Ronald Rubin Movies
- 1984
A TV pilot film, Doctor's Story explores the rights--or rather, the lack of them--of geriatric patients. Howard E. Rollins Jr. plays a young doctor who resents the throwaway attitude conveyed towards the elderly. Among Rollins' patients are a near-senile old man (Art Carney), a woman (Vivece Lindfors) with a mysterious abdominal ailment, and a suicidal widow (Uta Hagen). Stymied by hospital bureaucracy and indifference, Rollins fights to give his older charges the same care and attention afforded younger patients--and in so doing, his own marriage on the critical list. Whether or not this premise could have sustained a weekly series is problematic (the pilot didn't sell), but as a self-contained drama, Doctor's Story was certainly worth two hours of anyone's attention, young or old. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
This TV-movie biography of legendary black ballplayer Leroy "Satchel" Paige unfortunately whitewashes and hokes up his fascinating story. Louis Gossett Jr. stars as Paige, who spends virtually his entire professional career in the Negro leagues because of the "gentlemen's agreement" barring African-Americans from the Majors. Paige's prowess as a pitcher is so famous that he becomes the highest-paid player in the Negro leagues -- but as for joining the mainstream teams, the answer is always the same: "If only you were white." When Jackie Robinson is signed by the Dodgers in 1946, the doors open for other black ballplayers; thus it is that in 1948, Satchel Paige becomes the first black pitcher in the American leagues...at the tender age of 42. Don't Look Back down-pedals Satchel Paige's tempestuous private life (his two marriages are combined into one, for example), and tends to shortchange the viewer in the crucial ball-playing scenes. Its saving grace is the towering performance by star Louis Gossett Jr., who struggles manfully to overcome the script's shortcomings. When the film was first telecast on May 31, 1981, the real Satchel Paige appeared in the prologue; one year later, Paige was dead at the (reported) age of 76. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Long before "don't ask, don't tell," this melodrama made a mishmash of the issue of homosexuality in the military. Rod Steiger stars as Master Sergeant Albert Callan, a hero of WWII who is stationed at a U.S. Army base in France in 1952. A gruff, tough taskmaster, Callan turns the base from a shambles run by the alcoholic Captain Loring (Frank Latimore) into a model of efficiency and discipline -- though the lazy troops resent Callan for his efforts. Callan's been hiding his attraction to men for some time, and his eye is turned toward his attractive clerk, PFC Tom Swanson (John Phillip Law). Callan jealously refuses to grant Swanson permission to visit his French girlfriend (Ludmila Mikael) -- and even orders the younger man to stop seeing her. At first, Swanson interprets Callan's odd behavior as loneliness and forgives it, but after Callan kisses him, Swanson understands that his superior's attentions are sexual. Rebuffed, Callan tortures Swanson with unfair punishments and criticisms, earning his subordinate's animus. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, John Phillip Law, (more)
