Hanging by a Thread

Patty Duke leads a formidable cast in this high-wire suspense thriller from the legendary producer of star-laden disaster epics, Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno). A cable car turns into a perilous death trap when an electrical storm stalls the sightseeing tram 7,000 feet in the air. Buffeted by winds that hamper their rescue, eight suspended passengers face a deadly night of terror dangling helplessly while the tram's weakened cable slowly starts snapping, one thin wire at a time. Featuring Cameron Mitchell, Bert Convy and Donna Mills, Hanging by a Thread is a hair-raising blend of excitement and danger that's good to the very last drop!

"Master of disaster" Irwin Allen was so confident of his talents in 1979 that he actually thought he could stretch out a suspense tale for a full 200 minutes. Originally telecast in two parts, Allen's HANGING BY A THREAD concerns a group of friends and tourists, trapped in a sightseeing tram that dangles precariously over a yawning chasm. You might start yawning as well during the film's entirely dispensable flashback sequences. The "suspense" scenes themselves aren't bad, permitting an all-star cast (Sam Groom, Patty Duke Astin, Joyce Bulifant, Donna Mills, Burt Convy et. al.) to alternate between screaming and looking terrified. HANGING BY A THREAD was first broadcast on May 8 and 9, 1979.