A particular interest of mine is phone calls in movies. I'm interested in them as plot devices, as examples of good or indifferent screenwriting, as opportunities for actors to show different sides of themselves in scenes where they're not opposite other actors, and on and on.

In this episode we'll take a look at a few different genres of Movie Phone Call scenes: scenes where actors are onscreen portraying both sides of the calls, scenes where we only hear the audio of the other side of the call, and then, finally...the Holy Grail of Movie Phone Calls: The One-Sided Phone Call.

Clips

The YouTube channel BurgerTime's excellent Supercut of Movie Phone calls.

Bob Newhart is the master of the One-Sided Phone Call.

The entire Bob Newhart one-sided call between Abe Lincoln and his Press Agent.

 

Some truly one-sided phone call scenes:

Swingers:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU3Pk6oDNRU   Planes, Trains:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRvNg4zQ_14   Black Sheep:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvptWDiYrIk   The Killing of A Chinese Bookie:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysWfMYfP-2k   Poltergeist:  https://youtu.be/FqYZkY-VRCI?feature=shared&t=105   Taken:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49AA2eieEts    American Psycho:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OARf8dNLBc   Fargo:  https://youtu.be/WGxTMoDAI7M?feature=shared&t=47   Taxi Driver:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9iLQ7g_jDk   Dr. Strangelove:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEB-OoUrNuk&t=5s