MovieChat Forums > The Hospital (1972) Discussion > something that´s been bugging me for a w...

something that´s been bugging me for a while...


.. are all the conversations between Bock and Barbara about their affections to each other. They seem so out of date. Yes, I realize it`s been like 40 years already, but what I find more fascinating is that they seem to be speaking to the younger audience of the time.
Let me put it in this way. The other day I was watching The Kid Stays in the Picture, based on the life of Robert Evans, a famous Hollywood producer. In it, when he goes through the late 60`s & early 70`s he states very clearly that the production companies didn`t have a single clue about what appealed to the younger audience who simply weren`t going to the cinema. They wasted millions of dollars in movies aimed to them, but they just missed the point and were left in hollywood´s oblivion.
Now we have here a well penned script with interesting characters and a plot that worked, but the only thing that didn`t fit (IMHO) was the sudden romance of these two very different characters and their resolution to leave EVERYTHING behind and live with the wolves, so to speak. I dunno, maybe they thought that hippies were going to love it or what?

Anyhow, at first I didn`t know what to expect from this movie. But the reality of the hospital is very true, even to this day. And George had me convinced at times that he was a real doctor from the senior staff.

reply

Yeah, I liked the movie, but there was a LOT of really horrendous dialogue that was saved only by the dignity of the actors. Chayefsky just can't write liberals or women without turning them into cartoons.

reply

[deleted]

The film really doesn't support the counter culture of the era. The young interns are shown as incompetent, and Scott's character is reluctant to shirk his professional responsibilities for a life with a hippie hottie.

There was very much a generation gap back then. Nothing before then or after has come close. The older generation didn't understand the youth movement, the kids thought they understood the elders, but really didn't. Being that the dividing line was generally considered around age 30, there weren't that many in the film making industry that young. So it's reasonable to believe that films of that period are going to be produced with the viewpoint of the older generation.

One theme than runs through many of these films, is the middle age man having a sexual fling with a young woman. It's as if the filmmakers perceived the audience to consist of such men, and was attempting to either fulfill their fantasies, or giving them hope that such liasons were possible. Invariably, the union ends up with plot development revolving around larger social issues in how the two generations view the world.

reply

It's not something most people would do, but her character is pretty clearly established as being pretty impulsive and superstitious, the sort of person who would make major life decisions based on dreams. Such people do exist, I'm sure.

reply