The film stars Marshall Thompson as a deranged escaped killer holding the customers of a bar hostage.

Chuckles, seeing a news flash story on the TV, notices that Wyckoff is one of his customers and tries, unsuccessfully, to reach a pistol he has stashed behind the bar.

At this point, there are four patrons in the bar: the sluttish barfly Freddy; the young Helen, who is accompanied by an attentive older gentleman, Earl; and newspaper reporter Harrison D. Barnes.

The relief barman, when asked, notes that the gun holds eight rounds, but while he is speaking, Wyckoff replaces the magazine with a new one.

The police prepare a breach en masse with two minutes left before Wyckoff's deadline, but Faron slips away and enters the bar.

Desperate to answer, he struggles with Wyckoff; at the same moment, the police detonate an explosive charge and extinguish the lights.

Thus we have Dial 1119, a taut little suspense item that uses only a couple of sets and utilizes the services of contractees already on the payroll.

The show also resembles a typical live TV production from a few years later, the kind that garnered attention for the likes of James Dean.

"[2] Critic Jeff Stafford liked the film, writing: "A taut and suspenseful B-movie, Dial 1119 is distinguished by the crisp black-and-white cinematography of Paul C. Vogel (He worked on such film noir favorites as Lady in the Lake, 1947) and the excellent ensemble cast which includes Virginia Field, Andrea King, Leon Ames, Keith Brasselle, and William Conrad (star of TV's detective series, Cannon, 1971-1976) as the unlucky bartender.