Femmes de médecins

Unintentionally hilarious trash. Dyan Cannon's opening line,"God I feel horny!", Rachel Roberts confessing to a lesbian affair,"It was a hot night and I had a thin blouse and no bra" Gene Hackman's reaction, Cara Williams drunken appearance at the club,"The truth is we're all tramps", Janice Rule's outfit, Lori's funeral, Rule writhing on the floor in drug induced lust,etc... all create hilarity in a seriously intended soaper:replete with subplots and a hospital setting. Some of the dialogue is priceless. All of this is interpolated by prolonged, graphic scenes of surgery. It's "Desperate Housewives" with gore. An interesting and diverse cast adds to the fun, and for intended comic relief, there's Christina Holland(from TV's "The Courtship of Eddie's Father")as a student studying sex, and tape recording her sessions. Dyan Cannon is in good form in her regrettably brief role. And was the song "Costume Ball", sung by Cass Elliot, written specifically for this film? Check this one out, and laugh and scratch your head at the same time. DVD PLEASE!

I remember the advertising line for this film – 'Doctors Wives have everything…except husbands.' You'll never forget it, just like the film. The nausea lingers on. This is one of a number of films that Dyan Cannon made to cash in on the success of 'Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice'. Others included 'The Burglars', 'The Love Machine' and 'The Anderson Tapes', but this is surely the least of them. I have to announce that "Doctors Wives' has no redeeming features, and is actually worse than 'The Love Machine'(if such a thing is possible although apart from Cannon being in both the two are actually not connected.). The plot is incoherent and even when you can understand what's going on, it makes you want to, well…go back to sleep because you couldn't understand what was going on before, and that was what made you go to sleep in the first place. (I hope I haven't lost you.) Is there any reason why anybody should give a toss about these rich, upper class, well groomed nitwits who go around sleeping with each other's husbands, and then cry about it when they're dumb enough to get caught? I think I'd rather torture myself with daytime television on an endless tape loop (come back Oprah, all is forgiven).

Some notables in the cast should be mentioned here, in case they have, for the sake of their careers, left this woeful little number off their CVs. We have Gene Hackman, Richard Crenna Janice Rule and Rachel Roberts (a distinguished British stage actress and how did she ever get involved in this particular project?) These are the only participants I am cruel enough (or is it stupid enough), to remember as members of the cast, either playing total boneheads who have no idea what their wives are doing behind their backs, or bimbos who are sleeping with other women's husbands.

This was one of Hollywood's attempts to cash in on the 60's sexual revolution, but I think the members of this cast were the first casualties. What seemed disgraceful in 1971, seems a bit silly nowadays, and the premise of one of the wives making a dare to her bridge pals that she will sleep with all of their husbands is a tad tacky even if it wasn't before, back when the film was originally made. These ladies do not seem the least bit liberated. Just catty. As the Phantom of the New York Daily News would say, this film is viewed at your own risk, so you can't say you weren't warned. In other words, viewers beware, as 'Doctors Wives' is a totally mind (as well as behind) numbing experience.

.....of made for TV movies flourished in the 70's and this film feels like it was one of those. Everything about this screams soap opera 70's style.

The guys will be guys, and the girls are psychotic ......or is it the other way around? Regardless, the characters were written eons ago. The adultery committed is a huge soap opera trope. I was half expecting the wardrobe department to match the colour scheme of what ever set they were shooting on any particular day.

As a break from the tedium of mellow-drama, the OR scenes were interesting enough, though I can't speak on their accuracy, but it was a welcome break to everything else that was going on in this flick.

It's a time killer if you need time to kill.

What's the point of this film? What does it have to say? And why does Dyan Cannon disappear so early on? You'll have all those questions running through your mind while you're watching "Doctor's Wives", but this vapid, pointless, soap-opera-level film provides no answers. A very superficial treatment of potentially strong subjects. A great cast that is thoroughly wasted. And a heart-surgery scene that is not for the squeamish. (*1/2)

Doctors' Wives turned out to be a fun evening at the movies. I mean what more could you ask for? A murder. An affair. An inter-racial relationship. A brain operation. A sex-pot who beds down 32 medical doctor interns! A sex-pot who not only beds down here husband's friends, but some of their wives as well! Drug addiction. Drunks. Sluts. Black-Mail. You name it, this movie has it. And what an all-star cast! There's even Archie Bunker running around after his ex-wife...ha..ha! For it's time it must of been shocking. People must have fainted or been delighted at all the wild going-ons. Of course by today's standards it's pretty tame, and a bit lame. But, Great fun!