Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) Together (1958) User Reviews

Nice guy Cotten plays a real jerk-face!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 9 March 2021]

"Together" is an interesting episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" because it's one of the few times Joseph Cotten played a horrible person (one of the others was in Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt"). Normally, Cotten played nice guys...or at least ordinary ones. But here he's a philandering murderer!

When the story begins, Tony (Cotten) is being confronted by his mistress. She is tired of their arrangement and insists that Tony tell his wife about her and get a divorce. However, Tony is pragmatic as well as evil...and his wife is rich...and he doesn't want a divorce to end his high living! So he does what any total scumbag would do...he murders his mistress! But there's a problem...when he tries to leave, his key breaks off in lock and he's stuck in the room with the dead woman!

This is a pretty good episode of the series. My only complaint, and it's not a huge one, is that the story seems to hinge on a very difficult to believe series of events. Still, it is enjoyable and worth seeing.

By the way, the IMDB trivia says that actor Sam Buffington died two years after completing this episode. Sadly, the man did die and it was ruled a suicide....and he was only 28. What a waste.

"Together" but not happily ever after....

[chuck-reilly · 8/10 · 26 August 2010]

In Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 "Together," executive Tony Gould (Joseph Cotton) is confronted by his office/romance lover Shelley (Christine White) who ill-advisedly informs him that she'll blab to his wife about their torrid affair unless he gets a divorce and marries her. What else can poor Tony do but put her out of her love-sick misery with a knife through the heart. Since it's Christmas time and after hours at the office, Mr. Gould thinks he can leave her rotting body there and just go home and invent a fool-proof alibi. Problem number one: he soon finds out that he's locked in the office with her corpse and there's no way out unless he gets "outside" help. That's where his good pal Charlie (an excellent Sam Buffinton) comes into the picture. If Charlie just follows some easier-than-pie instructions, Gould will be home free. Problem number two: Charlie is drunk as a skunk and entertaining his own inebriated guests. More problems ensue for Gould when the police decide to investigate who's making all that racket in what's supposed to be a deserted office building. As Gould soon finds out, good help is hard to find when you really need it.

"Together" is a somewhat typical Hitchcock entry in that everything and anything that can go wrong, goes wrong for our "hero." But then, he richly deserves his fate. Cotton is perfect for the role of Gould; he could play a smug executive with evil intentions like no one else in the business. Buffington is great as his buddy Charlie. If he only knew how desperate Gould really was, he might even have turned down his stereo a few notches. Christine White, as Gould's jilted and soon-to-be-dead mistress, exhibits just the right amount of stress and panic before her grisly and untimely death. Robert Altman, the late great film director of countless classics, was able to hone his chops here and does a fine job with the characters and Alec Coppel's well-written story. In the end, Joseph Cotton and Christine White remain "Together," at least until the police arrive.

Cotten as Villain

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 25 June 2013]

Joseph Cotten will always be one of Hollywood's greatest leading men. Hitchcock, however, liked to use his good looks to portray dangerous villains. Remember Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt. Who can forget the merry-go-round scene. Here he plays a cheating husband who has hooked up with a good girl who has plans for him. He has promised to divorce his wife and marry her. Unfortunately, it's the old "Why buy the cow when the mild is free." He like things the way they are, but as is bound to happen, she calls his bluff. He lies to her about telling his wife about them and asking for a divorce. One thing leads to another and he stabs her with a letter opener. The crime takes place in the office of her boss and through a series of circumstance, he is locked in the office. He tries every maneuver he can to get out, including enlisting the help of a nosy lady in a building across the street. Very much like the episode where the man kills his wife and hauls her around in the trunk of his car, this is a situation that Hitchcock loves. The incredible dramatic irony involved where we almost begin to pull for the guy propels the episode forward.

Shadow of a doubt

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 28 October 2022]

"Together" is the second and last 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episode directed by Robert Altman. The first one being Season 3's "The Young One", one of the best and boldest episodes of Season 3. As well as it being directed by Altman and that it has a very Hitchcockian premise, Joseph Cotten was the main reason for wanting to see "Together". With him having proved more than once before that he can excel at playing creepy characters, a prime example being 'Shadow of a Doubt'.

While "Together" may not have the boldness of "The Young One", when it comes to talking about Altman's 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' episodes, and is more typical Hitchcock rather than the ahead of the time change of pace that episode was. It is still an excellent episode in my view, sees Season 3 and 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' back on form after a quality dip, is every bit as good as "The Young One" in its own way, one of the best of Season 3 and the best episode of the series since "The Young One".

It does occasionally rely agreed on a series of events that are not always believable.

Cotten however is incredibly chilling as one of the season's most loathsome and actually downright evil characters, one of those characters where his comeuppance is rooted for from the very start. Sam Buffington is strong in his role too. Altman directs with tautness and confidence, with the tension and intrigue not slipping a jot.

