Slim

Warner Brothers did this kind of taut,tart blue collar movie better than any other studio and while Slim is not the studio at its absolute peak of performance it is a pretty good piece of lean and crisp movie making .

Slim -played with conviction by Henry Fonda -is a farm boy who yearns to work as a lineman on the big electrical projects then going ahead , under the auspices of the New Deal ,The opening sequence indeed is a quasi-documentary complete with solemn and sententious narrative that is a virtual commercial for Mr Roosevelt's public works agenda and which loudly hymns the role of the electrical industry in modern life He badgers Pop Travers (J Farrell MacDonald)to give him a trial and he is taken under the wing of the most respected of the lineman ,Red(Pat O'Brien).They become friends as well as mentor and protégé ,a factor cemented when Slim comes to Red's rescue as he is being fleeced by a crooked card sharp.They become partners and Red introduces Slim to his girlfriend ,a nurse Cathy (Margaret Lindsay)who is despairing of Red's nomadic lifestyle and longs to see him settle down to domesticity..Gradually a relationship develops between Slim and Cathy .The movie builds to a climax on a job site during a major blizzard .

The movie is well acted and Ray Enright brings forthright energy to its direction .Special mention to Stewrat Erwin as the garrulous Stumpy -a veteran ground worker on the sites and to Jane Wyman making an early appearance as his girlfriend This is efficient and unpretentious studio film making at very n ear its best

Slim is another of those products from the working man's studio of Warner Brothers and extols the heroism of the various lineman putting up towers and wires to electrify the nation. This was one of the finest achievements of the New Deal, the Rural Electrification Agency and the work you see Pat O'Brien and Henry Fonda do, they are doing in conjunction with that agency. Most of rural America was without any kind of power before then because the cost to private industry wasn't worth the profit they got back.

If Pat O'Brien wasn't working with James Cagney, he'd be making this kind of film with Dick Powell or John Payne. None of those quite have the rural demeanor for the title role, so Warner Brothers got Henry Fonda who was then under contract to producer Walter Wanger.

Fonda is in the title role of Slim, a country kid who sees the linemen bringing power to the nation and figures he can travel, see places and do things, in a necessary occupation. It's also why a lot of kids from rural areas enlist in the armed services. Pat O'Brien takes a liking to him, takes him under his wing so to speak and even accepts when his girl Margaret Lindsay prefers Fonda to him. For O'Brien he realizes he's far from ready to settle down.

I've always felt that O'Brien together with James Cagney were the real founders of the male buddy film. Given the nature of the role, Fonda more than fills Cagney's shoes. Jimmy Cagney would never be believable as a kid off the farm.

Look for J. Farrell McDonald to give a nice performance as the foreman of the crew Fonda and O'Brien work for. And Stu Erwin gives a nice performance, imitating Bob 'Bazooka' Burns who was at the height of his popularity as a regular on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall. Erwin gives out with the same homespun rural humor that Burns was so popular for.

With the nation mostly electrified and the Rural Electrification Agency now the Rural Maintenance Agency as of 1994, the film is somewhat dated. But it is still a good piece of entertainment and a tribute to the men who literally electrified a country.

I'm not a film critic, but I am a lineman. This film was an excellent example of the lifestyle lived by linemen, even in today's times. In regards to the comments made by "planktonrules", there is no explanation as to why Slim wants to be a lineman, it's a matter of heart. You have it or you don't. Henry Fonda managed to convey this quite well. I do admit the character of Slim is a bit too innocent, but seems appropriate for the background. And yes, for the record, rarely does anyone use true names, mostly nicknames given to you by those who have been there before you. This is a brotherhood, which is well expressed in this film. We wish there were more films like this about linemen.

This is a poorly written, directed and acted film, although there are some good camera shots when the characters are climbing up the electrical pole. It has shades of 'Manpower' with Edward G. Robinson about it, but neither film provides any engaging characters or compelling storyline. The film is pedestrian and just plods along at a snail's pace throughout. We don't care about the characters or the situations they are in. I don't know how this got made, but it is a poor excuse for a film that only adds to Henry Fonda's credits. I don't believe him as a tough man, although you do see scars on his face when he gets into a brawl. He is youthful looking and naive, but there is nothing else to commend this film.

It's easy to see why this was one of Henry Fonda's favorite roles. I personally think there is more action and entertainment packed into this one short film than the award winning "Grapes of Wrath", filmed with Fonda just a few years later.

Fine acting performances all around take the viewer into the waning years of the Great Depression with an authenticity of characters, time, and place. The cinematography and the period details are simply fantastic.

Add to all of this the pure poetry of the dialog exchanges between many of the characters. It's as lyrical as anything written by Shakespeare. The character "Stumpy" for instance begins almost every sentence with either a variation on a song "Mother said to Mabel"... or his own unique way of expressing himself. "You think that old Stump boy would...".

Even the often quoted phrase of Slim "That's what's the matter." rings true as heroic in every sense for our protagonist.

Also, it is of great interest to see how people were treated in the workplace back in this era. Can you imagine your boss literally kicking you in your rear end when he thought you were slacking off or distracted? This was a time when men were desperate for jobs and there was no OSHA, EEOC, or sympathetic human resources director. After seeing this nostalgic view, one is almost tempted to wonder what it would like to give your contemporary office co-workers a sharp kick in the rear when they slump off during the a project or show up for work late.

Accurately depicted in the movie... During the 1930's if you messed up at work because you were drunk the night before, you were simply fired. That's it, pick up your last check and hit the road! If a man was killed or injured in an industrial accident, he was simply replaced with minimal fuss and ceremony. It may sound cruel by today's standards, but it served a purpose back then.

So fine is this movie that I must further elaborate on the cinematography and the set decoration. Where else do you get actual 150 foot steel electrical towers under construction filmed with racing steam engine trains in the background highballing along the right-of-way? Under the expert direction of Ray Enright, the viewer actually imagines the feeling of the bone-chilling cold depicted outside the boarding house where the linemen crew is housed. One can almost taste Stumpy's "eating potatoes" on the table. If you are old enough, you remember that there once were women who behaved exactly like the lady who plays the boarding house manager. A masterful performance.

The hotwire substation at 88000 volts is the scariest set since Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. Don't miss it. A must see!