History Film / ThatColdDayInThePark

* TheVoiceless: The Boy [[spoiler: though he finally breaks his silence with Frances in a case of OOCIsSeriousBusiness.]]

* TheFilmOfTheBook: Adapted from a 1965 novel of the same name by Peter Miles.

* SpiritualSuccessor: This film, ''Film/{{Images}}'' and ''Film/ThreeWomen'' form a "character study of disturbed women" trilogy in the Altman filmography.

* OldMaid: Frances.

* ThirdPersonPerson: During their awkward attempt at lovemaking, pSylvia the prostitute keeps asking the Boy "Don't you like Sylvia?"

Filmed a few months before ''[[Film/{{Mash}} M*A*S*H]]'', this was basically Altman's first "Altman" film, where he got to use some of his favorite techniques (improvised dialogue, atmosphere becoming more important than story, panning and zooming, complex female characters) for the first time.

Though he still accepts her hospitality, the Boy finds Frances's behavior odd. At least he manages to pry open a window and leave via the building's fire escape. We learn that he's not mute at all; he's a middle class kid who splits his time between his family's suburban home and a squalid houseboat where his hippie sister Nina (Benton) lives with her American boyfriend.

* ThirdPersonPerson: During their awkward attempt at lovemaking, Sylvia the prostitute keeps asking the Boy "Don't you like Sylvia?"

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Frances has a peculiar Mid-Atlantic accent that seems out of place for western Canada, except there are some hints that her parents were English (her parents' old friends who attend the dinner party are mostly English). Still, she's played by Nebraska native Sandy Dennis (she ''did'' have a reputation for throwing weird little quirks into her acting, though).

Frances Austen (Dennis) is a thirtysomething woman who lives alone in the huge UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} apartment she inherited from her late parents. One day while hosting a dinner party she spies a 19-year-old boy (Burns) sitting alone in the rain on a bench in the park next to her apartment building. Feeling sorry for him, Frances invites him inside to dry off. He doesn't speak, but she appreciates his company and invites him to spend the night in her guest room. When he awakens the next morning, he discovers that she has locked him in the room.

Frances Austen (Dennis) is a thirtysomething woman who lives alone in the huge UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} apartment she inherited from her late parents. One day while hosting a dinner party she spies a 19-year-old boy (Burns) sitting alone in the rain on a bench in the park next to her apartment building. Feeling sorry for him, she invites him inside to dry off. He doesn't speak, but she appreciates his company and invites him to spend the night in her guest room. When he awakens the next morning, he discovers that she's locked him in the room.

The Boy still accepts her hospitality but finds her behavior odd. Finally he manages to pry open a window and leave via the building's fire escape. We learn that he's not mute at all; he's a middle class kid who splits time between his family's suburban home and a squalid houseboat where his hippie sister Nina (Benton) lives with her American boyfriend.

Unhappy with that situation, the Boy returns to Frances and her apartment, only to find that her concern for him is starting to take a disturbing detour.

Filmed a few months before ''[[Film/{{Mash}} M*A*S*H]]'', this is basically Altman's first "Altman" film, where he got to use some of his favorite techniques (improvised dialogue, atmosphere becoming more important than story, panning and zooming, complex female characters) for the first time.

Frances Austen (Dennis) is a thirtysomething woman who lives alone in the huge UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} apartment she inherited from her late parents. One day while hosting a dinner party she spies a 19-year-old boy (Burns) sitting alone in the rain on a bench in the park next to her apartment building. Feeling sorry for him, she invites him inside to dry off. He doesn't speak, but she appreciates his company and invites him to spend the night in her guest room. When he awakes the next morning, he discovers that she's locked him in the room.

[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/that_cold_day_in_the_park.jpg]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The pimp in the RedLightDistrict has a huge, long beard that makes him resemble Garth Hudson from Music/TheBand.

''That Cold Day in the Park'' is a 1969 PsychologicalThriller film directed by Creator/RobertAltman, starring Sandy Dennis, Michael Burns, and Susanne Benton.

* BadassBeard: The pimp in the RedLightDistrict has a huge, long beard that makes him resemble Garth Hudson from Music/TheBand.

* FemaleGaze: One online critic has argued that the depiction of the Boy falls under this trope. Not only does Frances objectify him, but by never revealing his name the film does it as well. It was directed by a man, but was written by a woman (Gillian Freeman).

** Frances is this to The Boy as well.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Frances has just committed a brutal murder, descended into psychosis, and has trapped The Boy in her apartment. Whatever she has planned for The Boy, things will not end well for him.]]
* DraftDodging: Nina's boyfriend Nick is an American who moved to Vancouver to avoid the draft, though you only learn this from a couple snarky remarks The Boy makes about him (calling him "the war hero" and telling him "my country's not at war").

-->'''Nina''' (''to the Boy while writhing topless on a bed after the bath''): I wish you weren't my brother...Do you wish I wasn't your sister?

* MistakenForGay: When she goes to procure a prostitute for The Boy, everyone assumes Frances is a lesbian (her explanations that it's "[[IHaveThisFriend for a friend]]" only increase the suspicion).

* RedLightDistrict: Frances ventures into one to find a prostitute for The Boy.

* TrojanGauntlet: Frances goes to a birth control clinic in anticipation of seducing The Boy. She's profusely uncomfortable, in part because of the frank talk about sex from the other women in the waiting room. When she's asked why she wants birth control, Frances lies and says she's about to get married.

* WholePlotReference: It's more-or-less a gender-flipped version of ''Literature/TheCollector'' infused with elements of ''Film/{{Persona}}'' (with Frances as Alma and The Boy as Elisabet).

Frances Austen (Dennis) is a thirtysomething woman who lives alone in the huge UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} apartment she inherited from her late parents. One day during a dinner party she spies a 19-year-old boy (Burns) sitting alone in the rain on a bench in the park next to her apartment building. Feeling sorry for him, she invites him inside to dry off. He doesn't speak, but she appreciates his company and invites him to spend the night in her guest room. When he awakes the next morning, he discovers that she's locked him in the room.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mpw_53316_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"It is strange knowing that someone else is in the house. I'm so used to being here alone."'']]

''That Cold Day in the Park'' is a 1969 PsychologicalThriller film directed by Creator/RobertAltman, starring Sandy Dennis, Michael Burns and Susanne Benton.

** The man Frances meets in the RedLightDistrict played by Michael Murphy is just called "The Rounder" in the credits (but in an easy-to-miss moment he says his name is Murph, which would make him TheDanza).

[[caption-width-right:350:"It is strange knowing that someone else is in the house. I'm so used to being here alone."]]

''That Cold Day in the Park'' is a 1969 PsychologicalThriller directed by Creator/RobertAltman, starring Sandy Dennis, Michael Burns and Susanne Benton.

* IncestSubtext: The Boy and Nina have a relationship overflowing with this. The scene where she takes a bath with him in the room then drags into the tub with her especially stands out.

* TheVoiceless: The Boy [[spoiler: though he finally breaks his silence with Frances.]]

-->'''Frances''': I don't find him attractive...he smells like an old man.