The Last Angry Man

This is the story of an elderly Jewish doctor who lives and works in the Brooklyn slums. He is dedicated to his work and his patients. The movie revolves around his nephew's attempts to produce a documentary based on the doctor's life. The movie is ok, but Paul Muni shines. He received an Oscar nomination for this, his last role. Billy Dee Williams makes his movie debut as one of the doctor's patients. He plays a young thug with a brain tumor. He's a difficult patient and the doctor has to chase after him in order to treat him. If you look closely at the girl left on the porch in the opening scene, you'll see that it's Cicely Tyson, also an unknown at that time.

Remember when doctors made house calls and were totally dedicated to their patients? Paul Muni sure was that and a lot more in "The Last Angry Man."

Working and living in a depressed neighborhood, Muni was the embodiment of what medicine is supposed to be all about. When he took the Hippocratic Oath, he meant it.

Muni as the crusty but beloved doctor turned in a truly memorable performance. He received an Oscar nomination. Too bad it was the same year as Charlton Heston's winning portrayal of Judah Ben-Hur.

They sure don't make doctors like that anymore. A definite requirement for new doctors and HMOs to watch. The film is absolutely terrific as it embodies the ideals of what it means to be a dedicated doctor caught up in a world of physicians in it for the precious dollar. Steadfast in his beliefs, Muni gave a brilliant performance. He would never compromise his ideals and would always say that so and so is my patient. Just before his untimely demise, he sees that even a violent criminal may yet have some good left in him. This film is a definite call for the positive in humanity. David Wayne is tremendous as the television producer. He hadn't had such a good part since playing opposite Susan Hayward in 1952's "With A Song in My Heart." As Dr. Vogel, Luther Adler showed what the medical profession has come to, but yet shows what it means to be a doctor when his beloved friend is stricken.

Paul Muni had long been out of pictures when in the fifties his success on the Broadway stage in 'Inherit the Wind' reawakened Hollywood's interest in him.

Two decades after his thirties heyday when he usually played older than his years, now in the era of television he was actually playing a genuinely old man with the result that his 68 year-old Brooklyn slum doctor Sam Abelman looks hardly distinguishable from his Louis Pasteur.

Some of the attacks the trenchant old codger makes on the drugs company that sponsors his show are still relevant today. Muni wears the makeup which leaves the field clear for David Wayne to play a surprisingly 'straight' role.

The Last Angry Man marks the farewell big screen appearance of Paul Muni who had been for about a dozen years concentrating on his stage career. Muni goes back to his roots in this one playing an elderly Jewish doctor in a mixed Brooklyn neighborhood of 1959. He upholds a lot of values that the present generation seems to have lost. He's a man content to be a general practitioner and even makes house calls. He lives with wife Nancy Pollock and nephew Joby Baker.

Baker is an aspiring journalist and writes a story about his uncle when he saves a young black woman played by an unknown Cicely Tyson at the time. A local paper picks it up and it comes to the attention of TV producer David Wayne who thinks the doctor might be a good subject for a television documentary.

Wayne gets a lot more than he bargained for, Muni is quite the opinionated crusty old soul and not willing to just go on the air like a Queen for a Day contestant. He likes his life the way it is, doing good work for it's own reward and enough to live on. This puts him in conflict with Baker and with Wayne who are a pair that could have been working models for Budd Schulberg's Sammy Glick. People like that who want a quick buck without the work, Muni calls galoots and they seem to be multiplying in his life.

Daniel Mann directs a finely tuned cast in support of Paul Muni's swan song. This film marks an early appearance of Billy Dee Williams as a brain tumor stricken teenager who his mother, Claudia McNeil brings to Dr. Muni for help. Muni of course takes him to his lifelong friend, a Park Avenue neurosurgeon played by Luther Adler.

Adler has one of his great screen roles also here. He and Muni both went way back over 40 years to the Yiddish Theater on New York's Lower East Side. That helps in both of their performances as lifelong friends and colleagues because they actually were.

Others of note in the cast are Dan Tobin as the sleazy network executive Betsy Palmer as Wayne's supportive wife and Robert F. Simon as the head of the drug company that would sponsor the show.

It's Paul Muni's show and a really grand farewell to one of the finest actors ever.

Gerald Green adapted his novel "The Last Angry Man" to the screen and the movie brings the affection for his characters lovingly to life. The role of a strong-minded general practitioner in a poor neighbourhood is a lovely swan song for iconic actor Paul Muni. We view the life of this dedicated doctor through the eyes of a television producer played by David Wayne. A program is planned on the life of this doctor and through putting the show together the harried producer gains a new friend and a new perspective on his hectic lifestyle. The wonderful David Wayne and an exceptional cast of professionals bring this sweetly sentimental yet timely story of ideals amidst the rat race to life.