I saw this film many years ago and have watched it more than once. The opportunity presented itself for me to see it again and it was just as good as I recalled it being.

This is probably the best performance of Donald Sutherland's career. You can argue for Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Human Trafficking, or MASH, or even Space Cowboys, or many other great performances, but this is the film I will always remember him for.

As a German spy who has discovered the best kept secret regarding the Allied invasion on DDay, he had to be prevented from getting home to report to Hitlar. It was just an accident that he was discovered. The suspense of his job and discovery were heart-pounding. Oscar nominated Kate Nelligan (The Prince of Tides) gave an outstanding performance as a neglected wife who accidentally uncovered Sutherland's identity.

Worth watch over and over.

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.

Henry Faber (Donald Sutherland) is actually a German spy nicknamed "the Needle" for his stabbing stiletto. He's been broadcasting since early in the war. He discovers the phantom Patton army as a fake leading up to D-Day. He is pursued by the British authorities. He tries to carry the valuable information back to Germany but his boat sinks off of Storm Island. He is cared for by Lucy (Kate Nelligan) and her crippled husband David with their son. A romance ensues as the drama escalates.

It's a good spy thriller with a wartime romance to top it off. Sutherland is terrific as cold hearted killer. I don't think we need David and Lucy until they encounter Henry Faber. It adds very little to the movie. They cut up the dramatic tension of the spy thriller in the first half of the movie. There is good thrills and good tension.