Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Fantastic!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

EYE OF THE NEEDLE is an exceptional wartime thriller that I had heard very little about before watching, which is a surprise as I rate it alongside such classics of the genre as THE EAGLE HAS LANDED and DAY OF THE JACKAL, two films which it feels very much like. It's a story set in rural Britain, where ruthless Nazi spy Donald Sutherland has just got wind (and evidence) of the fake Calais invasion plans and must get word back to the Fatherland. The whole outcome of the war hinges on whether he manages to do so, which makes for one of those thrillers that's packed with suspense from the very beginning until the very end. This is a film made with a gritty, nasty streak to it and Sutherland is thoroughly convincing here, just as good as he was playing the hero of DON'T LOOK NOW and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. The film possesses a great cast, all of whom do no wrong, and in the second half it turns into a small-scale but riveting psycho thriller of the kind that would become popular in Hollywood a decade later. I really recommend it.

I don't know what it is about Donald Sutherland's acting style, or vocal style, but he always seems to be acting from behind a massive wad of soggy Kleenex. He's just...I don't know, THICK? Somnambulistic? On meds? Weird.That said, I just saw the flick again for the first time since its original release, and frankly, I don't remember it ending anything LIKE that. A bad ending, too, because nothing gets tied off. What about the dead husband? The annoying child (and was the kid dubbed?)? The Scotland Yard and military pursuers? I would have liked something wrapping things up and giving some dramatic closure to it all, not just the big panoramic pull-away.And what woman sleeps with the man she knows just killed her husband? Even if she was trying to allay Needle's suspicions to protect her kid, she could always have had a headache. That last encounter made me feel way too itchy and uncomfortable...

Richard Marquand directs this well-wrought adaptation of Ken Follett's bestselling book concerning a vicious German spy on assignment in London during WWII who takes refuge with an unsuspecting British couple. Donald Sutherland does superlative work in the tricky lead, second-guessing every situation while seducing naïve Kate Nelligan in the bargain, without regard to her smarts and efficiency. The film's atmosphere is purposefully cold, and Marquand is intentionally careful and calculating, but those who stick with this will find the plot-threads absorbing and the performances extremely effective. Ardent admirers of Follett's novel were unhappy with the woman-in-distress finale, yet it certainly works for the picture, and Nelligan emerges as an actress of uncanny grace and bravery. **1/2 from ****

Richard Marquand's 1981 WW2 thriller makes for intriguing conjecture as it considers the possibility that a lethal and cunning Nazi spy may have known of the Allies' intention to invade Normandy. Screenwriter Stanley Mann weaves a good old fashioned espionage yarn from the original novel by Ken Follett (a 1978 best seller), and an impressive cast and crew help bring it all to life.Our director (Marquand) knows how to tell a story, and though he's working with a more simple plot than he did in 1985's "Jagged Edge", still manages to involve the audience and create real tension. Donald Sutherland certainly helps in this regard too, as the German spy "Faber", who has successfully infiltrated English society in the guise of a war veteran, and who'll stop at nothing to achieve his objective. As the reluctant heroine, Kate Nelligan successfully portrays vulnerability, frustration, desperation and terror as we share in her plight. Worthy support also comes from Christopher Cazenove, Ian Bannen and Philip Martin Brown.Also a major factor in "The Eye of the Needle's" effectiveness is the artful cinematography (Alan Hume) that captures "Storm Island" so exquisitely, the efficient editing from Sean Barton and the authentic Set design and costumes that recreate the 40's most convincingly. Music is from Miklos Rozsa.Strongest attributes are always the impressive, dramatic performances from leads Sutherland and Nelligan.Sunday, January 8, 1995 - Video