The Slender Thread (1965) DVDRip (SiRiUs sHaRe)

The Slender Thread (1965)

Alan is a Seattle college student volunteering at a crisis center. One night when at the clinic alone, a woman calls up the number and tells Alan that she needs to talk to someone. She informs Alan she took a load of pills, and he secretly tries to get help. During this time, he learns more about the woman, her family life, and why she wants to die. Can Alan get the cavalry to save her in time before it's too late?

Sidney Poitier ... Alan Newell
Anne Bancroft ... Inga Dyson
Telly Savalas ... Dr. Joe Coburn
Steven Hill ... Mark Dyson
Edward Asner ... Det. Judd Ridley
Indus Arthur ... Marian
Paul Newlan ... Sgt. Harry Ward
Dabney Coleman ... Charlie
H.M. Wynant ... Doctor Morris (as H. N. Wynant)
Robert F. Hoy ... Patrolman Steve Peters (as Robert Hoy)
Greg Jarvis ... Christopher 'Chris' Dyson
Jason Wingreen ... Medical technician
Marjorie Nelson ... Mrs. Thomas
Steven Marlo ... Arthur Foss
Thomas Hill ... Liquor salesman

Director: Sydney Pollack

Runtime: 98 mins

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059729/

Codecs:

Video : 824 MB, 1175 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 640*368 (16:9), XVID = XVID Mpeg-4,
Audio : 71 MB, 102 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = Lame MP3, VBR,

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I believe that this was Sydney Pollack's directorial debut. If so, then he certainly gave an interesting insight into his future work. Seattle college student Alan Newell (Sidney Poitier) is working at a crisis hotline center when he gets a call from housewife Inge Dyson (Anne Bancroft), who is reaching the breaking point. Because they can't see each other, it gives the movie a real sense of tension, as implied by the title - even if it drags a little bit at times.

A previous reviewer said that Poitier plays his usual role: a morally superior black man in a white-dominated society. That's partly true, but here, he has a job that anyone could have, and his race doesn't really matter (although as the reviewer noted, they could have been subtly talking about race). As for Anne Bancroft, her death six months ago brings her filmography to mind. This may have not been her most famous role, but I would recommend it.

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This film tackles subject matter which we still do not see addressed as often as it could be, with Sidney Poitier as a young suicide hot-line worker/college student who works helping out a Seattle psychiatrist Dr. Coburn (well-portrayed by Telly Savalas).

At the time this was even more of a taboo subject. A housewife feeling despair, Bancroft portrays her alienation and desperation sympathetically and in an understated manner. She has a child from her first boyfriend, concealed this from her husband (well-portrayed by Steven Hill) Her husband becomes angry and she begins to feel as if her life is a sham. Her office job no longer satisfying, she takes to wandering the city of Seattle, there are several intriguing scenes of the coastline.

There is one moving scene where she is on the beach and comes across a small group of children who are trying to rescue an injured bird. She rushes to a liquor store to buy some brandy (not sure how this can quite help the bird, but anyway...) she returns to the beach to find the children have abandoned the bird. It is an effective and disturbing scene.

Poitier is outstanding as usual, in that he is trying to locate Bancroft when she calls threatening suicide. She has checked into the Hyatt Hotel somewhere in the city. He becomes alternately frustrated, caring, sympathetic, angry and joyous in various aspects of the film.

Overall this is an excellent film with some very good performances. Highly recommended. 9/10.

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Anne Bancroft is terrific in this as the suicidal wife who feels she has hurt her husband too much by not telling him for 12 years that their son is not his. She plays the role very convincingly.

Sidney Portier is great as the crisis line counselor caught alone who needs help & reaches deep within himself to keep her on the phone as he tries desperately to identify & save her. A fine job & surprising a strong support role by Telly Savalas as his supervisor trying to help him as he comes in.

This is a big name cast, but once you get past those 3, the rest of the folks all have minor roles. In a way the film tries to simulate the timing of the Western Classic "High Noon". It attempts in real time speed to try & find Bancrofts character after she has over dosed on prescription drugs. For some reason, it is not quite as effective as the Western but that is only because we don't have a gun fight when time runs out. Suicide is not the same.

One of Sydney Pollacks earlier efforts & I think if it had been later in his career in might have been done better. Some scenes show Pollack is still learning, or that someone else at the studio was cutting the films scenes for him. This one is not as polished as his later films.

In this case excellent work by Bancroft & Portier carry this film. If you like either of these folks, this is a must see for you.

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# Originally titled "Cross My Heart And Hope To Die" and slated to star Elizabeth Ashley (who was forced to drop out over contract dispute)

# During the opening sequence of the film, there's a view of a man piloting a boat, and the boat's name is "Silliphant," which is a reference to the writer of the film, Stirling Silliphant.

# Sydney Pollack's directorial debut.