{ "id": "epyyrjah8y", "slug": "between-the-lines", "title": "Between the Lines", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1977-1979", "label": "Released 1977 to 1979", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1977-1979" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Between the Lines (1977) is Joan Micklin Silver's ensemble comedy-drama about the staff of a fictional Boston alt-weekly, the Back Bay Mainline, facing a corporate buyout; starring John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, and Jeff Goldblum, Golden Bear-nominated at Berlin.", "snippet": "Between the Lines (1977) is Joan Micklin Silver's ensemble comedy-drama about the staff of a fictional Boston alt-weekly, the Back Bay Mainline, facing a corporate buyout; starring John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, and Jeff Goldblum, Golden Bear-nominated at Berlin.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1977-1979", "markdown": "# Between the Lines\n\n**Between the Lines** is a 1977 American ensemble comedy-drama directed by Joan Micklin Silver, set at the staff of a fictional Boston alternative weekly, the Back Bay Mainline, as its counterculture-era journalists face a buyout by a major publishing company.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/between_the_lines) It was Silver's second feature, following her 1975 debut *Hester Street*, and was produced by her husband Raphael D. Silver through their company Midwest Films.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) • [3](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/between-lines)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / producer | Joan Micklin Silver; produced by Raphael D. Silver for Midwest Films[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) |\n| Writers | Fred Barron (screenplay and story) and David M. Helpern, Jr. (story)[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) |\n| Release | Limited US release April 27, 1977; Los Angeles opening August 10, 1977; 101 minutes, rated R[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Between-the-Lines-%281977%29) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) |\n| Principal cast | John Heard (Harry Lucas), Lindsay Crouse (Abbie), Jeff Goldblum (Max Arloft), Jill Eikenberry (Lynn), Bruno Kirby (David), Gwen Welles (Laura), Stephen Collins (Michael)[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Between-the-Lines-%281977%29) |\n| Production | Shot in 42 days on an $83,000 budget, per the L.A. Free Press[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) |\n| Berlinale 1977 | Nominated for the Golden Bear; Silver won the Interfilm Otto Dibelius Film Award and the Reader Jury of the \"Berliner Morgenpost\" Award[5](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/) |\n| Critical standing | 94% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 18 reviews[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/between_the_lines) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and setting\n\nThe film takes place at the offices of the Back Bay Mainline, a Boston underground newspaper that rose to prominence in the 1960s and by the 1970s is struggling with a shifting social climate amid rumors that it will be sold to a media giant.[6](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/between-the-lines-1977) Harry Lucas (John Heard), the paper's lead reporter, has grown burned out and disillusioned after years of exposing local corruption; Abbie ([Lindsay Crouse](https://www.edgepedia.org/lindsay-crouse)), the publication's lead photographer, is his on-and-off partner.[3](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/between-lines) • [7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977) Around them, the staff carries the paper: Lynn ([Jill Eikenberry](https://www.edgepedia.org/jill-eikenberry)) as office administrator, Max ([Jeff Goldblum](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-goldblum)) as a music critic who uses his influence to score dates, Frank (Jon Korkes) as the beleaguered editor-in-chief, Stanley (Lewis J. Stadlen) selling advertising, and David (Bruno Kirby) as an eager cub reporter who wants to prove himself.[7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Between-the-Lines-%281977%29) Michael (Stephen Collins), a writer planning to leave for New York on the proceeds of a book, lives with Laura (Gwen Welles), a founding reporter on the paper.[7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977)\n\nThe buyout threat forces a reckoning among the staff, whose long-standing frictions, between the writers and the advertising side, and between older ideals and newer pragmatism, come to a head as money runs short.[5](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/) • [7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977) In Peter Lev's study *American Films of the '70s: Conflicting Visions*, the film appears in a chapter on \"the end of the sixties\" alongside *Nashville*, *Shampoo*, *The Return of the Secaucus Seven*, and *The Big Chill*, as a calmer, more rational film about the survival of 1960s ideals in the conservative late 1970s; David, the apprentice writer, proves himself as an investigative reporter and reaffirms the group's ideals at the moment everything is falling apart.[8](https://elcv.art.br/santoandre/biblioteca/_em_ingles/film_and_cinema_eBooks_collection/American%20Films%20of%20the%20%2770S%20-%20Conflicting%20Visions.pdf)\n\n## Origins and production\n\nSilver and screenwriter Fred Barron drew on their own newsroom experience: Silver had worked for the *Village Voice* in New York, and Barron for the Boston alternative papers the *Real Paper* and the *Boston Phoenix*.[3](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/between-lines) • [7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977) The project began when the Silvers met Barron during promotional appearances for *Hester Street*; he pitched a story developed with David Helpern Jr., a documentarian and professor at The Film School in Cambridge, under the title *Fun While It Lasted*, initially intended for Helpern to direct.[5](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/) A June 1976 *Variety* news item using that working title announced the film was based on the *Village Voice*.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography)\n\n**Improvised dialogue.** Silver rehearsed the cast in Boston for about a week before shooting, running improvisations and scripting roughly a third of the movie from them overnight, then handing the actors fresh pages to learn.[5](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/) [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began in Boston, but because of location costs the remainder of the shooting moved to New York; the American Film Institute Catalog records 42 shooting days on an $83,000 budget.[5](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography)\n\nThe film gave first screen roles to several actors: it marked the screen debuts of John Heard, Joe Morton, and [Marilu Henner](https://www.edgepedia.org/marilu-henner).[7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977) For Bruno Kirby it was the first film in which he was billed simply as [Bruno Kirby](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruno-kirby), after earlier credits as Bruce Kirby, Bruce Kirby, Jr., and B.; to prepare, he spent weeks working in the classified department of the *L.A. Free Press* unrecognized except by the editor.