Captain Newman

I enjoyed the movie very much. Of course I am one of those baby boomer's born after World War II. So I and my siblings would play war (those were the days when parents would remind their charges that movies were make believe). So being 12 years old at the time, "Captain Newman, M.D." was one of the few adult films that I as a kid that I enjoyed and understood. Even being that young I had for the most part enjoyed, Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin and Eddie Albert in their respective rolls. I felt for Eddie's character as a Colonel Norval Algate Bliss. Having sent his people out to death, it was a memory his character could not live with. To me, he played the character well, not just acting, but because he had "been there, done that" and so he had seen his share of death during World War II at Tarawa. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys acting at its best.

For reasons I don't understand Captain Newman MD has always been singled out for criticism, most particularly directed at Gregory Peck saying he's too stiff for comedy. I don't agree on a number of levels and this is one of my favorite films with him.

First and foremost Peck's role is not one of comedy. What he does in the film is serve as Tony Curtis's straight man. Now his role is a comic one and very funny indeed.

Peck runs the psychiatric ward in an Army Air Corps Hospital out in the Arizona desert during World War II. There's no way a man like Peck would be in the command of George S. Patton who just didn't believe in Peck's whole profession. And in Patton like fashion if someone isn't shipped back to command in twelve weeks, Peck hears about it.

Captain Newman, MD is a serious film about such people and they are at the heart of the story with Peck trying his best to fix the broken minds and psyches in our Armed Forces. Three of his cases are the drunken, guitar playing corporal Bobby Darin, the catatonic flier Robert Duvall, and Eddie Albert the colonel who has gone psychotic. Peck has a mixed record of success with these three and with others in his ward.

Bobby Darin got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, it's a fine performance but he lost that year to Melvyn Douglas for Hud. But personally I feel that Eddie Albert stole Captain Newman, MD from the rest of the cast. It's a tossup between this role and Attack for the best performances of Albert's carer.

Robert Duvall always credited Peck with giving him a good start to his long career with key roles in To Kill A Mockingbird and Captain Newman, MD. Funny thing is that Duvall has little dialog here and none in To Kill A Mockingbird. Far from the well spoken attorney who was consigliere to The Godfather. He's matched in his performance by his wife played by Bethel Leslie who is apparently much influenced by Grace Kelly in her performance. She's his prim and proper wife who tries to stir his interest in an attempt at an unusual kind of shock therapy.

Aiding Peck in his treatment of his patients are nurses Angie Dickinson and Jane Withers and orderlies Tony Curtis and Larry Storch. In his memoirs Tony Curtis says that he got along very well with Gregory Peck who he says was one of the best class acts in Hollywood. He didn't get along all that well with director David Miller who wanted Curtis to be more ethnic in his interpretation of Corporal Jackson Leibowitz. Curtis won out and I think he was right in this case. A friend of Tony Curtis's since childhood is Larry Storch and because of that Storch appears in a few films with Curtis. As Peck was Tony's straight man, Storch becomes his comic foil in a couple of scenes and they work well together.

Captain Newman, MD is a classic film, both entertaining and thought provoking, about the treatment of mental breakdowns among our military. As we certainly now are a country at war, Captain Newman, MD has a relevancy today that is timely. Absolutely do not miss it when it is broadcast.

Though highly entertaining at many points (largely due to the antics of Cpl. Jackson 'Jake' Leibowitz and his band of merry Italian POWs who sing semitic native American songs--don't ask, don't try to figure it out, just see the movie--and even some of the very well executed art of subtle humor carried out by Capt. Newman, MD) this movie manages to have a quite serious theme at its core . . . the intense psychological effects on a soldier's mind which can be brought upon by the reality of war. It's refreshing to see a movie from this period that touches on these more delicate, in-depth themes of war rather than portraying the glories of war as so many other films contemporary to this one do. Not to say that all other films from this era or before don't touch on these themes. One other great example would be 1949's Twelve O'Clock High, also starring Gregory Peck. The dialog is consistently fresh, and I found the pace to move along quite nicely. This movie features a superb cast who performs wonderfully throughout the film. If you like serious, thought-provoking, emotional themes, yet also enjoy lots of good laughs, then I would recommend seeing this film.

*On a side note, given the fact that this movie--from my perspective--seems to be somewhat ahead of its time in subject matter, directing style in some of the scenes, and even some concepts not too common during the 60s, it's interesting to point out that the movie still portrays the classical female role in life. There is one line that is spoken by Lt. Francie Corum that shows this perfectly. The line doesn't seem to be necessary and doesn't really fit with what the characters are discussing. I won't tell you the line, but try to find it for some fun.

With all due respect to HAL-900, Bobby Darin's excellent portrayal as "Little Jim" HAD to be less than subtle in order to allow the also very excellent Robert Duval to play his character as subtly as he did. Gregory Peck is excellent as the stalwart Psychiatrist dealing with medical as well as bureaucratic challenges. Angie Dickinson IS pretty much just for show, but she NEVER looked better. Yes, Peck's 'drunk' is a tad corny but necessary to show that he was not invulnerable to the suffering that whirled about him. Tony Curtis and Larry Storch provide (necessary) comic relief. Modern Psychiatry was still in it's infancy when this movie is set and a long way from where it is today when the movie was produced. Gregory Peck starred in a LOT of excellent films and I number CAPTAIN NEWMAN, MD among them. It is part of TCMs library so catch it if you can.(Added 11/01/08)Huzzah! A new GREGGORY PECK DVD collection will be released November 4th, 2008 and CAPTAIN NEWMAN, MD is one of the titles included along with TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, CAPE FEAR, ARABESQUE and THE WORLD IN HIS ARMS.

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.