''The Agency'' or ''Agency'' (known as ''Mind Games'' on video) is a 1981 Canadian

thriller drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

film directed by

George Kaczender George Kaczender (19 April 1933 – 24 August 2016) was a Hungarian-born Canadian film director. He directed 26 films between 1963 and 2001. Biography Kaczender left Hungary in 1956 as a political refugee after studying film and working as ...

. The film was written by Noel Hynd."Agency"
Based on a novel by Paul Gottlieb,Craddock, p.49. it is a thriller involving

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

Philip Morgan (

Lee Majors Lee Majors (born Harvey Lee Yeary; April 23, 1939) is an American actor. Majors portrayed the characters of Heath Barkley in the American television Western series ''The Big Valley'' (1965–1969), Colonel Steve Austin in the American television ...

) who discovers the

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

he works for, run by Ted Quinn (

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

), is using

subliminal advertising Subliminal stimuli (; the prefix ' literally means "below" or "less than") are any sensory stimulus (physiology), stimuli below an individual's sensory threshold, threshold for conscious perception, in contrast to stimuli (above threshold). A 201 ...

to manipulate a

senatorial A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

election. It features appearances by Canadian actors

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

as a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

(earning a "Best Supporting Actor"

Genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

nomination),

Jonathan Welsh Jonathan Welsh (April 3, 1947 – January 27, 2005) was a Canadian actor of stage, television and film, best known for his principal roles in Canadian television series, notably the 1986–1989 adventure comedy ''Adderly'' and the 1989–1994 j ...

as a police detective, and familiar supporting players Michael Kirby and

Gary Reineke Gary Reineke (born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian actor. Early life Reineke was born in Scarborough, Ontario on May 27, 1945. Career Reineke has appeared in more than eighty films since 1974, and was a Genie Award nominee for Best Supporting Act ...

as hitmen, and Hugh Webster as a prison inmate. The film was shot on locations in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and rural

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

References

Sources

* Craddock, Jim, editor. ''VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever'', p. 49, "The Agency". Detroit, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 2007. .
''Agency''
at IMDb 1980 films 1980s thriller drama films Canadian thriller drama films Films directed by George Kaczender English-language Canadian films 1980 drama films 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films {{mystery-film-stub