The Slender Thread

Released Dec 23, 1965

1 hr. 38 min.

Drama

List

71%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

74%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

As a volunteer at a crisis center, Alan Newell (Sidney Poitier) is working the late shift when he hears from a desperate woman named Inga Dyson (Anne Bancroft) who has attempted to overdose on sleeping pills. As Alan tries to keep Inga on the line, Detective Judd Ridley (Edward Asner) and Dr. Joe Coburn (Telly Savalas), a psychiatrist, both become involved in the increasingly tense situation. While they try to determine Inge's location in order to save her, time is quickly running out.

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Steve D

Properly intense and beautifully acted.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

thois is director sydney pollack's film debut

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Catch a screening of Slender Thread at Cinemapolis in downtown Ithaca on Thursday, September 12, 2013. After the film, members of the Crisisline staff will talk about work on a modern hot line.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

'Bancroft conveys much of her inner turmoil through the sound of her voice.' TV Guide's Movie Guide http://movies.tvguide.com/slender-thread/review/118051

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

In most critically acclaimed movies I hate, I at least see some of why they are acclaimed. This one, I cannot. It's silly all the way through and just stupid. It was up for two Oscars for use of black and white. Whatever. Poitier is a college student working a suicide hotline when a woman calls. She's already taken pills and he and others try and trace the call to get her help. At really no point does she ever sound like a suicidal. She seems pretty happy with a flirty voice and even tells some jokes. Poitier goes back and forth between this caring and patient guy and an angry stranger. It's just not a believable performance. The script is so obviously made to be dramatic, but it's so far from realistic that I just hated it. Even the ending is stupid. They find her in her room just minutes from death. A voice on the other end says they found her and she's still breathing. The people around Poitier celebrate, even lighting a cigar. Really? She's that close to death but merely finding her will bring her back to life? Medically stupid. And I guess we have to assume they save her even though there is no evidence to indicate such. Well I didn't. I think she dies and that's the only realistic part of this overrated movie.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It is amazing what Anne Bancroft can act so passionately with just her voice, it?s a sign of a really great actress. Sidney Poitier does a fine job, but this would have made a better short film, the subject matter gets mighty tiring after awhile. It's a little too melodramatic for my taste. The cinematography is quite good, and the score is really well done.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Sydney Pollack

Director

Sidney Poitier

Alan Newell

Anne Bancroft

Inga Dyson

Telly Savalas

Dr. Joe Coburn

Steven Hill

Mark Dyson

Indus Arthur

Marian

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Sydney Pollack dies aged 73

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Variety Staff

Variety

Supercharged with emotion and dramatic overtones.

Dec 20, 2007

Full Review

A.H. Weiler

New York Times

The performances of the principals and the film's naturalistic dialogue are more memorable than the story itself.

Rated: 3/5

May 10, 2005

Full Review

Pauline Kael

McCall's

This clean, economical, well-organized production is fraudulent naturalism -- details that are carefully arranged, so that we will accept them as normal, as true, though they are drawn not from observation but from the exigencies of plot need.

Sep 20, 2023

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

I find the result quite moving because of the superb performances that Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft illustrate on the other end of the phone. When they talk, I feel like I hear something very relevant. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Jul 23, 2021

Full Review

Tony Mastroianni

Cleveland Press

The Slender Thread is a carefully constructed study in suspense, its climaxes well sustained.

Apr 5, 2019

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Suffers from a slight soap opera story that fails to hold together for 98 minutes.

Rated: C

Jun 2, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

As a volunteer at a crisis center, Alan Newell (Sidney Poitier) is working the late shift when he hears from a desperate woman named Inga Dyson (Anne Bancroft) who has attempted to overdose on sleeping pills. As Alan tries to keep Inga on the line, Detective Judd Ridley (Edward Asner) and Dr. Joe Coburn (Telly Savalas), a psychiatrist, both become involved in the increasingly tense situation. While they try to determine Inge's location in order to save her, time is quickly running out.

Director: Sydney Pollack
Screenwriter: Stirling Silliphant
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 23, 1965, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 8, 2017

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