Russian Roulette (film)

Russian Roulette is a 1975 British-Canadian thriller film directed by Lou Lombardo and starring George Segal, Cristina Raines and Denholm Elliott.

Russian Roulette
Directed by	Lou Lombardo
Written by	Stanley Mann (writer) Arnold Margolin (writer) Jack Trolley (screenplay)
Based on	Kosygin is Coming (novel) by Tom Ardies
Produced by	Elliott Kastner Jerry Bick
Starring	George Segal Cristina Raines Denholm Elliott Gordon Jackson Peter Donat Richard Romanus
Cinematography	Brian West
Edited by	Richard Marden
Music by	Michael J. Lewis
Production companies	Bulldog ITC Films
Distributed by	Rank Film Distribution (United Kingdom) Avco Embassy (United States)
Release dates	20 August 1975 (1975-08-20) (US) 2 May 1976 (1976-05-02) (UK)
Running time	93 minutes
Countries	Canada United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

Shaver (George Segal), a disgraced former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, receives an offer to keep an eye on a Latvian dissident during an upcoming visit to Vancouver by a renegade Soviet Premier in exchange for eventually being reinstated to the force. However, upon accepting the assignment, he finds himself engulfed in a KGB conspiracy to kill the premier during his visit and must clear his own name.

Cast

• George Segal as Corporal Timothy Shaver
• Cristina Raines as Bogna Kirchoff
• Bo Brundin as Colonel Sergi Vostick
• Denholm Elliott as Commander Petapiece
• Gordon Jackson as Hardison
• Peter Donat as Inspector Peter McDermott
• Richard Romanus as Raymond Ragulin
• Nigel Stock as Ferguson
• Val Avery as Rudolph Henke
• Louise Fletcher as Midge
• Graham Jarvis as Bension, RCMP
• Constantine Gregory as Samuel
• Doug McGrath as Lars
• Jacques Sandulescu as Gorki, KGB Goon
• Wally Marsh as Taggart
• Hagan Beggs as Kavinsky

Production

The film was the directorial debut for Lombardo, who is noted primarily as a film editor. It was adapted from Tom Ardies' novel Kosygin Is Coming. It was filmed primarily in Vancouver, where the story also took place.

Release

After being released theatrically in 1975, the film was released to home video on VHS in 1986, and on DVD by Shout! Factory in October 2013 as part of a double feature with Love and Bullets, a Charles Bronson thriller originally released in 1979.^[1]