The Phone Call (1977) User Reviews

A Feel Good Highschool Movie

[Spoon-5 · 7/10 · 19 August 1999]

I'd be happy to be the second to comment on The Phone Call. Yes, I'm LDS and so I watched this several times in my Church Educational System classes. It seems to be so likeable because we (uh... I) can relate to the character's indominable fear of talking to girls. Extremely dated due to hair and clothes styles, but overall funny, corny, and happy. Best line in my opinion: "That's what I like about you... you're really very thorough." If you ever have the chance, just see it.

The phone call is a classic!

[usa_dr · 8/10 · 20 September 2009]

I had a conversation with an individual about his 16 yr old daughter, who went on a very awkward homecoming date that lasted two hours from start to finish. I brought up this movie and we both had a laugh. The phone call is a short classic that anyone LDS who grew up with a VCR knows about. As others discussed, It is full of great one liners and shows a lot of what not to do and say when dealing with, "the Ladies." My favorite line is, "would you like to go on a date at absolutely no cost to you? Only for you though, not your friend." Also, while working at the drive-in, asking some young women with a California plate, "how are the oranges(not a metaphor)? The oranges in California! Well since we haven't heard anything, we have to assume they are doing OK." This show is worth seeing and makes Nacho Libre look like he has some serious dating skills. I look forward to the great day when I can see this film again; that and Jonny Lingo!

Napoleon who?

[whe98005 · 8/10 · 5 August 2007]

I too was fortunate enough to see this growing up, and look forward to the blessed day of it's inevitable blu-ray/hd-DVD premiere. I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb here and state that without the phone call, there would be no Napoleon Dynamite. The whole visual look and feel of the film, the awkwardness of the characters etc. is all comedy gold, the same concept in both.

Watch the two of them back to back if you can, and tell me otherwise. Great short. Anyone who can find this in an old church or seminary library should really throw it up on youtube for the world to see and enjoy.

Comedy in the purest form

[ryesman · 10/10 · 6 April 2003]

This is classic '70's. The hair, the clothes, the shoes, so many classic one-liners and the great Mark McClure (Back to the Future, Superman). This movie shows the struggle between a man and a phone call to the woman he loves. I reccommend this movie to all who are in the mood to laugh.

Best LDS movie ever

[sorrogrande · 10/10 · 2 May 2002]

Back in the 1970s, the Mormon church put out plenty of movies with a lot of yuk-yuk value, but this is the best among them. Nigh unto every line is a classic in and of itself. "I play the bassoon. It's like a balloon with esses" is just one of the classics. Anyway, the acting is as cheesy as the costumes, but it makes the movie fun. Trivia for the discriminating viewer: Ripple's is an actual drive in on Canyon Road in Provo, right by Timpview High School.

If you're Mormon, this is a very famous movie!

[MrColJ · 4 July 1999]

Back when the church made a lot of feel-good warm&fuzzy movies with no mention of itself, there was made The Phone Call; whence comes the line, "I play the bassoon. It's like a balloon with S's." Because of his fabulous work, Mark McClure went on to make 30ish other movies and TV shows. Really, this isn't Citizen Kane, but it's a cute and hilarious movie that's more than appropriate to have been shown in a whole lot of high school classes for the past 20 years.

The Ugly Car

[gudolph · 24 January 2004]

The Phone Call is perhaps one of the best Church Educational System film I've ever seen. We were watching it in my seminary class (I too am Mormon) and a classmate of mine made a startling discovery. At one point, the main character was crossing the street to a payphone to call Pam, in the background, a car drives by. My classmate, Peter recognized it as his car, with the same paintjob, dent on the passenger side and bumper stickers. So if anyone was wondering where the stupendously hideous car went to, it's in Grand Junction.