House Calls (1978)

Director:

Howard Zieff

Writers:

Julius J. Epstein (story)
Alan Mandel (writer)

Release Date:

7 August 1978 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

More than a touch of comedy. Just what the doctor ordered.

Plot:

Charley is a surgeon who's recently lost his wife; he embarks on a tragicomic romantic quest with one woman after another until he meets up with Ann...

Plot Keywords:

Enema | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Walter Matthau	...	Dr. Charley Nichols
Glenda Jackson	...	Ann Atkinson
Art Carney	...	Dr. Amos Willoughby
Richard Benjamin	...	Dr. Norman Solomon
Candice Azzara	...	Ellen Grady
Dick O'Neill	...	Irwin Owett
Thayer David	...	Phil Pogostin
Anthony Holland	...	TV moderator
Reva Rose	...	Mrs. de Voto
Sandra Kerns	...	Lani Mason
Brad Dexter	...	Quinn
Jane Connell	...	Mrs. Conway
Lloyd Gough	...	Harry Grady
Gordon Jump	...	Dr. O'Brien
William J. Fiore	...	Dr. Sloan

Runtime:

USA:98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:7 | USA:PG

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Last film of Thayer David.

Quotes:

Dr. Solomon: Do you know what he calls you?
Dr. Willoughby: Yeah. The Old Fart.
Dr. Solomon: No sir... He calls you... Golden Hands Willoughby!
Dr. Willoughby: Golden Hands. Silverman, you're a goddamned liar.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Hercules Against the Moon Men (#5.10)" (1992)

Soundtrack:

On the sunny side of the street

Light Tracy-Hepburn-Style Romp Takes Well-Aimed Jabs at Greedy Doctors

I remember seeing this 1978 comedy at one of the bargain matinees I took in when I was looking for a study break from my college courses. Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson do some effective Tracy-Hepburn-style thrusting-and-parrying in this featherweight romp directed by the reliable Howard Zieff (he did "Private Benjamin") about a newly widowed doctor's aggressive re-entry into the dating game. It all breezes by quickly primarily thanks to the clever script by veteran screenwriter Julius J. Epstein ("Casablanca") along with Alan Mandel, Max Shulman and future director Charles Shyer.

Dr. Charley Nichols has just come back from Hawaii after his wife's death. Upon his return, he becomes aware that he is instant catnip to any and all the single women in LA. He works in a hospital run by an increasingly senile chief-of-staff, Amos Willoughby, whom Charley has to pacify to keep his residency. Enter Ann Atkinson, a transplanted Englishwoman who bakes cheesecakes for a living and has certain concrete opinions about the medical profession, which she expresses freely on a PBS talk show. Of course, Charley is on the show's discussion panel, and sparks, as they say, fly. This leads to the standard complications about how serious Charley is willing to become about Ann. At the same time, the hospital has to deal with a potential wrongful death lawsuit from the widow of a rich baseball team owner who died at the hospital under Willoughby's careless supervision.

It's just refreshing to see such a mature yet bracing love story between two characters inhabited by actors who deliver lines with the scalpel-wielding skill of surgeons. Matthau is his usual 1970's curmudgeonly swinger and quite a sight waddling with his gangly arms held akimbo in his power walk. Away from her heavy, award-winning Elizabethan roles, Jackson is crisply sardonic and charmingly vulnerable as the feisty Ann, who thinks all doctors should aspire to be Albert Schweitzer. Art Carney plays Willoughby with predictable bluster, while Richard Benjamin provides amiable support as Charley's colleague, Dr. Solomon. It's all very compact with a few nice jabs at the greed within the medical profession. There are no extras on the 2005 DVD.