Review of The Hospital (1971) by Ariel S — 29 Sep 2011
The Hospital's one big flaw is lack of decision. It tries to hit too much and fails at most. At its best, The Hospital is a fantastic character study; George C. Scott is fantastic, giving one of the best performances of his celebrated career, and he creates a complex, flawed, believable character over the course of the film. The supporting cast is fine too - Barnard Hughes is hammy but terrific, and the others do well too. The film has some fantastic character establishing dialogs that are the heart of the story.
The problem is that it isn't satisfied with being a character driven drama. The Hospital also dips into black comedy, social satire, murder mystery and romance, and when it goes anywhere near any of those, it becomes disappointingly bland and predictable. Unfortunately, those scenes take up over half of the film.
On a side note, I do recommend The Hospital to anyone with an obsession for medical dramas - It's more realistic and better researched than most such movies made before ER.
This review of The Hospital (1971) was written by Ariel S on 29 Sep 2011.
The Hospital has generally received positive reviews.
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