WGTC Weekly Throwdown: Which Is The Most Memorable Phone Call In Film?

Christian: The Caller calls Colin Farrell in Phone Booth

Phone calls are a sad part of life, making everybody involved sound and look like an idiot. Talking into a hunk of plastic and glass like its a person is just goofy, but without it we would still be sending paper around the world like a bunch of dingbats. But the necessity to talk to those who aren’t in your immediate vicinity is just too overpowering. Hollywood has portrayed these calls in just about every film ever released, so it’s a bit tricky to pick the best one.

However, this is just a trick question, since everybody knows that Joel Schumacher’s Phone Booth is the way to go. Let’s be honest: the whole film itself is just a phone call. There’s maybe five minutes total of action that’s not connected to the phone, and the rest is watching Jack Bauer train a rifle on Colin Farrell in a phone booth.

The call itself is a chance for redemption for Farrell’s character, who has lied and cheated his way to the top at the expense of everybody around him. It’s a common morality tale, with someone getting the chance to better their life or die trying. But the fact that The Caller feels the need to hold Farrell hostage in the last phone booth available in New York is pretty ingenious.

Perhaps even more interesting than the phone call itself are the distractions that occur during the call. Prostitutes try to break into the booth, because prostitutes are a chatty bunch. Then their pimp shows up and starts wailing on Farrell. To make things worse, The Caller kills the pimp in front of Farrell before getting him back on the line.

Despite Schumacher ruining Batman for a whole generation, he makes up for it in Phone Booth simply by making a phone conversation actually interesting. How many movies have successfully made phone calls actually interesting or captivating? Actually, how many have kept someone in exactly one spot at the threat of death? It’s such a static film, but nobody can deny how riveting it is.

My colleagues here will try to convince you that classics such as Scream and It’s A Wonderful Life have better calls because they’re great movies. But friends, don’t be fooled! Could either of those movies contain an hour long phone call and still hold your interest? All it took was a little bit of murder to make this mundanity interesting again.

The arguments have been made! Now it’s your turn, head to the comments section and weigh-in on which phone call you think is the most memorable in film.

And if you liked this Throwdown, maybe you’d like to check out one of our past arguments, such as Which Cinematic Witch Casts The Most Enchanting Spell?