Slim: High-Voltage Work and Low-Voltage Drama

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies about guys doing dangerous work, you’ll dig this. It’s got that old-school, hard-hat-and-gloves charm. If you need a tight, unpredictable script, you’re gonna be bored. It’s basically a buddy movie that turns into a weird, slightly awkward romance.

Henry Fonda is in it, which helps. He plays the farm kid who just wants to climb poles and not die. Pat O'Brien is the mentor, and he does that thing where he talks out of the side of his mouth and looks like he’s lived a thousand lives. They work well together. They really do.

The climbing scenes. My god, the climbing scenes. They don't use a lot of trickery here. You see these guys way up on those wooden poles, and it feels real. It’s terrifying. I kept waiting for someone to slip, and when they finally do—well, it’s not a fun time.

Then the girl shows up. Jane Wyman. She’s the nurse who complicates everything. Honestly, the movie loses a bit of its steam once the romance takes center stage. It turns into a, "who gets the girl" situation that feels like it belongs in a different, softer movie.

It’s not as polished as The Great Divide, but that’s fine. It feels like someone actually went out to a construction site and just pointed a camera at the mess. There’s a scene where they’re just eating dinner, and the lighting is all wrong, and someone is chewing too loud. I kind of loved it.

Odd bits and pieces:

• The electricity sparks look like they were drawn on with a crayon. It’s hilarious.
• The way they talk about "juice" like it’s a living animal.
• Pat O'Brien’s hat. I want that hat.
• The silence when the wind hits the wires. You can almost hear the budget running out.

It’s a strange little flick. It doesn't try to be profound. It just wants to show you how a guy falls off a pole and why his buddy might be a jerk about it. Sometimes, that’s all you need on a Tuesday night. ⚡️