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) The end credits thank the cities of Boston and [Cambridge, Massachusetts](https://www.edgepedia.org/cambridge-massachusetts), and the alternative papers *The Real Paper*, *The Boston Phoenix*, *The Los Angeles Free Press*, *The Soho Weekly News*, and *The Village Voice*.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography)\n\n**Music.** Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes provided music and recording services, a suggestion credited to critic [Robert Christgau](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-christgau) of the *Village Voice*; Silver recounted visiting Asbury Park to see the band, where an unrecognised [Bruce Springsteen](https://www.edgepedia.org/bruce-springsteen), a friend of Southside Johnny's, sat in with them.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) • [5](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/)\n\n## Release and reception\n\nThe Silvers introduced the film at the American Film Institute Theatre at Washington DC's Kennedy Center on April 15, 1977, and it opened in limited release on April 27, 1977.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography) • [4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Between-the-Lines-%281977%29) At the [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) in June 1977 it was nominated for the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear), which went to *The Ascent* from the Soviet Union, and Silver won the Interfilm Otto Dibelius Film Award and the Reader Jury of the \"Berliner Morgenpost\" Award.[5](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/)\n\nContemporary reviews were favorable. Vincent Canby of *The New York Times* called it, technically, a newspaper film distinguished by the gently perceptive way it captures its characters' emotional confusions, praising uniformly first-rate ensemble work in which no actor is more or less important than another.[9](https://mubi.com/en/films/between-the-lines/critics-reviews) *The Washington Post* described it as \"a fresh, likable romantic comedy with an excellent cast and winning performances,\" and *Variety* as \"a fresh look at an undaunted little newspaper.\"[10](https://kinolorber.com/film/between-the-lines) Retrospective assessments have been similarly positive: on Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 94% among 18 critics, though the audience Popcornmeter sits at 50%.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/between_the_lines) Jonathan Romney, writing in *Film Comment* in 2019, read it as a lament for the death of counterculture journalism that is also a comedy about how ideals persist and replenish themselves, and argued it is barely about a newspaper at all, more about a group of youngish people whose energies are running out as American counterculture runs its course.[9](https://mubi.com/en/films/between-the-lines/critics-reviews) Michael Phillips of the *Chicago Tribune* tradition called it a time capsule of a specific moment in the alternative weekly lifespan and a showcase of ripely promising talent.[9](https://mubi.com/en/films/between-the-lines/critics-reviews)\n\nThe film's afterlife includes a practical one: Margaret Moser of *The Austin Chronicle* credited it with inspiring the founding of that newspaper itself.[7](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977) A restored version was re-released theatrically by Cohen Media Group on February 22, 2019, with a streaming release following that June.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Between-the-Lines-%281977%29) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/between_the_lines) As of recent listings it streams in the United States on the Cohen Media Amazon Channel and free with ads on Tubi, among other services.[6](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/between-the-lines-1977)\n\n## Other uses of the title\n\nThe title also belongs to *Between the Lines*, a British BBC police drama broadcast across three seasons in the 1990s, about Detective Superintendent Tony Clark of the Complaints Investigation Bureau, an internal unit investigating corruption claims inside the police in [England and Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/england-and-wales).[11](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/between-the-lines) A 2018 young-adult novel of the same name by Nikki Grimes, a companion to *Bronx Masquerade*, follows high school students in a poetry class.[12](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nikki-grimes/between-the-lines-grimes/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Between the Lines, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/between_the_lines)\n2. [Between the Lines (1977), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55312-BETWEEN-THE-LINES?cxt=filmography)\n3. [Between the Lines, Screen Slate (Stephanie Monohan, 2023)](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/between-lines)\n4. [Between the Lines (1977), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Between-the-Lines-%281977%29)\n5. [Joan Micklin Silver's Between the Lines, New Beverly Cinema (2019)](https://thenewbev.com/blog/2019/05/between-the-lines/)\n6. [Between the Lines (1977), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/between-the-lines-1977)\n7. [Between the Lines (1977), NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/between-the-lines-1977)\n8. [Peter Lev, American Films of the '70s: Conflicting Visions, University of Texas Press](https://elcv.art.br/santoandre/biblioteca/_em_ingles/film_and_cinema_eBooks_collection/American%20Films%20of%20the%20%2770S%20-%20Conflicting%20Visions.pdf)\n9. [Between the Lines critic reviews, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/films/between-the-lines/critics-reviews)\n10. [Between the Lines, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/between-the-lines)\n11. [Between the Lines (1992 TV series), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/between-the-lines)\n12. [Between the Lines by Nikki Grimes, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nikki-grimes/between-the-lines-grimes/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1977 to 1979*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/between-the-lines", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/between-the-lines.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Between the Lines\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/between-the-lines. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Between the Lines](https://www.edgepedia.org/between-the-lines)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/between-the-lines](https://www.edgepedia.org/between-the-lines). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Between the Lines\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/between-the-lines. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Between the Lines is Joan Micklin Silver's ensemble comedy-drama about the staff of a fictional Boston alt-weekly, the Back Bay Mainline, facing a corporate buyout; starring John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, and Jeff Goldblum, Golden Bear-nominated at Berlin." }