Main Cast: Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Eddie Albert, Bobby Darin, James Gregory
Release Year: 1963
Country: US
Run Time: 126 minutes
Plot
Gregory Peck plays a benevolent God-like figure in a white smock as Captain Josiah Newman, the head of a psych-unit at a Southwestern army base during the waning days of World War II. Newman is a patriarchal protector to his patients, preferring to keep him in his ward, rather than return them to certain death on the battlefield. The matriarchal figure of the ward is Lieutenant Grace Blodgett (Jane Withers), but Newman is more interested in his assistant Lieutenant Francie Corum (Angie Dickinson), with whom he is having an affair. Further help is provided by human nature expert, Corp. Jackson Laibowitz (Tony Curtis), the orderly. And Newman needs all the help he can get. Particularly with three patients: Colonel Bliss (Eddie Albert) is suffering from a guilt complex from all the men he has sent to death; Corporal Tompkins (Bobby Darin, in an Academy Award-nominated performance), although decorated for bravery in combat, calls himself a coward for failing to save his pal from a burning plane; and Captain Winston (Robert Duvall) is guilt-ridden and has lapsed into catatonia because he had hidden for over a year in the basement of a building in Germany. Although Newman wants to cure these men of their psychological problems, he doesn't want to see them returned to the war to be killed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
While not without its faults, Captain Newman, M.D. is an entertaining, well-intentioned film that benefits from its sterling cast. Where Newman is less fortunate is in its screenplay, which vacillates between comedy and drama and never quite finds the appropriate balance between the two. There's also a structural problem inherent in Newman: it stars Gregory Peck and with a star of that magnitude must focus on him. But the character of Newman is more of an observer and reactor than a participant and catalyst, and so the film keeps shifting its focus away from the star and onto the supporting players. Director David Miller does what he can to correct these flaws, but his efforts are only partially successful. Fortunately, the screenplay compensates for its flaws with some finely realized characters and some flavorful dialogue. Peck is a bit stiff in Newman, a tendency he had to fight against in many roles, but his star power counts for a lot. Angie Dickinson is attractive and effective, and James Gregory properly officious, but the best supporting performances come from Eddie Albert, Robert Duvall and the Oscar-nominated Bobby Darin. Darin's performance is the most surprising, revealing much more depth and talent than one would expect from his lighter roles, but Albert is equally as good, and Duvall impressive in a part that requires little speaking. The stories of these 3 men form the dramatic basis of the picture, and they play their parts for all they are worth. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Bethel Leslie - Helene Winston; Robert Duvall - Capt. Paul Cabot Winston; Jane Withers - Lt. Grace Blodgett; Dick Sargent - Lieutenant Alderson; Larry Storch - Corporal Gavoni; Robert Simon - Lt. Col. Larrabee; Syl Lamont - Sgt. Kopp; Vito Scotti - Maj. Alfredo Fortuno; Graham Denton - Maj. Gen. Snowden; Gregory Walcott - Capt. Howard; Charlie Briggs - Gorkow; Barry Atwater - Maj. Dawes; Ted Bessel - Carrozzo; Marc Cavell; Ann Doran - Mrs. Pyser; Seamon Glass; Jack Grinnage - Patient; David Landfield - Corporal; Byron Morrow - Hollingshead; Penny Santon - Waitress at Blue Grotto; Amzie Strickland - Kathie; Joseph Walsh - Maccarades; Martin West; John Hart - Officer; Robert Strong - Chaplain; Howard Dayton; Sammy Reese - Haskell; David Winters
Credit
Alexander Golitzen - Art Director, Alfred Sweeney - Art Director, Rosemary Odell - Costume Designer, David Miller - Director, Alma Macrorie - Editor, Frank Skinner - Composer (Music Score), Bud Westmore - Makeup, Russell Metty - Cinematographer, Robert Arthur - Producer, Howard Bristol - Set Designer, Walter Hammond - Special Effects, Leo Rosten - Screenwriter, Richard L. Breen - Screenwriter, Henry Ephron - Screenwriter, Phoebe Ephron - Screenwriter, Leo Rosten - Book Author
The movie is based on the 1963 novel by Leo Rosten. It was loosely based on the experiences of Rosten's close friend Ralph Greenson M.D. Greenson was a medical officer (captain) stationed at Yuma, Arizona. Greenson is well known for his work on "empathy" and was one of the first[citation needed][this had been understood for decades] in his field to seriously associate Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (war neurosis) with battle experiences. He was a director of the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute and was a practicing Freudian. Greenson is perhaps best known as Marilyn Monroe's analyst, in addition to that of Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Vivian Leigh.
Captain Josiah Newman runs the neuro-psychiatric ward of an Arizona desert hospital during World War II. He often uses unconventional means and people to match, including his new orderly, Jackson Leibowitz.
Among the patients in their ward is the suicidal Captain Bliss, who eventually climbs atop a water tower, and a battle-scarred corporal named Tompkins who reveals under the spell of sodium pentothal the source of his distress. Newman also assists in the marital love life of Captain Winston while enjoying a flirtation or two with his own chief nurse, Lieutenant Corum.
Beyond the Sea, the biopic of Bobby Darin's life starring and directed by Kevin Spacey, depicts the filming of a scene from Captain Newman, M.D. including a portion of Corporal Tompkins' horrific revelation under truth serum that helped Darin earn an Oscar nomination. The award for Best Supporting Actor went instead to Melvyn Douglas for Hud.
