On H List of Movie Reviews
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The Hospital (1971)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
11/15
11/15:
Paddy Chafesky won three Best Screenplay Oscars for the following films:
Marty, The Hospital, and Network.
Thanks to George C. Scott who delivers some of the best stuff of his career, The Hospital is a first-rate intelligent
picture with important social commentary about work, life, and responsibility. George C. Scott was a very talented actor.
It's the way he carried himself and how he delivered his lines with ease and authority. At the same time, he's every bit as
authentic as his character.
It's rare for a film to have a scene with the best dialogue exchange in the annals of cinema between
opposite sex. Some examples are: Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in
Casablanca, Bogart again and
Lauren Bacall in To Have and To Have Not, Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in
Double Indemnity,
Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire,
James Caan and Tuesday Weld in Thief,
Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe in The Last of the Mohicans, and
John Travolta and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
Now, one more is added to this list: The Hospital with George C. Scott and Diana Rigg in the doctor's office for
a ten-minute-long scene. Hence, I'm surprised that she wasn't nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscar by holding
her own against the formidable co-star extremely well.
Another nice part is the serial murders taking a backseat to the film's satire. It's funny that every time a murder
occurs, the medical mismanagement and bureaucracy are at blame. Interestingly, Barnard Hughes' Drummond plants the
first seed of the famous line that'll be uttered by Howard Beadle in
Network: "I'm as mad as hell, and
I'm not going to take this anymore!"
All in all, all fans of George C. Scott and Paddy Chafesky should find The Hospital an immense treat.