Classic Horrors Club

Disaster Film Checklist

• All-Star Cast (Oscar Winners):
  • Patty Duke
• All-Star Cast (Emmy Winners):
  • Bert Convy
  • Donna Mills
• All-Star Cast (Others):
  • Sam Groom
  • Joyce Bulifant
  • Oliver Clark
  • Burr DeBenning
  • Peter Donat
  • Cameron Mitchell
  • Roger Perry
• Multiple Lives in Danger:
  • Passengers on a damaged cable-car
• Threat Beyond Control:
  • Damaged cable-car may fall into a ravine
• Characters and Relationships:
  • Paul Craig is the estranged husband of Ellen Craig, who is…
  • …hooking up with Paul’s best friend, alcoholic Alan Durant.
  • Their son, Tommy, is confused about where Dad has been for the last six months. Little does he (or his mother) know that…
  • …Paul is preparing to testify and move into witness protection.
  • The marriage of Jim Grainger and his wife, Sue, is on the rocks (until an accident reveals their true feelings: they’re still in love.)
  • The marriage of Eddie Minton and his wife, Anita, is on the rocks (until an accident reveals their true feelings: she hates him.)
• Mental Handicaps & Phobias:
  • Sue Grainger and Anita Minton are suffering guilt from their involvement in the death of their friend, Bob Graham.
• Daring Rescue:
  • When Jim Grainger is burned in a “flash fire” that breaks out on the dangling cable-car, he’s evacuated by helicopter.
• Brave Sacrifice:
  • A mechanic is lowered to a tower and unsuccessfully scales the cable to reach the dangling cable-car; he falls into the ravine.
• Survival of Babies, Children and/or Pets:
  • Tommy Craig survives by lying under a bench seat.
• Theme:
  • Redemption
  • Self-sacrifice
• Bonus:
  • When the stuck cable-car is finally released, it becomes a runaway, careening toward the bottom of the mountain.

Thoughts

There’s no reason on God’s green Earth that Hanging by a Thread (1979) should be over three hours long. It would be hard to hang in there with it (pun intended) if not for the flashbacks the characters experience while trapped in a cable-car that’s been struck by lightning and is dangling precariously over a ravine. Too windy for a helicopter to rescue them, they must wait… impatiently… as the cable frays, thread by thread.

We learn right away that Paul Craig (Sam Groom) has been absent from his family because he’s getting ready to testify against Lawton (Cameron Mitchell) in court and will then be moving into witness protection. For their protection, he can’t tell them. However, on the night before the trial, he’s allowed to visit them one last time at a gathering of the neighborhood group preparing to ride the cable-car to the top of the mountain.

There wouldn’t be a disaster film without conflict, and it’s a tad awkward for everyone when Paul arrives to see his wife, Ellen (Donna Mills) in the arms of his best friend, Alan Durant (Bert Convy.) Little Tommy (Michael Sharrett) is happy, though. He may not understand the nuances of what’s happening, but everyone else, except Ellen, seems to know that Alan really hasn’t stopped drinking. In fact, he’s snuck a flask with him for the outing.

Yeah, he’s no good. Neither are the other men, except for Paul. They and their wives were complicit in an “accident” that resulted in the death of their other neighborhood friend, Bob Graham (Doug Llewelyn.) Alan’s father covered it up and the gang was sworn to secrecy. However, it’s eaten away at the marriages and brought to light other unforgivable acts the women didn’t know when they recited their wedding vows.

I’m taking this basket of lemons and turning it into lemonade. The flashbacks actually help to make the characters more fully realized than they are in most disaster movies. We learn about their pasts in a unique way. Therefore, the drama could be considered more interesting than the disaster, in a daytime soap opera sort of way. On the other hand, nobody but the Craig family is pure. The men are villains and the women victims.

The disaster itself is suspenseful… at times. It stretches a bit too long and with any more bickering among the passengers, I wouldn’t have minded if the cable snapped. Hanging by a Thread picks up steam at the last minute when the cable-car zooms down the cable toward the clubhouse. Even when they’re saved from a long drop into the ravine, they may still not be safe. Even as I whine about the running time, I did ultimately enjoy it.