Powerful

Don't Believe the Hype

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Yes, I guess you had to be there...in the '70s...and I was. But I enjoyed this film much more then, than I did now, 43 years later.I'm somewhat of a fan of George C. Scott, but I am not overly impressed with him here. Not saying he does a bad job, and perhaps it's the character I don't like, but I thought at times there were traces of over-acting (such as his rage scene). Diana Rigg's acting here is downright pathetic. I particularly dislike the segment when she finds out that her father is a murderer -- she just seemed so damn apathetic about it.Barnard Hughes was the standout here! Always a terrific character actor, and here he is just wonderful as the slightly crazy religious fanatical father. In fact, without his brilliant performance, I'd drop my rating all the way down to a "4" for the overall film.Robert Walden was around as a young doctor; he was once a fairly prominent television actor, and I guess he's still around, but to me he kinda disappeared. Richard A. Dysart ("L.A. Law") is here as a sleazy doctor...and plays his part well.I guess where I have the problem is with the script, which is ironic because it was such an award winner at the time. It just seems so over the top in regards to a hospital, that it makes in unbelievable. It really could have been a very nice mystery, trying to discover who the murderer of the hospital personnel was, and why they were doing it. Instead, they just tell you, all at once. Rave about Paddy Chayefsky if you wish, but I won't.So what was the point of this film? In my view, the point was the anger of the early 1970s, and not much more. I remembered it more fondly, and now I doubt I'd ever want to watch it again.

George C. Scott delivers a searing performance as Dr. Herbert Brock, Chief of Medicine at an unnamed urban hospital who is beset by a series of mysterious deaths(both doctors and patients) that he at first attributes to incompetence(there is some) but later finds that they are a deliberate act committed by a madman...In the meantime, he must deal with his own problems as he struggles with a divorce, grown children who wont speak to him, and his impotence. His life changes when he meets a beautiful woman(Diana Rigg) who wants his permission to release her comatose father into her care. Brock pours his heart out and vents his rage with her, causing them to fall in love(!) though her father isn't as comatose as they think...Brilliant comedy is one of the finest ever made, being uproariously funny on the one hand, yet profoundly bleak on the other. Superbly written(Paddy Chayefsky) and directed(Arthur Hiller) film has many profound things to say about medicine and humanity, and will stay with you long after the film is over. A classic.

With cinema taking a clear turn for the biting in the '70s, it was inevitable that there would be a movie like "The Hospital". George C. Scott plays the Chief of Medicine in a New York hospital. He's getting hit with a double whammy: his personal life is falling apart, and everyone seems to be dying in the hospital! Whether intended as an indictment of the US health care system or just a straightforward black comedy, Arthur Hiller's movie works in every way. It focuses very much on the characters, often using long conversations to let them develop (the discussion between Scott and Diana Rigg about an hour into the movie is almost like a movie itself!). Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky later used similar characters in "Network". I recommend both movies.Also appearing are Barnard Hughes, Nancy Marchand (of "The Sopranos"), Lenny Baker, Katherine Helmond, Frances Sternhagen, and a young Stockard Channing.

"The Hospital" is a 1971 satire written by Paddy Chayefsky, and while it contains a slew of original ideas and creative plot lines, it never gels or forms one cohesive story or film.It's easy to see the similarities between this movie and Chayefsky's "Network:" he clearly did extensive research on his subjects, creating bold characters that embodied the best and worst of their respective industry, and while his satirical plot lines were mostly reality-based, he had no problem exaggerating or taking a fantastic turn in order to drive his points home or resolve his characters' stories. In "Network," this formula succeeds brilliantly, as Peter Finch's madman-prophet is just the sort of phenomenon that might be embraced by the viewing public and the TV industry. (There's even a "Network" reference as George C. Scott opens the window and shouts out to the world outside.)In "Hospital" the plot lines are just too bizarre. An Indian doing a healing dance over a comatose man's bed... a serial killer who murders doctors because it's "God's will"... an impotent hospital administrator who is "cured" by raping a hippie chick... ethnic victims who protest and storm the hospital... it's too much. Had Chayefsky streamlined his story and condensed his list of targets the movie might have been more organic, more believable. As it is we're given so many unrealistic scenes in a row that there's no foothold, no chance to catch your breath and ground the proceedings.George C. Scott is great as the tormented, impotent doctor, but his dialogue becomes so heavy and deliberate he loses all credibility. Once the sultry Diana Rigg appears, (who owed us at least one topless shot) the movie forgets it's a satire of the medical industry and becomes a cockeyed, unconvincing love story with no clear motivations for any of the characters. Rigg's father is this film's madman-prophet, but he loses all credibility when we learn he's killed multiple people- murderers lose the right to make a point, even in the movies.This is a script that needed a rewrite from a neutral party, and a reminder of why the director- and not the screenwriter- should be the ultimate author of a film. Chayefsky is so busy forcing dialogue and back-story into Scott & Rigg's mouth that he never allows the characters to Breathe, or to demonstrate who they are not by what they Say but by what they Do, which is a key to good screen writing and filmmaking. To see Paddy Chayefsky at his most brilliant, watch "Network." To see him wielding too much power and missing his own point, watch "The Hospital." It might have been brilliant.GRADE: C+