...But that's unless he gets help there in time!....
He is Sidney Poitier; She is Anne Bancroft, and their entire interaction throughout this mostly gripping drama about a race against time is on the telephone. Poitier works as a volunteer at a Suicide Prevention Hotline, and Bancroft is going to be the most challenging call he ever takes. She's messed up from her husband (Steven Hill) finding out that their young son was actually fathered by another man, and in addition to other insecurities has taken an overdose of barbiturates. Poitier has 30 minutes to find her or she will not make it. Not only is time running out, but so are the attempts to locate where her call is coming from. Bancroft, wallowing in both self pity and the cruelty of life, has her story told through flashback, and goes to great lengths to show the many layers of this fascinating character. In spite of her self-pity, she is never so pathetic that you loose interest in her. Poitier shows at great length how difficult it is to play a character basically being a "reactor". Audiences of the 1960's really came to like him because of his incredible humanity no matter what character he played. He joined the ranks of such previous "every man" such as James Stewart, Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda.
Telly Savalas and Ed Asner appear in major supporting roles (yes, Kojak and Lou Grant in the same film, although they do not appear together) with Greg Jarvis as Bancroft's loving son. Sydney Pollack shows the intensity and humanity of his many classic films, although this has a few moments of eye rolling 60's clichés. Still, with two actors of stage background letting themselves go, it is never dull, and it makes you really care about the outcome. Bancroft and Poitier are two actors excellent both in method and technique, and are helped by a gripping screenplay by the legendary Stirling Sipphilant. With adult dramas such as "Darling" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" testing the production code, Hollywood was really escaping from the themes it had previously not allowed to dramatize. While this may not be considered a classic, it will leave you almost breathless with a race where running or car chases are absolutely not involved.
He is Sidney Poitier; She is Anne Bancroft, and their entire interaction throughout this mostly gripping drama about a race against time is on the telephone. Poitier works as a volunteer at a Suicide Prevention Hotline, and Bancroft is going to be the most challenging call he ever takes. She's messed up from her husband (Steven Hill) finding out that their young son was actually fathered by another man, and in addition to other insecurities has taken an overdose of barbiturates. Poitier has 30 minutes to find her or she will not make it. Not only is time running out, but so are the attempts to locate where her call is coming from. Bancroft, wallowing in both self pity and the cruelty of life, has her story told through flashback, and goes to great lengths to show the many layers of this fascinating character. In spite of her self-pity, she is never so pathetic that you loose interest in her. Poitier shows at great length how difficult it is to play a character basically being a "reactor". Audiences of the 1960's really came to like him because of his incredible humanity no matter what character he played. He joined the ranks of such previous "every man" such as James Stewart, Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda.
Telly Savalas and Ed Asner appear in major supporting roles (yes, Kojak and Lou Grant in the same film, although they do not appear together) with Greg Jarvis as Bancroft's loving son. Sydney Pollack shows the intensity and humanity of his many classic films, although this has a few moments of eye rolling 60's clichés. Still, with two actors of stage background letting themselves go, it is never dull, and it makes you really care about the outcome. Bancroft and Poitier are two actors excellent both in method and technique, and are helped by a gripping screenplay by the legendary Stirling Sipphilant. With adult dramas such as "Darling" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" testing the production code, Hollywood was really escaping from the themes it had previously not allowed to dramatize. While this may not be considered a classic, it will leave you almost breathless with a race where running or car chases are absolutely not involved.