Eye of the Needle

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Eye of the Needle

R

Released Jul 24, 1981

1h 51m

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

85%

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20 Reviews

75%

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2,500+ Ratings

A ruthless German spy who goes by the name of Henry Faber (Donald Sutherland) is on his way back home from England after gathering information about the D-Day invasion for Hitler. Henry, who is actually the "Needle," a name that refers to his favorite method of killing, becomes stranded on Storm Island with Lucy (Kate Nelligan) and her husband, David (Christopher Cazenove). Lucy's strained relationship with her disabled husband leaves her vulnerable to Henry's charms.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Some people will find the movie slow going. I preferred to think of it as deliberate. It is effective, I think, to develop a plot like this at a deliberate pace, instead of rushing headlong through it.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 23, 2004

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Tense war drama.

Rated: B

Feb 18, 2024

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

An appropriately low-key film that works as a thriller and functions even better as a tragic love story.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 10, 2024

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Kenneth Turan

New West/California

It is a swift, streamlined piece of entertainment, an expert thriller that serves to remind us how rare the simple competence and craft it has to offer have lately become.

Nov 3, 2021

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Wonderfully understated with strong performances, solid script, and phenomenal score, Eye of the Needle rivals earlier industry era espionage thrillers often featuring more labyrinthine plots and clandestine characters.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 30, 2020

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Diego Galán

El Pais (Spain)

The story takes too long to acquire any dramatic sense. This long wait is not compensated by sufficient action or imagination. [Full Review in Spanish]

Aug 21, 2019

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alan g

Too slow and predictable.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

07/29/25

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Nancy S

Probably a great movie in 1981, but the acting and directing are a bit dated for 2025.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/23/25

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nick s

Great movie with wonderful acting across the board. Nice sets at the beginning and some impressive cinematography. A few little twists and turns in the plot. The ending could be guessed but that didn't really matter.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/28/24

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shashank c

It is a good cinema. A damn good cinema. A wholesome thriller with tons of tenderness in its romance.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/15/24

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stacey a

After hearing the news of Donald Sutherland’s passing, I thought I’d revisit some earlier work. I liked the slow pace of this film and it held my interest both as a thriller and a romantic drama. The music, however, was so over the top and in your face that it took some pleasure away.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/23/24

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Ted B

3.5 stars. An excellent adaptation of the novel by Ken Follett. This falls into the genre of 'a German Nazi spy hiding in Great Britain during World War II'. Following in the footsteps of the film "The Eagle Has Landed", released 5 years earlier, it centers around a UK Operation intended to fool the German military into thinking the massive D-Day landing was not going to occur in Normandy by building fake equipment pointing to a different landing site. I watched this film, appropriately, during D-Day week Donald Sutherland does a good job portraying a ruthless Nazi spy who discovers this English deception operation and attempts to return to Berlin with this information. He becomes marooned on a small, desolate island and becomes involved in the daily life of the couple living there, as well as the lighthouse keeper. He is supposed to wait there on the island until a German submarine can pick him up and take him to Germany. There is plenty of action to satisfy the most ardent 'action thriller' film fan. But there's also an attempt at tenderness from a ruthless, immoral spy who falls for the innocent wife, played by Kate Nelligan, of the single couple on the rock island. The island scenery/weather was well-selected to imply the rough lifestyle of the island's inhabitants.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/17/24

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Richard Marquand

Director

Donald Sutherland

Faber

Kate Nelligan

Lucy

Christopher Cazenove

David

Stephen Mackenna

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Philip Martin Brown

Billy Parkin

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Synopsis

A ruthless German spy who goes by the name of Henry Faber (Donald Sutherland) is on his way back home from England after gathering information about the D-Day invasion for Hitler. Henry, who is actually the "Needle," a name that refers to his favorite method of killing, becomes stranded on Storm Island with Lucy (Kate Nelligan) and her husband, David (Christopher Cazenove). Lucy's strained relationship with her disabled husband leaves her vulnerable to Henry's charms.

Director: Richard Marquand
Producer: Stephen Friedman
Screenwriter: Stanley Mann
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Kings Road Entertainment
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 24, 1981, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 1h 51m

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