A real-time thriller that takes place exclusively in a telephone booth: This concept fascinated Alfred Hitchcock. However, decades would pass before “Don’t hang up!” became a reality. In the evening you can watch the film on Tele 5:
An original story idea, good dialogue and committed actors can be enough to create an exciting thriller. “Falling Down” and “The Jury” director Joel Schumacher showed us this in 2003 with his phone booth thriller “Don’t hang up!”
“Don’t hang up!” will air on Tele 5 today, October 3, 2023, at 10:20 p.m. The station will show a repeat on the night of October 5th to 6th at 12:25 a.m. If these dates don’t suit you, you can easily catch up on the film at any time, for example on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD on Amazon* or with a subscription on Disney+:
“Do not hang up!” at Disney+*
The FILMSTARTS review gives it a good 3.5 stars. Both the narrative and acting, but above all the technical execution of the film are praised. There would be notable deductions just for the moral questionability of the story. Anyone who can live with that should enjoy this comparatively simple and inexpensive, yet immensely efficient thriller.
Colin Farrell, who was then at the beginning of his Hollywood career, shines in the leading role (“See Bruges… and die?”). At his side for “Don’t Hang Up!” were, among others, “24” star Kiefer Sutherland, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), Katie Holmes from “Batman Begins”, Radha Mitchell (“Man on Fire “) and Richard T. Jones (“The Rookie”) in front of the camera.
“Do not hang up!” on Tele 5: That’s the story
Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a successful but extremely self-centered media agent in New York City. This mentality continues in his private life, where he is on the verge of cheating on his wife Kelly (Radha Mitchell) with actress Pamela McFadden (Katie Holmes). But then a single phone call turns his life completely upside down.
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He has just rudely rejected a pizza delivery man (Dell Yount) who wanted to deliver something to him at the telephone booth in Times Square, from which he was conducting an important negotiation. Then Shepard gets another call. A mysterious stranger (Kiefer Sutherland), who is apparently watching him from one of the surrounding office buildings, threatens to shoot him with a precision rifle if he leaves the cell.
At first, Shepard thinks it must be a tasteless joke. However, when the caller deliberately attacks a passerby (John Enos III) in front of his eyes, Shepard finally realizes the seriousness of the situation. But this is getting even worse. Because next he should call his wife and tell her about his intentions with Pamela. At the same time, the police, led by operations manager Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker), take a stand. Does he think that Stu is responsible for the dead man lying on the sidewalk?
Hitchcock, Spielberg, Bay, Gibson and Cruise: everyone wanted to make this film!
Back in the 1960s, the then very young screenwriter Larry Cohen (“Final Call”) suggested an idea for a film to director legend Alfred Hitchcock that would take place in real time and exclusively in a telephone booth. Hitchcock, who had filmed “The Lifeboat” two decades earlier, which also took place entirely in a confined space, really liked the concept.
However, the project did not come to fruition because both men were unable to construct a plot that explained why the event had to be confined to this one location alone. It wasn’t until the late 1990s, almost two decades after Hitchcock’s death, that Cohen came up with the idea of a sniper forcing the protagonist to stay in the phone booth and he was finally able to write his script.
The finished script caused quite a stir in Hollywood. Tom Cruise wanted to produce the film and then take on the role of Stu Shepard, while Mel Gibson expressed similar ambitions. Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay were also very interested. In addition, not only Nicolas Cage, Will Smith and Jim Carrey, but also veterans such as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams wanted to take on the leading role. But again and again something came up. Cohen eventually sold the script to 20th Century Fox Studios, who hired Joel Schumacher and Colin Farrell.
Telephone booths may now be obsolete and have almost completely disappeared from our streetscape. “Don’t hang up!” is still an intense, nerve-wracking thriller. You can see that for yourself this evening.
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2023-10-04 07:36:13
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