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.

"Threshold" is a film with a very clear, heavy presence of reality. The trade-off of this, of course, is the same as all such realist films - pacing. This is not something you can watch for big thrills and the explosive energy of medical trauma. Richard Pearce, and his cinematographer, Michel Brault, create a world that looks and feels so human it's almost painful. Each successive scene is like a new revelation on light and colour and depth of field. Brault gets right into the action, the movement, the emotional expression. The most remarkable thing about James Salter's script is how it avoids all those common medical clichés and falsehoods so often employed in such stories. The three lead actors - Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, and Mare Winningham - are observed in an almost documentarian way. They are people of depth, but not in a way we commonly see in films. The characters in "Threshold" are not distant, no, but what we get from them depends on our power of perception. They are laid out in front of us in much the same way as each person we encounter in life. That's the great strength of Pearce's direction here (his next film, "Country", has a similar approach)."Threshold" is mostly unknown, and not available on DVD. There is one main reason for this - it was a Canadian production, released at a time when such films weren't widely seen, and commonly forgotten soon after. I paid a significant amount to purchase the VHS online. I don't regret this, but the breathtaking cinematography deserves a modern format.

This movie is well-worth watching and I highly recommend it for many of the reasons from others listed here. As another reviewer "tdilts9219" noted, it appears based on the famous Texas heart center in real life. Surprisingly in 1998, the fictional 1981 plot came even closer to a real life situation. In Oxford England, Aug 1998, a renowned heart surgeon Stephen Westaby placed heart replacement pump AB-180 into a young woman Julie Mills to save her life. The AB-180 was invented by George Magovern, a US inventor and has the same key property as the heart replacement in the movie. Add a few of innovations from Jeff Goldblum's fictional inventor, and AB-180 would be a match for the movie. Wait another decade, and it might be another case of sci-fi preceding reality. (source Reader's Digest, April 2000)

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.