This film is a bit of a puzzlement. Parts of it have a made-for-TV feel, some of it is quite entertaining, and some of it is odd and a bit disturbing. Some might find that interesting in a "something for everybody" sort of way, but to me the weirdness works against it.
The basic premise is a west-coast Doctor Carey, played by James Coburn, decides to make a move in his life to be a pathologist at a large Boston hospital. We first see Carey arriving, then settling into his job. He also manages to start a relationship with pretty Jennifer O'Neill. He is happy that several friends and associates from his past, including Dr. Tao, are also working at the hospital. The chief surgeon is the arrogant Dr. JD Randall , who is very good and takes the hardest cases. In passing, Carey meets Dr. Randall's young daughter, Karen.
Not too much later, Karen Randall ends up being brought into the very same hospital by ambulance, appearing to be bleeding to death from a botched abortion. The girl dies, and Carey learns that his friend Dr. Tao has been arrested for performing an abortion on the underaged girl. Carey visits Tao in jail and Tao admits to doing abortions to help young girls in a bind, but he didn't perform this one. Carey offers to help solve this mystery and save his friend from prison, setting off the next part of the film into a mildly interesting whodunit.
Underaged girls dying from botched abortions is rather strong stuff for a 1972 movie, back when abortions were illegal and before the whole thing became a political football. In fact, most characters portrayed here don't exactly have a good impression of the whole thing, which is rather refreshing. However, from this point forward, there is a lot of strangeness to the movie.
There are some uncomfortable portrayals and dialogs from the young girls in the film. During the autopsy of Randall's daughter, the film keeps flashing to this young girl bouncing around the beach in a bikini as her dead body is worked on. Carey talks to her school room mate, who doesn't particularly seem upset at Karen's death, and then discusses what a slut Karen was...."threesomes, foursome, and more! She'd do anything..." Carey frightens her into admitting that she was talking about herself, and not Randall.
The movie seems fixated on sex, which is disturbing in a film about botched abortions and death. Throw in a torture sequence to get a confession out of someone, and even a homoerotic rubdown sequence and you begin to get an idea of how truly weird the movie is.
The other part that bothered me is that no one seemed to care about the dead girl but Carey. Her dad just continues to work, the uncle just focuses on cooking, and the stepmom is simply a snarky narcissist. Maybe this in and of itself is trying to say something about the lack of care in all kinds of death, I am not sure.
Worth a look if you are really bored, but don't say I didn't warn you!
The basic premise is a west-coast Doctor Carey, played by James Coburn, decides to make a move in his life to be a pathologist at a large Boston hospital. We first see Carey arriving, then settling into his job. He also manages to start a relationship with pretty Jennifer O'Neill. He is happy that several friends and associates from his past, including Dr. Tao, are also working at the hospital. The chief surgeon is the arrogant Dr. JD Randall , who is very good and takes the hardest cases. In passing, Carey meets Dr. Randall's young daughter, Karen.
Not too much later, Karen Randall ends up being brought into the very same hospital by ambulance, appearing to be bleeding to death from a botched abortion. The girl dies, and Carey learns that his friend Dr. Tao has been arrested for performing an abortion on the underaged girl. Carey visits Tao in jail and Tao admits to doing abortions to help young girls in a bind, but he didn't perform this one. Carey offers to help solve this mystery and save his friend from prison, setting off the next part of the film into a mildly interesting whodunit.
Underaged girls dying from botched abortions is rather strong stuff for a 1972 movie, back when abortions were illegal and before the whole thing became a political football. In fact, most characters portrayed here don't exactly have a good impression of the whole thing, which is rather refreshing. However, from this point forward, there is a lot of strangeness to the movie.
There are some uncomfortable portrayals and dialogs from the young girls in the film. During the autopsy of Randall's daughter, the film keeps flashing to this young girl bouncing around the beach in a bikini as her dead body is worked on. Carey talks to her school room mate, who doesn't particularly seem upset at Karen's death, and then discusses what a slut Karen was...."threesomes, foursome, and more! She'd do anything..." Carey frightens her into admitting that she was talking about herself, and not Randall.
The movie seems fixated on sex, which is disturbing in a film about botched abortions and death. Throw in a torture sequence to get a confession out of someone, and even a homoerotic rubdown sequence and you begin to get an idea of how truly weird the movie is.
The other part that bothered me is that no one seemed to care about the dead girl but Carey. Her dad just continues to work, the uncle just focuses on cooking, and the stepmom is simply a snarky narcissist. Maybe this in and of itself is trying to say something about the lack of care in all kinds of death, I am not sure.
Worth a look if you are really bored, but don't say I didn't warn you!