MovieChat Forums > The '60s (1999) Discussion > Ever hear of a collect call, Katie?

Ever hear of a collect call, Katie?


Have watched this a couple times on VH1 and it's pleasant enough.

But it drives me CRAZY when they get to the scene were Katie gets her purse stolen after quitting the strip club, finally calls her parents, and gets cut off because she doesn't have another dime to put into the pay phone to keep the call going.

I am old enough to remember pre cell phone times and collect calls were very common. AND you can make them from pay phones. Someone like Katie--and her parents--would have known this. And that's what she would have done.

I know they wanted to add "drama" and frustration to the movie, but it's maddening to have done it this way. Back then, people would have routinely made collect calls. Everyone knew about them, what they were and how they worked. And that's what Katie would have done if she didn't have enough dimes to pay for the call herself. Her mom would have said it over the phone when she realized what was happening. "Katie, hang up and call us back collect!"

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Guess they were caught up in the moment. :)

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Maybe she didn't think they'd accept the charges. She hadn't talked to them in a while and she obviously left home because she got pregnant and her parents didn't approve.
That scene gets me every time. I feel so sorry for her. I remember when it first came out and they showed that scene in the commercials, it's so heartbreaking.

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Well to be precise her father didn't approve. Her mother wasn't happy about it but was more pragmatic about it. VH1 actually showed the movie yesterday and the day before. It was the first time I had seen it in ages. :)

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They took the call and it was obvious to her that her mom wanted to talk... as desperate as she obviously was, she wouldn't have TRIED to call collect, even if she thought maybe her dad/mom would say no? I mean, what's the worst that could happen? They don't accept the charges and hang up and she is no worse off than she already was... But not even try it? they were excited to talk to her when she was paying but would refuse to pay for it collect? Sorry, not buying it... it was badly written scene to create drama. Or it was written by people who don't remember pay phones and collect calls (hard to believe since this movie came out in the 1990s) And I couldn't even feel that sorry for her because I KNOW someone in her position in that time would have tried making a collect call, not just let themselves be cut off. It's actually one of the worst scenes in the movie because of that glaring issue.

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Well it's the old dramatic cliffhanger at the end of the first half of the movie. They had to have each of the characters in a situation that would make the viewer want to tune in for part two and I guess that's the best they could come up with for her.

That said, given her situation, there are a lot better cliffhangers they could have used for her.

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Well it's the old dramatic cliffhanger at the end of the first half of the movie.


It wasn't the first half cliff-hanger. The first half cliff-hanger was Katie giving birth, Rev. Taylor getting killed, and Michael at the Newport Folk Festival.

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I guess that was just the way VH-1 cut it then, or maybe they were going to an ad break. I really don't remember. :)

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Just a question.... Did they have collect call in the 60's?

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No.

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[deleted]

Of course they did.

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i was thinking the same thing.

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She didn't call collect because she was afraid her dad would answer and not accept the call

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