Captain Newman, M.D. (1963)

Despite mid-1960's star power and an Oscar-nominated screenplay, "Captain Newman, M.D." has dated badly. Set in a military "cuckoo's nest" during World War II, the uneven comedy-drama swings from vignettes that depict the effects of combat fatigue to scenes of lame comedy that undercut the intended serious tone. Unfortunately, the dramatic scenes are often as unconvincing as the comedy is flat. Although several supporting performers show off their acting chops in brief hospital scenes, most come off as actors acting. Perhaps the scenes featuring then-recording idol Bobby Darin are most glaring; although Darin snagged a supporting actor Oscar nomination for his performance, his is a showy part that lacks depth, especially in contrast to the restrained performance from Gregory Peck as Captain Newman and a similarly underplayed part played by Angie Dickinson. Peck is particularly good in the lead, and he even survives a clichéd drunken scene with his dignity intact. Among the "cuckoos" in the military psych ward, two seasoned pros do stand out: Eddie Albert and Robert Duvall. Both actors play convincingly without the tempting "hamminess" displayed by many of the others. Tony Curtis also appears as an orderly, but his attempts at comedy are out of place and add little.Directed by David Miller, the see-saw drama to comedy to drama to comedy induces viewer whiplash and results in an uneven film that plods at times. A Christmas show finale seems like little more than padding and could have been cut to trim the running time. A choir of Italian prisoners of war singing "Hava Naguilla" during the Christmas show is something one of the ward patients could have dreamed up. "Captain Newman, M.D." is not a bad film, just disappointing given the credentials. Perhaps seen in the mid-1960's before films like "MASH" redefined service comedy-dramas, the film would have worked better. Contemporary audiences will likely find it old fashioned, but patient viewers will savor Peck's fine performance and his able support from Dickinson, Albert, and Duvall as well as a plethora of other fine players like Jane Withers, James Gregory, and Dick Sargent.

It's 1944 and Capt. Josiah J. Newman (Gregory Peck) is in charge of the military neuropsychiatric ward. Other staff includes Cpl. Jake Leibowitz (Tony Curtis) and nurse Lt. Francie Corum (Angie Dickinson).The military is resistant to Newman and his views on PTSD. He is challenged at every turn. The movie itself was probably at the cutting edge in 1963. The movie was filmed 10 years after the end of the Korean war, and that usually is when the Hollywood reflection movies start to be made. The acting is still movie versions of crazy in today's terms. But it was probably a good improvement on a realistic look at mental illness at the time.

Others have noted how this film's "style" hints of the blockbuster "M.A.S.H." that would hit the silver screen in 1970, with its even greater blockbuster TV series that would rule the air waves for more than a decade. Perhaps it took another decade after this 1963 film, which was still so close to the end of WW II and even closer to the Korean War (not yet called a war for several decades), before the American public could warm up to the idea of humor in war-time hospital settings. "Captain Newman, M.D." clearly set the stage, and it did so in great style. And, for its time, it did so without a gratuitous Hollywood romance, and without a running dialog of overly crude language that many filmmakers seemed to like once the "language barrier" was broken by the time of M.A.S.H. This is all to say that this film stands firmly on its own without extraneous scripting or gimmickry to lure viewers. The plot is excellent and has a perfect blend of humor, seriousness and character study and development. Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis and Angie Dickinson give top-rate performances. Larry Storch, Syl Lamont and the many minor roles are all very good. But I think three supporting actor roles stand out head and shoulders above all others. And that's what makes this film soar, on top of the main cast and plot. Some have commented on Bobby Darin's role, and a couple on Eddie Albert's role. Both were clearly worthy of Best Supporting Actor nominations for the year, although only Darin got such a nomination. Add to that Robert Duvall for a first-rate early role in his career. Wow! What a tremendous film with great acting from a very notable cast. This film scores a 10 for the acting, the subject, the considerate way the script and direction handle such a sensitive subject, and its overall entertainment. It's a classic and part of my war films library.This movie came out in December 1963. It was during the Cold War and not long after the Berlin Wall went up. I was serving in the U.S. Army in Germany at the time and didn't get to see many movies. I didn't recall this film at all, and just learned of it in recent years.

If anything positive can be said for 1963's Captain Newman, MD, it's that it is a compassionate film. It is not a coherent one, nor is it ever sure if it's a WWII drama or a stale service-comedy.CNMD boasts a lot of very familiar faces doing and saying ridiculous things: Gregory Peck is not a man for light comedy (and when he's falling-down drunk, you'll want him to just go to bed and sleep it off, not laugh at him as he pratfalls about with Angie Dickinson). Dickinson is embarrassing as Peck's sort of love interest; she's given little to do but look good and look concerned (which erupts into very controlled weeping when the news from the front gets bad). Tony Curtis wears the outfit of street-wise non-com who keeps telling Peck how easy psychiatry is, dog-robbing the top of a Christmas tree, and herding sheep. Robert Duvall reprises his Boo Radley role from To Kill a Mockingbird, Bobby Darin chews, smacks, and gulps the scenery as a B-17 gunner whose got a bad case of survivor's guilt, and Eddie Albert manages to be the only actor who exceeds the bare minimum of acting expectations here. His Army Air Force colonel is suffering from sending too many youngsters to their deaths, and watching him break up and shatter is the only saving grace in this shoddy mess.Yet, the movie is a compassionate one. It's very madness-of-war and stick-it-to-the-man in its treatment of combat-related mental illness. CNMD is full of 11th grade psychology (so that the audience will get it; God help the trained professional who watches this), cutesy characters, and tedious situation drama and comedy. It reminded me of the first three or four years of M*A*S*H on TV (before Alan Alda decided to inject the series with an overdose of deep). Everyone is running about, trying their best to get the message out to you that WAR IS HELL, but it's nuttier still, and the only way to win it is to be cutesy and compassionate.I like my war-movies-with-a-message a bit more sure of themselves. Just watch Tom Hanks pull himself together three quarters of the way through Saving Private Ryan or the movie M*A*S*H wherein Bobby Troupe keeps confronting the idiocies inherent in soldiering by simply hanging his hands over the steering wheel of a jeep and muttering, "Goddamned army!" Leave the head-shrinking to the professionals.