The Hospital (1971)

The Hospital: Directed by Arthur Hiller. With George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard Dysart. A hospital’s chief-of-staff struggles to find meaning in his life during a spate of staff deaths.

“u0026quot;The Hospitalu0026quot; is pretty much what youu0026#39;d expect from a Paddy Chayefsky movie on healthcare. Its Manhattan Hospital Center is a Gothic horror funhouse in which patients are killed either due to neglect, the wrong diagnosis or any other manner of bureaucratic nightmare. All of this is played to the ridiculous extremes and it makes for some hilarious dark comedy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGeorge C. Scott is the filmu0026#39;s fiery main attraction (the man is incomparable, really), and his frustrated character is both energizing and exhausting. And his one-on-one dialogues with Diana Rigg help give this movie its emotional core. But the outlandishness of this hospital is what makes this movie memorable for me. Which honestly isnu0026#39;t supposed to subtract in any way from Scottu0026#39;s contribution (seriously, watch this for him), but thereu0026#39;s also Barnard Hughesu0026#39; tirade in the OR, Mrs. Cushingu0026#39;s badgering of despondent patients for their Blue Cross numbers, and the kind of farcical healthcare environment that really hits a little too close to home, these days.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is riveting absurdity.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e8/10”