Opération clandestine

Coburn was interesting as the plain spoken wild card pathologist Peter Carey who enters a new hospital brimming with problems. Right off the bat a fellow practitioner is accused of a crime which he couldn't possibly have committed. Carey must unravel criminal activities within the institution to clear his friend which puts him in the sights of a psychotic killer. So-so thriller/drama.

I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid and really liking it. At the time, a doctor-as-detective story was an original idea, and Coburn carries it off with typical aplomb. Blake Edwards has directed thrillers before ("Experiment in Terror") so it's not like he doesn't know what he's doing here. At the time abortion was a pretty hot topic, so a thriller on the subject was fairly touchy. It all may seem a little too "hip" now, but I'd give it at least 3 stars.

This little known medical thriller seems like a second cousin to "Coma" and fans of that film should enjoy this one as well. Coburn is a free-living pathologist hired on at a large Boston hospital who almost immediately finds himself trying to disprove a murder rap placed on one of his colleagues. A fellow doctor (Hong, in one of his more substantial roles) is accused of performing an illegal abortion on a fifteen-year-old girl, which led to her death. That the girl is the daughter of the Chief of Staff is no small complication! Coburn must put all the pieces together to find out what actually happened while fending off his protective and commandeering boss (O'Herlihy.) He still finds time, however, to play with O'Neill (whose thankless part only offers one or two decent moments.) Some of the situations and dialogue are inherently "70's", but it is still engrossing entertainment. Coburn has one scene with the great Allen. This effortlessly sophisticated and witty actress partakes in some snappy repartee with him and sparks fly in the well written scene. Coburn also has a memorable run-in with Dreier who nonchalantly simmers some sauce while discussing his niece's death. The subject matter of the film is a bit unsettling and gets increasingly so (and more violent) as it nears its pretty gory climax. Some will view this as a good thing, others may be put off. One scene involving a masseuse and client is quite tense. This leads to some bloodletting and then a nail-biting, if a bit far-fetched, finale. Aubrey is the daughter of Phyllis Thaxter and looks much like her. Blake Edwards' daughter Jennifer has a small, but featured role as the dead girl's roommate. TV fans will note the presence of Hillerman and Mandan as doctors on staff. One complaint: With all the dramatics and hysterics during the resolution, it can be hard to hear what actually happened! Keep the remote handy for a rewind.

James Coburn plays a pathologist who is investigating the death of the fifteen-year-old daughter of the chief of medicine, who has died of a botched abortion that has been blamed on his colleague (James Hong), who is an illegal abortionist on the side. A lot of people today would be horrified of a movie where the hero is actually trying to help out an abortion doctor. But this was 1972 and people tend to forget that everything wasn't all bright and wonderful back when abortion was still illegal either (I don't personally take a side on the abortion debate, but I have a problem with people on either side who think the issue is in any way morally clear-cut and unambiguous--it's not now and never was). But before anyone goes bemoaning "liberal Hollywood", there's also a real "Dirty Harry" element to this movie, like a scene where Coburn essentially tortures information out of a drug-addicted suspect by denying her treatment. This particular scene should offend liberals everywhere (as well as anyone else who's ever heard of the Hyppocratic Oath).

But the fact that this movie might offend both conservatives AND liberals is exactly what I liked about it. The real world is morally messy and no one person is ever 100 percent morally righteous, and the many, many Hollywood movies that try to make things morally simplistic and their protagonists morally pure actually do a great disservice in many ways. Of course, the moral complications in this particular movie seem to be more the result of a confused production than anyone's clever intentions. Still I always find an interesting failure like this much more enjoyable than a boring success (like whatever old TV show they're making into a major motion picture this week). And in 1970's Hollywood there was a whole string of these kind of interesting failures, which is why I find that whole period so fascinating.

This movie definitely has some problems as other have said. Jennifer O'Neil is completely wasted, and the basic plot is riddled with holes (i.e. noboby but the protagonist notices that the botched operation was very obviously not the work of a trained doctor). Coburn isn't bad though, and this movie does kind of anticipate both "Coma" and the popular TV series "Quincy MD". Not good, but interesting, and certainly worth seeing.

Curiously mediocre, middle-of-the-road film from director Blake Edwards, adapted from Michael Crichton's novel "A Case of Need," has James Coburn (cocky as ever, and enjoyably so) playing the new pathologist at a Boston hospital, sorting out the mystery of a young murder victim. Light drama keeps tongue-in-cheek yet has aspirations to be a whodunit and doesn't quite make the grade. Coburn's general panache is effortless, but he's just coasting through, and the role doesn't challenge him (or us) in any way. Jennifer O'Neill is attractive but (once again) underused as a romantic interest. Screenwriter Harriet Frank used the pseudonym James P. Bonner for the credits--just as original writer Crichton did (as Jeffrey Hudson) for his book! **1/2 from ****