If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Threshold is engrossing viewing, a film I wished I had watched in it's release to video in 1985. Donald Sutherland is such a fine actors, and turns in what is a fine and flawless performance, as a legendary heart surgeon, the best, and you look at him as a heart surgeon, not an actor, he's that good. When approached by a young brilliant med student, (Goldblum- very good, though can't match Sutherland as no actor can here ) who's developed the first artificial heart transplant, it becomes a last resort for a needy young girl (Mare Winningham, the second great performance) who desperately needs a heart, as everything else is useless, like parts that don't work. The frightening aspect here, is of course, that the artificial heart hasn't been tested, if only on a monkey, where it led us to believe Goldblum, might be lying about this, as if Sutherland really wanted a confirmation from Winningham. But if this was the only chance of survival, regardless of it's high risk factor, you'd take it, where in the aftermath here, we're kind of left with an open, optimistic, if unsatisfying ending as in the aftermath of story. Before Winningham's troubles with getting a new heart, almost mid movie, we are subject to one of Sutherland's prize patients (Lerner, having a bad stroke of luck, with a bad matching heart) which kind of propels Sutherland, and co, in taking the risk with Winningham. This movie maintained my interest, all the way, through with it's interesting handling of story, and Sutherland's lifestyle, plus Goldblum's intriguing, avid young character, and Lerner had his moments. I enjoy this movie more, every time I see it, where this is another 80's view you should seek out, if even just to see Sutherland's engaging brilliant performance, in this smart, engaging medical drama. Truly unforgettable musical score.

Amazingly to me, this film appeared on cable very often when my child was an infant with congenital heart defects. The makeup giving Mare Winningham the look of oxygen deprivation was very realistic and gives the viewer a picture of the "dusky" skin tone of some heart patients. The restraint of the Vrain/Carol relationship was right on, and the peripheral but agonized part of the parent was poignantly depicted by Carol's father. The film is almost a relief from the typical "dramatized" film about illness. Heart difficulties are inherently dramatic to the lay person (perhaps not to doctors, though) and need no melodramatic treatment. The understatement, the lack of statement all serve the subject well. The cold, orderly world of the (urban, state-of-the-art)hospital that contains so much extraordinary work comes across beautifully in this film. I'm glad others appreciate it.

Like most physicians, I tend not to watch medical shows in Movies and on Television; partly because they aren't usually very realistic - the real world seldom has sufficient drama to make good entertainment - and partly because one doesn't normally look for relaxation or entertainment in the same field in which one works. I saw Threshold for the first time recently only because I am a great admirer of Donald Sutherland's considerable talent. In this film, Sutherland is at his best, creating a portrait of a Cardiovascular Surgeon which is so real I could recognize several of the surgeons I know personally. He embodies both their strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps the most notable attribute he gives the fictitious Dr. Vrain is the total commitment and life absorbtion which a heart surgeon must have, even when it weakens his ability in other facits of life. One of the film's advisors was Dr. Denton Cooley, the pioneering Dallas Surgeon; Sutherland must have studied and worked with him extensively to so perfectly capture the personality and persona. The film follows his lead in making nurses, and their daily routines in the hospital unusally true and realistic also. This film is worth seeing just for the strength of Sutherland's portrayal and the realistic view of the medical world alone.

I wasn't really looking forward to seeing this film, and only ended up watching it because it stars Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum, two of Hollywood's most talented and inimitable actors.In the end, though, I glad I did watch it - THRESHOLD turned out to be an engaging and absorbing drama. It's a fictional account of the first ever artificial heart transplant, and feels so realistic that you'd never guess it was made two years before the artificial heart became a reality.Donald Sutherland's first-rate performance is probably the highlight of the movie - when he's this good, you wonder if there's anyone he couldn't act off the screen. A then unknown Jeff Goldblum holds his own admirably as the idealistic young doctor who invented the artificial heart, and the film features some impressive camerawork, most notably the opening tracking shot.All in all, it helps if you're a Sutherland fan, but it's not essential; this is one of those movies whose relaxed pace, absorbing atmosphere and strong performances will have you hooked right from the start.