Running Blind

I can remember seeing this film back in the late 1970's. It has always stuck in my mind. The film is a little dated now but still in its own right is a very good thriller. A "retired" British agent is brought back into service for one more "simple" mission. Very quickly this simple task becomes more complex and dangerous than planned. It's not long before the Agent is forced to flee across the interior of Iceland in a Land Rover. It has a good story with an incredible setting, Iceland. This film is worth watching for the scenery alone. The fact that it has a good story makes it a classic. Please can it be released on DVD?

This is one of the best examples of Cold War dramas. At the very least, it's got Vladek Sheybal, who is (should be) adored by all who are in their mid 40's. It was a cracking story, identical to the book (always a bonus) and has Stuart Wilson, who is gorgeous! Unusually for such a drama, it has a real human story at its heart, and it is wholly believable.

The story cracks along at a brilliant pace. Its setting is unusual, to say the least. I cannot remember another drama set in Iceland.

For those people who are my age, we grew up with Cold War dramas, even if it's just Harry Palmer.

I would love to have this on DVD. It's up there with any John Le Carre.

I saw this only very recently again, after more than forty years since it was screened in the UK by the BBC. It is based on the eponymous Desmond Bagley thriller and features Stuart Wilson as "Alan Stewart", co-opted (reluctantly) by former boss "Slade" (George Sewell) to carry out the simple delivery of a package to a character in Iceland. Yeah, right - well that was what was supposed to happen, but before long he is on the run from former Bond villain Vladek Sheybal ("Kennikin"). Originally spread over three episodes, "Stewart" must keep ahead of his pursuing nemesis, discover just what "Slade" is up to, and - of course - keep himself and the young "Elin" (Ragnheiõur Steindórsdóttir) from being captured and maybe worse. The pacing is good, the sense of peril and the suspense build well across the episodes and pretty much right until the end we are unsure of just what exactly is going on... The BBC made some wonderful dramas in the 1970s; many to much broader acclaim than this one - but this, though certainly dated, very much emphasises a quality of production and acting that still makes for an intriguing thriller to watch. The volcanic scenery lends greatly to the look of the film, too.

I remember watching the first episode quite by accident - it was not something I would have normally chosen to watch, but within a few minutes of the start I was completely hooked. What a fantastic story, beautifully filmed and even now I am sure it would stand up against the best of the best thrillers shown since. Not long afterwards I saw the book on sale in WH Smiths and bought it. I had always previously found that to see a film or series and then to read the book is bitterly disappointing, even more so the other way round, but with the images of the characters from the series in my head, reading the Desmond Bagley book was an absolute delight from cover to cover. Even now, some 27 years later the book still gets read about once a year (though I almost know it word for word). Unfortunately my memories of the series are fading badly which is one reason I would be delighted should the BBC ever decide to release it on DVD. Surely it is only a matter of time. A highly recommended series to watch should you ever get the chance and a wonderful book to read.

This TV production's best things are a wonderful Land Rover jeep that goes over all manner of landscape in Iceland until some CIA marksman punctures its front left tire; and lovely Ragnheiður Steindórsdóttir.

That the aim is to stop British agent Stuart Wilson à la James Bond is only briefly baffling (why bring the CIA to Iceland to ice an MI 5 operative?) because by then even a dimwit sees that this story makes no sense at all, that these special agents, spies, gadget couriers et al amount to the most useless motley assortment any taxpayer unwittingly financing these operations can imagine.

There is one exception: Ragnheiður Steindórsdóttir. She amounts to much more than Stuart Wilson's pretty and curvaceous girlfriend - she changes tires, disobeys him, wants no one shot dead, but in the end fires off her rifle until nothing moves in a house full of Russian agents.

RUNNING BLIND is a most inappropriate title: Wilson has a clear sight of everything on Iceland's lunar-like flat expanses, and he has the telescopic sights and cross hairs to improve his vision when he needs it. Plus he can spot George Sewell as the rotten egg the moment the latter tries to have him killed by the first of many useless hitmen in this spy and counterspy saga.

I found myself laughing at all the tomato sauce passing for bleeding wounds, poor Ragnheiður getting shot in the arm and leg and still soldiering on, Wilson shot in the hand and still firing off his rifle, poor Kennekin sexually incapacitated, and planes and helicopters announcing the enemy's presence.

This unintentional comedy wastes you 2 priceless hours: a proper MacGuffin through and through, as Hitch would put it.