Plot
In late 1969, U.S. Naval Intelligence officer Charles Rone is contacted by "The Highwayman", a veteran spy and member of a freelance espionage ring that sells information to the highest bidder. The Highwayman recruits Rone for an intelligence operation, along with Janis, "The Whore", a drug dealer and panderer; "The Warlock", a culturally sophisticated homosexual; and B.A., a thief.
The group must retrieve a letter, written without proper authorization, that promises United States aid to the Soviet Union in destroying Chinese atomic weapons plants. The letter was solicited on behalf of a high-level Soviet official by a man named Dmitri Polyakov. Polyakov had previously been selling Soviet secrets to the U.S. that he had obtained from the high-level official. Upon learning about the letter, U.S. and British authorities arranged to buy it back from Polyakov. However, Polyakov later committed suicide after being apprehended by Soviet counterintelligence, under the direction of Colonel Yakov Kosnov.
The group blackmails Captain Potkin, the head of Soviet counterintelligence in the U.S., threatening his family to force him to allow them the use of his vacant apartment in Moscow. Once they arrive in the USSR, the terminally ill Highwayman sacrifices his life, attempting to divert the attention of Soviet counterintelligence away from his team.
To ascertain the identity of Polyakov's contact, Janis enters a partnership with a brothel operator, who mentions a Chinese agent known as "The Kitai" as a possible source for names of officials and others to whom he can sell heroin, with which Janis already plans to keep the prostitutes addicted. Meanwhile, the Warlock integrates himself into a community of intellectual homosexuals, starting an affair with a university professor. One of the professor's students was Polyakov's former lover. The student says that Polyakov had a relationship with Vladimir Bresnavitch of the Central Committee.
Years before, Bresnavitch sought to oust Kosnov from his job, in favor of Robert Sturdevant, a primary operator in The Highwayman's old group. Prior to that time, Kosnov and Sturdevant had been friendly, with each one trusting the other to allow his agents to operate in the other's territory. However, with the pressure from Bresnavitch, Kosnov decided that he had to do "something spectacular" to keep his job. He betrayed Sturdevant's trust and captured his agents, earning the enmity of Sturdevant himself. Sturdevant eventually disappeared and presumably committed suicide.
Bresnavitch had used Polyakov to fence stolen art works in Paris, so Ward, an old partner of the Highwayman and a member of Rone's current group, decides to go there in search of leads. On the day of his return, Potkin reaches the Soviet Union and informs Bresnavitch about Rone's operation. Janis, B.A. and Ward are apprehended, while The Warlock commits suicide before being captured. Rone escapes and tries visiting the Kitai to arrange re-purchase of the letter. However, the Kitai responds by trying to kill Rone, who determines that the Chinese have the letter.
Rone then turns to Kosnov's wife Erika Beck, with whom he has been having an affair. Rone eventually realizes that Bresnavitch orchestrated the raid without the knowledge of Soviet counterintelligence, an indicator that he was Polyakov's traitorous Soviet official contact. Rone promises to help Erika escape to the West. She later reports that B.A. has taken poison and is expected to die.
Rone threatens to expose Bresnavitch unless Ward is released. Bresnavitch agrees, and Rone and Ward then arrange to leave the next day. Disapproving of Rone's plans to aid Erika, Ward kills her. Ward then approaches Kosnov. He begins listing the names of agents betrayed by Kosnov, says that the time has come for retribution and shoots Kosnov in the kneecap. Kosnov then seems to recognize Ward, who closes in on him. Kosnov soon begins screaming.
While heading for a plane to leave the country, Rone shares with Ward his conclusions that Ward is actually Sturdevant and intends to stay, having made a deal with Bresnavitch to take over as the head of Soviet counterintelligence. Ward then reveals that B.A. is alive. He offers to release B.A. in exchange for a favor, handing Rone a note that reads, "Kill Potkin's wife and daughters or I kill the girl."
Reception
Box office
According to Fox records, the film required $10,100,000 in rentals to break even and by December 11, 1970, had made $3,425,000. [9] By September 1970, the studio recorded a loss of $3,939,000 on the film to the studio. [10]
Critical response
The film was subject to criticism upon its release. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the movie "depressing." [11] Variety had already noted in a pre-release review that The Kremlin Letter "...makes for valuable viewing, but with the piecing together [it is] another thing. Thus is this nastiness of the spy business graphically described. It is an engagingly photographed piece of business." [3] A much later TV Guide review said the film was "Beautifully photographed... [but] a hopelessly convoluted spy drama with so many intricate interweavings that you truly need a scorecard to keep track of the plotters." [8]
Much later, fan-author Jerry Kutner wrote "Among the films of 1970, John Huston's The Kremlin Letter was as unself-consciously noir as his '40s and '50s work." [12] Craig Butler of AllMovie wrote, "Although it has its partisans, most consider The Kremlin Letter to be a big disappointment... the plot of the novel upon which it is based is simply too dense to be translated to the screen in a film of normal length." Butler went on to note that "Richard Boone really shines, turning in a very fine performance that leaves the rest of the actors in the dust... there are those who will greatly enjoy Kremlin for its twisted plotting and cynicism..." [13]
In 2005, UCLA scholar Bob Hudson noted in the journal Lingua Romana that French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville "...used the term magisterial in praise of John Huston's The Kremlin Letter (1970), which he had just viewed the night before the interview. Despite the commercial failure of the film, Melville saw it as establishing the standard for cinema, and explained his quest as an attempt to achieve such grandeur." [5] The Time Out Film Guide calls The Kremlin Letter "powerful... possibly the clearest statement of Huston's vision of a cruel and senseless world in operation." [14]
In 2009, the film was listed in 100 Greatest Spy Movies: A Special Collector's Edition from the Editors of American History. [15]
