Best dramatic phone booth scenes in movies

There are plenty of intense, dramatic movie scenes that are iconic, but among the most iconic are some that take place in a phone booth.

You know, that relic of a bygone era where people didn’t carry around smartphones all the time. Filmmakers used them to great effect, forging memorable movie scenes. So without further ado, here are some of the best movie phone booth scenes.

Phone Booth (2002)

Director Joel Schumacher didn’t just opt for a single phone booth scene, he made an entire movie in a phone booth. What you get is a fun, tense thriller taking place in and around a phone booth in the middle of New York City. There are some good twists and turns in this one, but our favorite scene is when the mysterious caller, voiced by the great Kiefer Sutherland, lets Stu Shepard, played by Colin Farrell, know he’s got him in his sights.

The Birds (1963)

Leave it to Alfred Hitchcock to find terror in a phone booth. One of the most memorable movie scenes of all time sees Tippi Hedren’s Melanie escape the chaos of the birds in a phone booth, witnessing destruction unfolding all around her. The glass case of the phone booth allows her to watch fires, attacks and cars crashing all around her. A true glass case of emotion.

North by Northwest (1959)

Alfred Hitchcock and phone booths, name a better duo. While it isn’t one of the most dramatic movie phone scenes of all time, there is a tension when Cary Grant’s Roger Thornhill steps into a phone booth in Grand Central Station to update his mother. He’s headed to Chicago to find Mr. Kaplan and hopefully clear his name after being framed for murder and thievery, and he’s taking the train. When his mother tells him he should fly, he tells her there’s no place to hide if he’s recognized on the plane. He responds with a simple, “Oh—what, you want me to jump out of a moving plane?”

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

You can’t think of Superman without thinking about his favorite place to change: a phone booth. However, it’s not until the fourth live action Superman movie that Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent makes that memorable change. While waiting for a subway, he hears Lois Lane scream on the train, looks around, finds a phone booth and makes his transformation. 1978’s Superman: The Movie has a nod to a phone booth when Clark walks by an open-style phone booth, decides it’s not good enough and moves on.

Goodfellas (1990)

In maybe the most memorable scene of anyone destroying a phone booth, we have Robert De Niro’s Jimmy, who receives the news that Joe Pesci’s Tommy was whacked. He proceeds to unleash raw emotion, smashing the receiver, breaking down in tears and then kicking and pushing over the booth after he tells the news to Ray Liotta’s Henry.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Mia Farrow’s Rosemary is finding it difficult to trust the people around her during her pregnancy, so she calls her doctor telling him what’s going on. The doctor doesn’t seemed phased and won’t see her right away. This scene is spectacular for how simple it is. It’s just Farrow in a phone booth delivering an incredible performance; we can see how crazy she sounds despite everything she is saying being true. We can hear her desperation. We can feel her frustration. And we even see some of her paranoia when she thinks the man outside the booth was her original doctor.

Midnight Run (1988)

Robert De Niro again in a phone booth, but is a little less destructive this time around. De Niro’s Jack calls Joe Pantoliano’s Eddie to request some money, but instead gets into a heated discussion over transportation methods and how much time Jack gets. De Niro lays down some great zingers, including the classic. “Did it ever occur to you that I am a professional?”

Mission: Impossible (1996) and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt takes on some impossible missions and death-defying stunts, but every so often he takes an important call in a phone booth. In the first film, Hunt lets his handler know that they were compromised, his entire team is dead and a list of undercover agents is now compromised. In Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Hunt returns to an open-style booth—this time a fancy one with a display—to get the mission of infiltrating the Kremlin. The phone booth does in fact self-destruct after five seconds.

Talk to you in the movies

All these iconic scenes with phone booths may have got you wondering what other famous move phone calls there are. Well, it turns out there’s plenty, from scary movie calls to the best phone calls in 80’s movies, we’ve got you covered. And hey, there’s even a whole world of famous phones from pop culture to look at too.