SummaryA ruthless German spy (Donald Sutherland), trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband.
Directed By:Richard Marquand
Written By:Ken Follett, Stanley Mann
Eye of the Needle
Metascore
Generally Favorable
61
User score
Generally Favorable
7.8
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
61
45% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
55% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
80
An ambitious, energetic thriller that stops short of real excitement for reasons that are hard to pinpoint. It's an entertaining movie, and an extremely well-acted one.
75
I admired the movie. It is made with quiet competence, and will remind some viewers of the Hitchcock who made “The Thirty-Nine Steps” and “Foreign Correspondent.”
70
It’s a good yarn, remindful of some of Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang’s wartime mellers as well as Michael Powell’s 1939 tale of a World War I German agent in Scotland, The Spy in Black.
60
The oddity of this romance and its picturesque setting do a great deal to lend interest to an otherwise minimal (for a spy picture) story. [24 July 1981, p.19]
60
On an afternoon as wet as those on the island, the film would pass the time agreeably, nothing more.
50
Eye of the Needle never really catches fire. Marquand and screenwriter Stanley Mann may have overestimated the strength of their story: they serve it up unembellished, with competent but imperhat...Eye of the Needle isn't a bad film, just an unnecessary one: it was a better movie as a book. [3 August 1981, p.50]
40
The tussle between David and The Needle seems to release a Pandora's Box of outrageous scenes. [24 July 1981, p.D8]
User score
Generally Favorable
7.8
80% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
20% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Jun 27, 2021
8
I haven't watched Eye of the Needle in ages. Just by saying that is that I find it to be quite thrilling and I did. But watching it right now sure made me go back to the wonderous thrills of my time. This is actually set in the WWII back in the 40's. Donald Sutherland plays a German spy who is an **** in England who is known as "The Needle". He who discovers information about the upcoming D-Day invasion. Eye of the Needle is an entertaining British spy thriller with good climax that put the thrills to it's own. Sure it sometimes has some romance in this.
Production Company:
- Kings Road Entertainment
Release Date:Jul 24, 1981
Duration:1 h 52 m
Rating:R
Tagline:Codename: "The Needle". Only one person can stop him. The woman who loves him!
Awards
Edgar Allan Poe Awards
• 1 Nomination
