terrible... so disappointed.

Purely Joyful Movie!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

In this third film featuring the character "Harry Powell" (Michael Caine) he has now become a private detective who has been contracted to travel to Helsinki to deliver a package to an unnamed contact. When he gets there he is met by a beautiful woman named "Anya" (Francoise Dorleac) who instructs him to follow her in order to collect the remainder of the money he is owed. He is then met by his old friend "Leo Newbigen" (Karl Malden) who tells him that a super computer has devised a plan to foster a rebellion within the Soviet Union and that the package Harry was carrying contained deadly viruses intended for use against the Soviet army. It's at this point that things become quite complicated as various other characters and agencies become involved in this complex scheme. Having said that the film itself contains numerous subplots which appear with little if any introduction and eventually disappear with little impact in the grand scheme of things. As a matter of fact, even though the actors performed quite well, the story itself seemed to totally disintegrate in the last 20 minutes or so which really affected the entertainment value of the entire movie. On a more serious note, although Michael Caine has appeared in a host of additional movies—to include two more as Harry Powell in "Bullet to Beijing" and "Midnight in Saint Petersburg"—this was, sadly, the last film made by Francoise Dorleac who died in a fatal car wreck only weeks after its completion. What a shame.

Harry Palmer is a character played by Michael Caine who is very much unlike James Bond. While Bond is amazingly athletic, sexy and,...well...PERFECT, Palmer is a spy who is none of these---just very lucky! "Billion Dollar Brain" begins with Harry no longer working for MI-6 but is now a private eye--albeit one with no clients. When the agency tries to get him to return, he's insistent on remaining a free agent--and soon gets an odd case involving making a delivery. The recipient turns out to be an old associate (Karl Malden)--one who is working for a VERY eccentric megalomaniac Texan (Ed Begley Senior). Apparently, Begley insists that the Soviet Union is about to fall apart--all they need is some assistance from him and his private army. However, his intelligence is wrong--all the information his agent (Malden) is giving him is made up and Malden is pocketing the money supposedly going to pay the insurgents in Latvia--though there are NONE! When Harry tries to tell the nutty Texan, he won't listen--his computer (the billion dollar brain) tells him the plan WILL succeed. What's Harry to do? What about the potential of this nut starting WWIII? And what of Harry's Soviet friends--such as the rather avuncular Colonel (Oskar Homolka)? The film has some good acting going for it. Caine is wonderful and although Begley's part is far from subtle, his scene-chewing is captivating. The only real serious shortcoming in the film is the unlikeliness of it all--and the computer angle certainly doesn't help. But, if you turn off your brain and just watch, then it does deliver solid undemanding entertainment.By the way, on a sad note, this would be Françoise Dorléac's last film. The pretty blonde actress was a large part of this, her last film. Shortly after shooting was completed, she was killed in a road accident. And, incidentally, she was the older sister of Catherine Deneuve.

Harry Palmer has left the British Secret Service and become a private detective.He has to deliver a thermos flask to an old friend in Helsinki.Soon he finds that he has entered the world of a Texas billionaire who thinks he can bring about a popular uprising in the Soviet Union with a help of a sophisticated computer.Billion Dollar Brain (1967) is directed by Ken Russell.It's based on Len Deighton's novel.This is the third of the Harry Palmer movies.Michael Caine was born to play this part.Karl Malden is terrific as Leo Newbigen.Francoise Dorleac does good job as Anya.It's pretty enjoyable to watch the over the top performance of Ed Begley.Guy Doleman plays the part of Colonel Ross and Oskar Homolka is Colonel Stok.In a small part we see Donald Sutherland playing a Scientist at computer.Also Åke Lindman and Pirkko Mannola are seen in the movie.Åke gets to use the machine gun.The movie is interesting for me mostly because it was mostly shot in Finland.It's pretty great to watch Finland as it was then.Also the the moments taking place in Riga were actually shot in Porvoo.There are some nice moments in this film.The first time we see Malden when he is in the sauna.Very Finnish.It get even better when Anya joins him there.The ice breaking under those vehicles is pretty amazing.For Finns this is almost a must-see.

Michael Caine as Harry Palmer comes up against the "Billion Dollar Brain" in this 1967 film also starring Karl Malden, Oscar Homolka, Francoise Dorleac and Ed Begley, directed by Ken Russell.Harry is dragged back into MI-5, this time to get biological warfare out of the hands of the enemy. The enemy in this case is the lunatic Texas oilman Midwinter (Ed Begley) who's funding his own army to beat down Communism. He's planning on attacking Latvia, and one of the men working for him, Newbigen (Karl Malden) is controlling the movements of 30 agents working there. Except there aren't - Newbigen is pocketing the money. That's 30 agents at $30,000 a week. Midwinter also has these enormous computers that have tons of paper coming out of them and get fed info with punch cards - oh, the memories! Bizarre and very sixties in its style, "Billion Dollar Brain" is filled with wild camera angles and lunatic crowd scenes, as well as some gorgeous Finnish scenery. The finale is fantastic.It's all completely insane and yet futuristic - the biological warfare, the bad intelligence, the Texas warmonger - let's face it, you could have those elements in a film today and they would all seem pretty timely.The anchor for all this madness is Michael Caine, whose underplayed Harry is laid back as he tries to figure out who's working for whom. Homolka is great as Stok, and Ed Begley portrays the mad Midwinter way over the top, which is totally appropriate for such a character. Smiling Karl Malden is effective as a man in love who only cares about getting his.Fast-moving and enjoyable.