The Slender Thread is an excellent, if hard to find, drama directed by Sydney Pollack. The film follows UW student Alan Newell (Sidney Poitier) as he resumes his daily volunteer job at the Seattle Crisis Clinic, a suicide hotline center. In only his second call of the day, he encounters Inga (Anne Bancroft) - a severely depressed woman who is hiding out in an airport hotel after consuming a large amount of pills. Alan must keep her on the line while the police attempt to track her down in time to save her. In the meantime, we learn of the events that transpired to put Inga in this position. This film features many recognizable Seattle landmarks, and a few others that are long gone.
The film opens with a helicopter shot of Seattle and moves from the Space Needle with an aerial glimpse of the recent World's Fair grounds to the fountain at the Pacific Science Center, where Inga contemplates her life.
GPS Coordinates:
47.619232,-122.351357
We first see Alan as he emerges from the Suzzallo Library in UW's Red Square.
GPS Coordinates:
47.655865,-122.308643
He then walks down the steps and gets on his bicycle in front of Mary Gates Hall.
GPS Coordinates:
47.655132,-122.308605
Alan rides his bike south across campus, past Drumheller Fountain.
GPS Coordinates:
47.65352,-122.30731
He is next seen getting in his car and leaving through Gate 5 on the south end of the campus, traveling west on NE 40th Street.
GPS Coordinates:
47.655348,-122.311939
Another aerial shot then takes us over the Salmon Bay Bridge to Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, where Inga's husband Mark (Steven Hill) is leaving for a fishing trip.
GPS Coordinates:
47.665535,-122.397426
We next see Inga heading home, driving over the Ballard Bridge.
GPS Coordinates:
47.659679,-122.376119
The exterior of the Crisis Clinic was located at 602 Melrose Avenue East, overlooking I-5 on Capitol Hill.
The address given for the Dyson's home in the film is 1421 70th Street NW, though it is actually further west at 3516 NW 70th Street on Sunset Hill.
Feeling unwanted by her family, Inga goes to the beach at Golden Gardens Park near her home.
GPS Coordinates:
47.694497,-122.405119
The police station parking garage was the same one seen a few years later in McQ, on the 300 block of Cherry Street in downtown Seattle. It is now gone.
Mark returns with a load of fish at Pier 57 on the waterfront.
GPS Coordinates:
47.605825,-122.341451
Inga returns to Golden Gardens Park to find a group of children trying to save an injured bird.
Inga finds her son Chris (Greg Jarvis) playing at Shilshole Marina.
GPS Coordinates:
47.68066,-122.405814
Once Inga's location has been found, an ambulance is dispatched from the fire station at 2320 4th Avenue.
The Hyatt House Hotel where she was staying was located at 17001 Pacific Highway South near SeaTac Airport. It has since been torn down, but some information about it can be found here.