Shaver, a disgraced former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, receives an offer to keep an eye on a Latvian dissident during an upcoming visit to Vancouver by a renegade Soviet Premier in exchange for eventually being reinstated to the force. However, upon accepting the assignment, he finds himself engulfed in a KGB conspiracy to kill the premier during his visit and must clear his own name.
The film was the directorial debut for Lombardo, who is noted primarily as a film editor. It was filmed primarily in Vancouver, where the story also took place.
Release
After being released theatrically in 1975, the film was released to home video on VHS in 1986, and on DVD by Shout! Factory in October 2013 as part of a double feature with Love and Bullets, a 1979 Charles Bronson thriller.[2]
Reception
Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote in The Monthly Film Bulletin: "Russian Roulette is a watchable if forgettable thriller which reflects the work of Lombardo's one-time employer [ Robert Altman] in only marginal respects.... Of the actors, the only disappointment (apart from the fact that Louise Fletcher is given so little to do) is Cristina Raines: her habit in Nashville of wrinkling her nose disdainfully at nearly everything she encounters seems to have completely taken over her repertoire of responses, whether she is confronting a corpse in her bathroom or George Segal arriving late for a date, and throughout the film she remains as improbably unruffled as her suede jacket."[3]
Variety wrote: "A creditable directing debut by film editor Lou Lombardo, occasionally generates Day Of The Jackal type of suspense, though Segal's playing is lacklustre and supporting cast varies in quality.... Tech credits include lenser Brian West's interesting use of Vancouver landscapes and inclement weather, brassy and somewhat overdone music by Michael J. Lewis, and effective stunt coordination by Bill Couch and Alf Joint."[4]
References
↑"Russian Roulette". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
↑Hodgson, Mark A. (23 June 2009). "Russian Roulette (1975) - not on DVD". Black Hole Reviews. Retrieved 14 January 2012. Director Lou Lombardo indulges the cast to throw in improvised dialogue to add to the realistic feel. The best example is a scene where Segal tries to get an old lady to remember a really important message. The worst is his throwaway line to a traumatised Raines in the middle of a car chase, "How do you feel, killing a man?" Sometimes his comedy touch makes the film a little lighter than the subject deserves.
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