The Doctor (1991)

Director:

Randa Haines

Writers (WGA):

Ed Rosenbaum (book)
Robert Caswell (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 July 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

He was a doctor who thought he knew it all... until he became a patient.

Plot:

Jack McKee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems.... until he is diagnosed with throat cancer...

Plot Keywords:

Cancer | Hospital | Medical School | Doctor Patient Relationship | Surgeon

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

William Hurt	...	Dr. Jack MacKee
Christine Lahti	...	Anne MacKee
Elizabeth Perkins	...	June Ellis
Mandy Patinkin	...	Dr. Murray Kaplan
Adam Arkin	...	Dr. Eli Blumfield
Charlie Korsmo	...	Nicky MacKee
Wendy Crewson	...	Dr. Leslie Abbott
Bill Macy	...	Dr. Al Cade
J.E. Freeman	...	Ralph
William Marquez	...	Mr. Maris
Kyle Secor	...	Alan
Nicole Orth-Pallavicini	...	Sarah
Ping Wu	...	Jay-Jay
Tony Fields	...	Roger
Brian Markinson	...	Michael

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-10 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Silver Screen Partners IV

Trivia:

Co-stars Christine Lahti, Mandy Patinkin, and Adam Arkin all played doctors on "Chicago Hope" (1994).

Quotes:

June Ellis: I pray. I meditate. I eat chocolate. I dance.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Animaniacs: Video Review/When Mice Ruled the Earth (#1.47)" (????)

Soundtrack:

Big Girls Don't Cry

Well worth the price of a box of hankies.

It's not unusual in Hollywood for 2 studios to be working on similar projects at the same time. One obvious example might be Milos Forman's beautiful Valmont, and Stephen Frear's certainly adequate Dangerous Liaisons. The latter featured a ‘bigger' cast by American standards, and did better business, not surprisingly.

About the same time as Randa Haines' beautiful, ‘The Doctor', with William Hurt was delivered, so was Mike Nichols ‘Regarding Henry', starring Harrison Ford. Again, the latter did bigger business, and as a result I feel this film was largely overlooked.

On first look, The Doctor seems a standard tale: icy, successful surgeon finds out what medicine is really like when the tables are turned and he is diagnosed with throat cancer. His redemptive arc is somewhat predictable, as he reconnects with family, redefines his medical practice, and restructures his relationship with his similarly icy partners.

But it's under these, predictable circumstances that a true craftsman like Ms. Haines can make the ordinary extraordinary. The film is genuinely heartfelt and touching, resisting at every turn any self-indulgence, or the gratuitous pulling at heartstrings, relying on a quiet, confidence, a softer emotion instead.

Not that it's not weepy at times.

Hurt has never been better in the title role. Elizabeth Perkins as his soul-mate cancer victim is equally superb.