver's case, fails. Even though the film starts off a bit slow and lumbers on with a number of confusing story lines like the Dertoit mob hit-man Raymond "Raggs" Ragulin ,Richard Romanus. Why did the rouge KGB group need him to do what their experts in! Murder and kidnapping. Still the both stirring and heart thumping ending more then made up for all that.

heedarmy The failure of this stylish thriller, financed by Lew Grade's ITC, effectively ended the directorial career of former Altman editor Lou Lombardo. It's true that "Russian Roulette" takes a while to get going and has an unnecessarily complex plot. However, Lombardo has a nice eye for detail, uses locations well (it is set in wintry Vancouver) and gets the best out of an eclectic cast."Russian Roulette" may start slowly but it builds to a cracking climax that is a tour de force of slick editing and exciting music (from the underrated Michael J Lewis). George Segal is well-cast and looks genuinely scared in the vertiginous rooftop shootout. Worth seeing.