Phone Booth (2002)

Stuart Shepard finds himself trapped in a phone booth, pinned down by an extortionist's sniper rifle.

Director:

Joel Schumacher

Writer:

Larry Cohen

Stars:

Colin Farrell, Kiefer Sutherland, Forest Whitaker

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Colin Farrell	...	Stu Shepard
Kiefer Sutherland	...	The Caller
Forest Whitaker	...	Captain Ramey
Radha Mitchell	...	Kelly Shepard
Katie Holmes	...	Pamela McFadden
Paula Jai Parker	...	Felicia
Arian Waring Ash	...	Corky (as Arian Ash)
Tia Texada	...	Asia
John Enos III	...	Leon
Richard T. Jones	...	Sergeant Cole
Keith Nobbs	...	Adam
Dell Yount	...	Pizza Guy
James MacDonald	...	Negotiator (as James Macdonald)
Josh Pais	...	Mario
Yorgo Constantine	...	ESU Commander

Storyline

A slick New York publicist who picks up a ringing receiver in a phone booth is told that if he hangs up, he'll be killed... and the little red light from a laser rifle sight is proof that the caller isn't kidding.

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Plot Keywords:

phone booth | publicist | sniper | sniper rifle | hostage | 

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Taglines:

New York City...12 million people...22 million phones...one billion connections a day

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language and some violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Swahili

Release Date:

4 April 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Enlace mortal

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$379,269 (Japan) (21 November 2003)

Gross:

$1,787,367 (Japan) (12 December 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Zucker/Netter Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Larry Cohen said at one point that he pitched the idea to Tony Curtis who was interested, but Curtis made too many demands, so producers passed on him.

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Goofs

When Stu's wife is with the police trying to talk Stu out of the phone both she tries to say "Do what they tell you to do, Stu!". Instead what she actually said was "Stu what they tell you do!". (When putting on the subtitles for the movie it confirms she was supposed to say "Do what they tell you to do, Stu!".)

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Quotes

Stu: I've been something I'm not for so long, and I'm scared you won't like what's underneath. But here I am, just flesh, blood, and weakness...

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Crazy Credits

The 20th Century Fox logo blends into the white clouds that open the film.

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Connections

References Jerry Maguire (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Operator"
Written by William Spivery
Produced by Nathan Larson

User Reviews

One Way To Get Your Message Across!

I only looked at this because a friend loaned it to me so, at zero cost, what could I lose? Well, it was a lot better than I anticipated. Oddly, even though it's only 80 minutes long, I think this could have been better with about 10 minutes chopped off. It starts to repeat itself too much near the end. You have to remember, almost the whole film takes place within a phone booth!

Colin Farrell does a super job playing a sleazy guy held captive in the phone booth by a threatening sniper-caller. The story, although simple, holds your attention because there is great suspense, innovative camera-work, an involving story that hooks you in pretty fast and some great sound. I hope you have a surround sound system because the caller's (Keifer Sutherland) voice on the other end of the line is something to hear!

There is a big moral message in this film, too, about doing the right thing and paying for your sins, which Farrell sure did. It was really refreshing to hear that message, effectively told. Maybe some of us need a sniper to get the message across, but I hope not!

Are there holes in this story? Sure, but it's still good and has a cool ending. The only warning I would give readers here is the language: this is a very profane film with Farrell going overboard on the f-word. If that offends you, then stay out of this phone booth; otherwise, it's pretty entertaining