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CalvinJarrett's Replies
I'm assuming the 'T' stands for 'Trump.' What about the 'D' and 'S'? Daily Spoonful?
Wow, ReneeFindley! I'm sorry I didn't check back earlier. What a nice thing to say! I'm happy to offer my take; I'm glad it helped you appreciate Coma even more!
Yes, I thought she was hitting on him, and I would go even further. I think her rebuke of his calling her Agda and her calling him Isak was at play here. To her, calling him by his familiar name and vice versa represented a degree of intimacy even more special than sex. I think she felt something like, "How can I call him Isak, he's never even kissed me?" I feel she was thinking about remedying that situation by leaving the door ajar. Also, the movie did not specify which door she was leaving ajar. Like I don't think the subtitles stated, "I'll leave <i>your<I!> door open," so I thought she could mean her own, which would be a far more provocative message.
That's interesting, stickman38. I always thought Defending Your Life was a lot more than "an afterlife romance featuring Meryl Streep." In fact - though I don't detest it - I always felt the romantic storyline between Brooks and Streep seemed tacked-on. I did think Streep needed to be part of the film because it was very funny to see her life footage and the disposition of both of her 'attorneys' and 'judges,' compared to that of Daniel's proceeding. And I guess he had to fall in love with her because otherwise he wouldn't have performed such a brave overture at the end. But there had to have been so much more to this film than a Meryl Streep romance because it has stayed with me (and seemingly so many other people) over the past 33 years.
Though I don't think fear should be the barometer to determine who should 'move on,' and who must try again, this movie often appears in my head whenever I am at a crossroads between doing something safe and conservative vs. the risky/brave. I often choose the more courageous, albeit riskier proposition, because of Defending Your Life. And while it may not make a bit of difference once I die, I can happily say that those decisions have not haunted me while alive. And I think my life has been better for having made them. So if one movie can change a person's outlook that profoundly, and it has not led to harm, it's got to be a lot more than a simple romantic comedy.
I think he did suspect something was amiss and that's why he borrowed those ten charts from the medical records section. But when he looked though each chart, he couldn't see any errors in the application of the anesthesia. And why would he? The oxygen line would have been turned on and kept on for the appropriate amount of time in each case. He would have no idea that CO is actually coming through that line from a radio-controlled device mounted above the ceiling. Now you might say that he should have noted the fact that in all ten cases these comas were occurring in operation room 8. I think that's where his hubris came in to play. He might have overlooked it while someone like Dr. Wheeler is coming in with a fresh set of eyes (as well as the inside information from the janitor). Dr. Wheeler also had the boldness to talk to the pathologists about how they'd go about killing someone with anesthesia to see if her theory had legs. Dr. George may not have had the disposition to engage in that kind of banter. He may have so much faith in the hospital and his staff that the idea that anything but oxygen could be coming through that line was anathema.
That sounds awful. I'm sorry for the loss of your brother, and for how your parents treated/mistreated you. You have my empathy.
Yes, they really don't make movies like Ordinary People anymore. The same can not be said about biopics (like Raging Bull). Movies about the lives of famous and infamous people have become a dime-a-dozen.
I learned something, Tabbycat. Thanks. I always thought she won for Voyage of the Damned. If you saw her performance in that film (however critical you may be of the movie, in general), Lee did a very nice job with the role.
This was a fanciful film about a place that may or may not exist. It is Albert Brooks' take on the afterlife. Who is to say that his theory is any less valid than any others. Making fear the barometer made for much bigger laughs when the footage from his life is played before the tribunal. I agree with strntz. Had good vs. evil been the gauge, we would not have rooted for him because we wouldn't able to get past the really mean spirited things Lena Foster would have produced for the tribunal.
I'm 7 years too late, but how is Rip Torn (Bob Diamond) "no match for the really good lawyers." He has a client who - let's face it - largely lived his life in fear and has a whopping nine days to contend with. He had bad facts, but the art of being a lawyer is playing up whatever favorable facts you have and playing down the unfavorable. Diamond did this in spades!
Did she win for Shampoo (1975)? I thought she won Best Supporting Actress a year later for Voyage of the Damned.
I saw that movie (in my quest to see all of her work) in the '90's. I either taped it off of cable or rented it on VHS. It having been set in 1968, I think she just wore her old wig from 1967's In the Heat of the Night and Valley of the Dolls. She adopted a longer do (wig) between 1971 (The Neon Ceiling, Columbo) and '74 (The Internecine Project), and then wore a bob between 1975 (Faye, TV series) and at least 1982 (Visiting Hours).
I don't know how honest she was as Lena Foster, but she was no less honest than her counterpart, Bob Diamond (Rip Torn). I thought they both played their roles as competent trial attorneys perfectly, massaging the facts to suit their positions.
That's better. Now he's two above Trump.
Haha. You were right to call me out on that. I misused the italics feature. Meant to only italicize deus ex machina. See - I didn't even attempt italicization that time.
He was blinded by his own ego. He can not accept the possibility that something nefarious may be happening in his department on his watch. 'It's just the nature of anesthesiology. Here and there patients have an adverse reaction to the drugs and are rendered comatose.' He was not actively involved in the conspiracy, but his willful blindness allowed it to go on for years (until Dr. Wheeler came along).
Maybe was hilarious, but it shouldn't have been in the movie. It tells the audience that he is not to be trusted and severely detracts from the reveal toward the end of the film. Instead of coming off as a supportive boss who truly wants (who appears to be) the only female doctor on his staff to advance, he comes off as an arrogant male chauvinist, harried at having to deal with a woman looking into affairs that are not her concern. Up until that point, you get the impression he is only concerned with her legal violation (HIPPA, or its 1978 precursor). Not so after, "Women! Christ!"
I saw this movie on VHS when I was a teen in the '90's, and that line really stuck with me. I didn't remember any other quote (though there were plenty more salient than that one). I watched Coma again yesterday (now in my 40's), and though the line came off just as unprofessional as when I heard it 30-odd years ago, I was able to better understand it in light of the science/medicine.
I realize I'm a decade too late, but he was desperately trying to stop the flow of CO into his lover. Every second counted. He's not on the bomb squad. He's not equipped to defuse that apparatus. He could only crush it. Fortunately, he did not get electrocuted ... but he came close. He's not thinking about preserving evidence. He's thinking about saving his girlfriend.
The movie is vague about it, but I surmised that he was innocent. A major theme of this movie is ego. I think Dr. George (Rip Torn's) character shows how a professional's ego can implicate him in a conspiracy in which s/he has no actual involvement. He was so confident in his abilities and those of his subordinate staff he failed to investigate the irregular coma cases that set off alarm bells in Dr. Wheeler as soon as her friend failed to wake up after a routine D and C. That was why he minded Dr. Wheeler looking at those ten patient charts. It was his hubris, not any fear of getting caught doing something nefarious. This is proven by the fact that he left the charts/files out int he open in the same room when Wheeler later read a few of them after the old security guard let her in. If he had anything to hide, he would have locked them up or altered the operating room number on at least a few of them. He just didn't want her to see them because she was younger, a woman, and not an anesthesiologist. Ego.