Production values are not elaborate but are strong and slick enough. Hitchcock delivers on the drollness and the tone of his bookending doesn't jar too much tonally. The theme music is a classic.

Furthermore, the script is thought provoking with no signs of fat and not too reliant on talk. The story is not too simple or convoluted, is laden with creepy suspense (helped by Cotten's performance) and drips deliciously with irony too.

Excellent episode all in all. 9/10.

BEFORE YOU GET MARRIED... THINK ABOUT JAIL!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 17 December 2022]

An early assignment for director Robert Altman, who gave us M. A. S. H. And the rest is history.

Altman handles his cast well, particularly old pro Josephy Cotten, who you have to admit is the whole show here.

This is TEXTBOOK Hitchcock black comedy, albeit for the small screen. We all watched this one as kids, and its still fun. Cotten has a good thing going --for awhile --with a young gal friend(played by Christine White), except she's getting serious about their relationship and he's most not.

I especially like what the last reviewer wrote; "Why buy the cow when the milk is free?" TRUE. Cotton, as much as he would like to dump his wife, has second thoughts -- And just like that he kills the "other woman" and gets locked in his office with her body. What a Hitchcock fate!

You DO NOT want to miss what happens next. Another fine example of the eternal question... "what would you do if you were in his shoes?" Extremely well written, a classic act episode.

To note, Robert Altman owed a lot to Alfred Hitchcock who basically "gave him a break" and hired him to direct a few episodes of his legendary tv show. Prior to this, Altman had worked on independent film projects, also industrial and short films. He does a super job here. From SEASON 3 remastered dvd box set.

An Office Of His Own.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 30 April 2012]

The married Joseph Cotten is having an affair with Christine White. He meets her in her boss's office, behind a locked door on Christmas Eve, and lies to her, telling her that his wife has agreed to a divorce. White, eager to build a home, doesn't believe him for good reason and begins to call Cotten's wife to tell her of the tryst.

Cotten murders her and dumps the body in the shower. But then he finds he's locked in the office, the key having broken off in its hole. So he calls a friend for help but the friend is at a party, distracted and drunk. Finally, Cotten catches the attention of the police, who arrive and kick down the door.

Cotten has donned the glasses of the owner of the office, claims his identity, and is about to brush past the cops when the drunken friend arrives and spills the beans.

The episode is up to par but not much more than that. I preferred Cotten as good guy rather than villain, though he handled both kinds of roles equally well.

bad luck

[macgyver375 · 8 March 2006]

A businessman is locked in his office after murdering a woman. He breaks the inside office window but it has bars protecting it he opens the outside window and looks out side but he is 3 floors up he calls his friend at a party but he is drunk and leaves the phone off hook thus not letting him call someone else so he looks outside again and sees someone in a room across the street so he calls out to her she shuts the blinds so he throws something at the window and breaks it she comes to the window and he calls out (call a locksmith please) she picks up the phone and calls the police they come to his office and kick down the door and get him out but his drunk friend comes and discovers the body

Together

[CherCee · 10/10 · 4 October 2023]

Another reviewer compares this episode (Together, Season 3, Episode 15, first aired January 12, 1958) with another Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode (One More Mile To Go, Season 2, Episode 28, first aired April 7, 1957). But it reminds me more of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode Bad Actor (Season 7, Episode 14, first aired January 9, 1962). In Together, Tony Gould (Joseph Cotten) kills his mistress Shelley when she threatens to tell his wife of their affair if he doesn't leave the wife and marry her. In Bad Actor Bart Collins (Oscar winner Robert Duvall) kills acting rival Jerry Lane (Charles Robinson). But the way they are tripped up at the end with a friend present (this episode Charlie - Sam Buffington, Bad Actor - Marjorie Rogers - Carole Eastman) are similar. Both are really good episodes, but IMO Bad Actor is better (I love William Schallert, and his reaction at the end is memorable).

"This woman's not drunk. She's dead!"

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 11 September 2021]

I don't know how Tony Gould (Joseph Cotten) expected to get away with the murder of his mistress Shelley (Christine White), even if he made it out of the office he found himself locked in. He left his fingerprints all over the place and never made an attempt to erase any of them. They were on the phone, the windows he opened, the doorknob, and that's just for starters. And if killing his girlfriend wasn't bad enough, the guy was so evil he was willing to frame the owner of the business who's identity he assumed by putting on those glasses. So it was really no surprise when the cops showed up, courtesy of the woman across the alley who Tony hailed down. There's really only one moral to be taken away from this story, and that's to never rely on friends who are alcoholics. Good old Charlie (Sam Buffington) couldn't have shown up at a worse time.