Richard Burton & Lee Remick in The Medusa Touch (1978)

Obscurity factor: 7

Author, John Morlar (Burton) has a peculiar gift. He can induce calamity and disaster at will. Perhaps that's why someone bludgeoned him to within inches of death. By all accounts he should have died but he's kept alive on machines in a hospital where his brain scans are remarkably active. Inspector Brunel (Lino Ventura) leaves no stone unturned in his search for Morlar's assailant. His search eventually leads him to Dr. Zonfeld (Remick) who gives him accounts of their sessions to try and help Brunel find leads. It's through her that we learn, in flashback, of Morlar's gruesome past.

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My thanks to Oliver Hazen for suggesting this title. It has a dark outlook that's heightened considerably by taut performances by the leads. The quality of the acting covers up some inconsistencies in the plot, such as why a psychiatrist is counseling her patient on the circumstances and not the motives of the past. All in all, it's a good thriller with some fun disaster sequences and edge-of-your-seat tension.

It's available on DVD, though only in a format playable on region 2 players. You can also watch it in full at StageVu.com. The trailer is above, uploaded to YouTube by hideseek124.

Obscurity factor: 7 (known better in Great Britain than the US, on DVD, available on line)

Charles Bronson & Lee Remick in Telefon 1977

Another cold war thriller based on a novel, Telefon has a very interesting premise. Sleeper agents, planted in the USA, brainwashed to believe they're American citizens each have one mission of sabotage to perform. This program put in place by the Soviet government has been back burnered by a new, less militant regime. Enter Donald Pleasence, an idealistic lower level Soviet bureaucrat who doesn't like the new detente. He starts setting off these living time bombs, much to the chagrin of the Soviet government. To solve the problem, they send in Charles Bronson (who else would you send to solve a problem like this in the 1970's?) and Lee Remick. Meanwhile, the American government is trying to figure out what's going on, and a mid level analyst (Tyne Daily) may be on to something. Will Bronson get to Pleasence before the FBI does?

 In truth, this is the only Charles Bronson film I enjoy, and enjoy it I do. It's a taut thriller with some great suspenseful scenes and an engrossing story line. The book (by Walter Wager) is better, but the film really holds its own. Look for Sherri North as one of the brainwashed agents.

This film is fairly recently (2009) available on DVD. It was put out on a double bill with St. Ives. It's not available on YouTube in its entirety, but the trailer is above, uploaded by Vivadjango. The poster above is available at MoviePosterShop.com

Obscurity factor: 6 (available on DVD, occasionally screened on TV, not well remembered, generally)