Slim

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.

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

Running a mere 80 minutes, this little treasure packs in more action and character development than you're likely to find in some of Sly's and Arnold's big-budget blockbusters. A personal favorite of Fonda's, it's the story of a farmer's young son (he even plows the family's 40 acres behind a mule!) who leaves the farm to join a gang of linemen doing the grand task of electrifying rural America during the Great Depression. It's hard to believe, but historical fact, that prior to WWII, 75% of all Americans lived on the farm without electric power. Taken under the wing of mentor Red Blayde (Pat O'Brien), the boy Slim (Fonda) learns about life and love, honor and betrayal, and most of all, the nobility of a man's work, in the days when work itself was regarded as a higher value than just the pay check it brought in. Little moments stand out: Slim lighting up his first nickel cheroot; writing his Mom a letter home and including a $5 bill; leaning back in the passenger seat of Red's convertible as they ride down Chicago's Michigan Avenue, looking up in awe and sheer joy at his first glimpse of a big city. "Take a good look," says Red, "there's only two other cities like it in the country!" Rounding out the cast are Stu Erwin as Stumpy, the lazy and comical ground worker; Joe Sawyer, the "lyin' goldbrikkuh;" a glamorous Jane Wyman as Red's girl; always cheerful Margaret Lyndsey as the nurse who takes a shine to Slim; and stalwart John Littel as the company boss. From a top-notch novel (1934) by William Wister Haines, author of "High Tension," "Command Decision," "The Hon. Rocky Slade," and many others. Ten out of ten.

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.

Because I was a youngster and raised during the depression years,the movie "SLIM" has remained with me all my life. It was the first movie I had ever seen with Fonda and as far as I am concerned, every time I watch it now, it brings back all those childhood memories of the Great depression. It took me many years to finally watch it again and because I was able to make a copy of it, I now watch it quite frequently. I can only wonder why it is not presented more often or why it is never mentioned whenever his list of great films are mentioned. At this time I am 85 years young and I still consider Slim one of the real great films of Henry Fonda.