[4]
In this three-hour, fifteen-minute TV movie from disaster producer Irwin Allen, a group of friends reveal secrets and make confessions while hanging from a disabled cable-car high above a canyon during a lightning storm. High winds stimy several attempts to rescue these characters by helicopter, and when a brave engineer climbs the wires to reach them, he falls to his death. Complicating matters, the main character — played by veteran TV actor Sam Groom — is simultaneously being hunted by shady characters who want to kill him before he can testify in court against them, and another member of the party (Win Lose or Draw‘s Bert Convy) is trying to steal Groom’s estranged wife (Donna Mills) out from under him.
Hanging By a Thread is ridiculously long and tediously protracted, obviously an attempt to fill out four hours of television air time on a shoestring budget. Strangely enough, it’s the present-day scenes in the dangling cable-car that are the most boring. The flashbacks are hit and miss, but at least they take us out of the cramped cable-car set for a little while, and attempt to bring some depth to the characters. The directing Georg Fenady is pedestrian, and no matter how much Richard LaSalle over-scores the film, the movie is never as tense or suspenseful as it should be.
As flat and wobbly as the movie is, I don’t totally hate it. The main reason is that hunky Sam Groom (The Baby Maker, TV’s Another World) makes a terrific leading man. He’s both attractive and talented, so much so that I wonder why he never became a bigger star. Patty Duke Astin also has some good moments in the movie when she reveals a dark secret shared by several within the group. The movie also offers some a cozy, retro vibe — taking me back to those late ’70s and early ’80s nights in front of the cathode ray TV with Jiffy Pop popcorn. I guess nostalgia can sweeten even the shittiest of movies. Look for The People’s Court‘s Doug Llewelyn in a small, ill-fated supporting role.
With Joyce Bulifant, Oliver Clark, Burr DeBenning, Peter Donat, and Cameron Mitchell.