When one card falls, all cards fall, and that's the goal of rising government official James Coburn in this sly political drama. He is determined to wipe out for government assassins who know too much about him, and that means having them kill each other so he is not directly linked. It's scary and sly and ingenious, and it's James Coburn at his absolute best. It's also time sensitive which is why he has to set it up so his lover Lee Grant doesn't figure things out, although as she begins to get suspicious, she comments "A little fascism can go a long way."

One of the writers of the script was future hot shot director Barry Levinson, and it's one of the best director all efforts of Ken Hughes. When the murders are indeed committed, they are brutal and painful and terrifying, with one in particular (death by the presence of a piercing painful sound) quite scary.

I wasn't really crazy about the ending which seems like some key element was deleted, but with terrific performances by Keenan Wynn, Harry Andrews, Michael Jayston and Ian Hendry, the viewer's attention is sure to be held. There is also some great location footage of London in the early 1970s, and for a good majority of the film, everything seems to be running smoothly. Perhaps the issue was in the editing room, but unfortunately, that affects the final product which ultimately affects the final rating.

Harvard economics professor James Coburn is about to be appointed to a presidential board. Industrialist and political power Keenan Wynn warns the ex-spy that there should be no skeletons coming out of his closet, like the four operatives he had working as spies for him in Europe. So Coburn works out an elaborate plan in which they all wind up killing each other.

It's the sort of thriller that you watch, waiting for something to go wrong. It's all pitched at such an icy, manipulative level, that you wind p hoping something will go wrong, but none of the people involved really seem worth saving. Only Lee Grant, a news reporter and occasional lover of Coburn, who knows nothing about any of these shenanigans, seems decent, and she is on screen a total of maybe five minutes.

It's co-written by Jonathan Lynn.

Shrewd and unscrupulous former secret agent Prof. Robert Elliot (a marvelously ruthless portrayal by the always commanding and charismatic James Coburn) gets a chance to become a top adviser to the President of the United States. However, Elliot must devise a plan to eliminate four people who know about his shady past in order to achieve this goal. Capably directed by Ken Hughes, with a gripping and ingenious script by Barry Levinson and Jonathan Lynn, a steady pace, lively cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth, a gritty, serious, no-nonsense tone, a robust and rousing score by Roy Budd, a substantial amount of tension, several startling moments of savage violence (a shower murder set piece is especially harsh and shocking),a tough and cynical central theme about the vicious extremes some people will resort to so they can acquire true power, and a real corker of a surprise ending, this unjustly overlooked item sizes up as one extremely effective and engrossing affair. The first-rate cast helps matters a whole lot: Lee Grant as pesky reporter Jean Robertson, Harry Andrews as brutish misogynist Albert Parsons, Ian Hendry as the antsy and squeamish Alex Hellman, Michael Jayston as the reluctant David Baker, Christiane Kruger as the sultry Christina Larsson, and Keenan Wynn as evil businessman E.J. Farnsworth. Moreover, the cold stream-lined efficiency of Elliot's brilliantly diabolical scheme gives this picture an extra potent and chilling edge. Recommended viewing.