The New Interns

THE NEW INTERNS is a bad sequel to the crapulous THE INTERNS of two years earlier. Shot on the absolute cheap, it is a sequel in name only, although Michael Callan and Telly Savalas are back from the original. That's not saying much, of course. This time around, we have a couple of black doctors on board, including Greg Morris of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE fame. And George Segal is in fine form as a grim-faced intern sporting way too much pancake makeup and eye liner. He has a hysterical scene where he berates a weeping social worker (Inger Stevens) whom he later woos. And his Noo Yawk accent is marvelous to behold. I tell you, the laughs just keep coming, folks. Better you should watch an episode of GENERAL HOSPITAl from the same period or 1963's SHOCK CORRIDOR, a Sam Fuller classic featuring Peter Breck faking his way into a mental hospital and living to regret it.

"The New Interns" is a sequel to "The Interns" (1962) and features many of the original cast. Oddly, six years later, there was a TV series based on the films...though the cast was pretty much all different.

If you are looking for an honest look at the life of young doctors and nurses, then I would strongly recommend you avoid this film. While it has a few serious moments, it also is filled with all sorts of romances, laughs and drama. And, oddly enough, you almost never see any of these doctors actually doctoring! Because of that, I thought it was entertaining AND bad at the same time...especially because VERY serious topics (such as rape as well as infertility) are hidden among the goofball antics of the doctors.

If you do watch the film, it IS a treat for children of the 1950s and 60s, as the movie has few movie actors and mostly TV actors...such as Telly Savalas, Whit Bissell, Dawn Wells, Barbara Eden, Greg Morris, Stephanie Powers and even Jerry Mathers' little brother, Jimmy. In this sense the movie is worth seeing...otherwise...probably not.

By the way, early in the film a doctor is showing his friends ink blots. These are NOT from the actual Rorschach Test in case you are wondering.

Soapy goings-on at an inner city hospital is nothing extraordinary but for any fan of 60's TV or cinema this is a bonanza. Where else will you find I Dream of Jeannie's Barbara Eden, Maryann from Gilligan's Island, Kojak, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and Barney from Mission Impossible all gathered together in one film.

The film's plot has by now been adapted hundreds of times in both film and television but the cast performs their roles effectively. Michael Callan is goofy and charming providing a much needed lightness against the heavier plot threads.

This served as the big screen bow of George Segal who is given the flashiest role of the hot headed new doctor from the neighborhood, the flaw in that scenario is that he talks with a distinct New Yorker accent and no one else does, aside from that he's does fine in the part.

The acting standout is Inger Stevens. At the time this was made she, along with Callan, was the biggest name in the cast and as social worker Nancy is the person with the most serious story line which she handles with aplomb. As always in that tragic beauty's films she is incredibly lovely.

Not great art but if you like medical dramas, soap operas or watching a collection of stars on their way up this is an enjoyable two hours.

I've never considered "The New Interns" a great triumph of creativity, but it's a good movie with soap opera-type story and fine acting by many future stars.

The movie is an in-name-only sequel to "The Interns" (1962) and follows the experiences of several interns at a big city hospital as they learn medicine. Like many hospital films, there are several subplots going on at once: doctor Dean Jones and nurse Stephanie Powers want to have a baby but can't; doctor Telly Savalas is Chief of Surgery and is always yelling; intern Michael Callan just wants to chase female nurses; intern Segal and social worker Stevens fall in love; intern Segal is ultra-dedicated to medicine and intern Callan just wants to party; intern Furth's wife is living in the (gasp!) men's dorm; patient Adam Williams is dying and he's mad about it; and so on. It gets a little hard to follow at times, I admit.

The film's best part is a drunken party, and Sue Ane Langdon is great as a druggy prostitute faking paralysis so she can get into the hospital and get "some real stuff". The battles between Segal and Savalas are entertaining, leading up to a rather limp moralistic conclusion.

My fondness for this movie is probably due to my love of mid-1960s cinema; also it's the only movie I know of in which Dean Jones gets drunk and cheats on his wife. It's also obvious that the filmmakers had another sequel in mind, since all sorts of loose ends were left dangling at the end. Very good for its type.

PS: Isn't that Bob Crane at the party?

This film is a sequel to a ragingly successful film a year earlier called The Interns and starred Michael Callan with Stefanie Powers as the female lead.

This film follows the travails and love interests of a group of young Doctors at a hospital. It is escapist fun.

Columbia had a contract list of Michael Callan who did The Interns, Cat Ballou and The New Interns, Stefanie did The Interns, Love Has Many Faces with Lana Turner and Cliff Robertson, and The New Interns, and a drama with Tallu Bankhead called Die Die My Darling. James Darren and Todd Armstrong were also under contract to Columbia.

MGM with George Peppard, Richard Chamberlain, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss and George Hamilton and Warner Bros with Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens , Ty Hardin, Dorothy Provine, Edd Byrnes, Diane McBain, and Bob Conrad were all part of an Industry that no longer exist: Contract Stars.