The Elevator (1974)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Sadly Over-hyped

Best movie ever!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The plot of "The Elevator" is incredibly simple. An armed robber is fleeing from his latest job and enters an elevator with several other people (his accomplices use another elevator). The elevator gets stuck...and so it remains for most of the film! This hardly seems like enough plot for a full-length made for TV movie...but apparently some folks thought it was. I suspect it was okayed for production because all sorts of disaster- type movies were the rage in the early to mid-1970s (such as Irwin Allen's "Towering Inferno", "The Poseidon Adventure" and "Earthquake")...and even the dumbest idea seemed like it would work. Plus, they had a couple over the hill actresses who were willing to work...another requisite for such a movie! But these other films had ideas which worked better (not great, mind you) because they weren't confined to one tight space and offered the possibilities of multiple perspectives. Not a recipe for a fantastic film...and a sad waste of Myrna Loy and Teresa Wright. Overall, you could certainly do a lot better than this formulaic and clichéd film. It's not horrible but isn't exactly a shining moment in the history of "The ABC Movie of the Week". It is, however, rather fun to watch near the end as there are several unintentional laughs!

The film isn't what you'd call outstanding, it's average at best but it's still interesting and pretty good to watch. Some of the cast you'll recognize while others you might not recall right off the bat - cast is fine.The story is a bit predictable and not very suspenseful but there is something about it that kept my interest. It's about a thief and murderer who is claustrophobic and scared that gets stuck in an elevator with others. He has two accomplices trying to get to him but building security will not allow them into the building that is closed to the public. Will anyone survive? This is a good early morning film or one for boring afternoon.6/10

Well, any movie buff will recognize here a pure tribute to Louis Malle's ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD, where a criminal is trapped in a jammed elevator just after he committed his murder. Even a blind man could recognize this, only by earing the dialogues !! And this TV movie made in 1974 is also in the line of the disaster movies wave, where we have some former Hollywood stars who happen to be put together in front of the "disaster" just after being separately presented. See AIRPORT, TOWERING INFERNO, POSEIDON ADVENTURE, EARTHQUAKE, THE SWARM and so on...And, it's of course a small budget feature, the perfect TV product setting, cheap and efficient. But not advised for claustrophobic people. And the character study is also interesting. Some unbelievable scenes, such as this one when Farentino's character, after threatening the people with him in the elevator with his gun, gets on the elevator roof without any problem, as if he had a ladder... It was aired in France in the late seventies.

This film could not be more of its era. Old movie stars, good character actors and some unknowns locked in a lift. The problem is that you just know the lift cannot fall and therefore there is no suspense. Good work as usual from Roddy McDowell. Perhaps there is a challenge here for Joel Silver or Scott Rudin, remake this film and make it exciting.