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Billion Dollar Brain Overview:

Billion Dollar Brain (1967) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by Ken Russell and produced by Andre De Toth and Harry Saltzman.

Billion Dollar Brain BlogHub Articles:

Michael Caine Meets a Billion Dollar Brain

By Rick29 on Jul 19, 2021 From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Michael Caine as Harry Palmer.It was assuredly no easy task to follow in the footsteps of two of the best spy thrillers of the 1960s: The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin. So, one must cut a little slack for Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Michael Caine’s third outing as thief-turned-spy Harry ... Read full article

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Billion Dollar Brain Quotes:

General Midwinter: You have disappointed me Harry, you have let me down. You've sold out!
Harry Palmer: What have I done?
General Midwinter: These photographs show what you have done!
Harry Palmer: I think you're making a big mistake, General.
General Midwinter: You are the one who's made a mistake, boy!
Harry Palmer: What's going on?
General Midwinter: I am not going to rest until every communist, and everyone who works for the communists, is six feet under ground. Go down and join you're communist friend.
Harry Palmer: You, General Midwinter, are the biggest idiot I have ever met.
Harry Palmer: What exactly have you been saying we do in Latvia?
Leo Newbigen: I told the brain exactly what it wanted to hear.
Harry Palmer: Oh, yes? What would that be, Leo?
Leo Newbigen: I told it we had three hundred agents in Latvia dismantling missile sites and professional saboteurs ready for armed insurrection.
Harry Palmer: Er, or political assassination.
Leo Newbigen: Um, hmn. Mass uprisings...
Harry Palmer: Over throwing governments.
Leo Newbigen: Yeah, over throwing anything at all.
Harry Palmer: Three hundred agents? How much a week?
Leo Newbigen: Thirty thousand dollars.
Harry Palmer: Thirty thousand dollars a week?
Leo Newbegin: Plus expenses and from now on, you're in on half.
Harry Palmer: Oh, thank you, Leo. But I would like to stay alive to spend it. That lunatic is about to invade Soviet territory.
Leo Newbigen: And we're not going to be around when he does.
Harry Palmer: When he gets within five miles of the Latvian border, every alarm in the whole world will blow and four minutes later, nobody is going to be around.
Leo Newbigen: You want your money, don't you?
Harry Palmer: Dr. Kaarna, I presume?
Harry Palmer: Some games are more dangerous than others.
General Midwinter: Did you know for example, that the air in the East Coast of America is polluted by the reds? Oh, you might look at me, but boy, I tell you and I know that the air in Texas is the only truly wholesome air in this world. That is why I have not been out of Texas in twenty five years. I don't like the air in other places.
Harry Palmer: It's amazing how we all survive, really.
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Billion Dollar Brain Facts
Ken Russell was contractually obligated to direct the film. He did not want to do it, but according to him "it was shoved down my throat".
Michael Caine performed most of his own stunts. During the final ice floe scene, he almost slipped and fell into freezing water.
The movie contains several references to the work of director Sergei M. Eisenstein. Most notably the ice battle scene from Alexander Nevsky, the red flag (seen flying over Riga, Eisenstein's birthplace) and the wounded nurse (the frozen Kaarna) from Battleship Potemkin.
This was the third Harry Palmer film, after The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin. Michael Caine had originally signed a five-picture deal, but when he was reluctant to return to the role, producer Harry Saltzman let him out of the contract. Much later, though, he did make two more Harry Palmer films: Bullet to Beijing and Midnight in Saint Petersburg.
Although the film follows the novel quite closely, for unknown reasons Karl Malden's character name was changed from "Harvey Newbegin" in the book, to "Leo Newbigen" for the film.
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