Wow! Such a good movie.

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Perfect cast and a good story

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Nicely shot around Boston and with a good performance by James Coburn. It's a tale of a humanitarian doctor, James Hong, imprisoned for performing abortions at a time when it was illegal -- just as it appears to be becoming now. The fifteen-year-old daughter of some high muck-a-muck expires during a crude attempt and Hong gets the blame. His friend and colleague, the pathologist Coburn, sets out to discover what really happened. It gets kind of twisted.It's competently directed by Blake Edwards but was evidently sliced and diced by various figures higher up the food chain that Edwards asked for his name to be removed from the credits. The three writers had a similar problem and their names were melded into one name representing a person who does not exist.I'm not sure why people were so embarrassed. I suppose in 1972, when this was released, it may have been too shocking (or not shocking enough) but compared to much recent Hollywood output -- "Sawbones" -- it's a treasure trove.In the course of finding the real culprit, Coburn gets to mouth some radical notions about cutting medical costs and eliminating corruption, but that has nothing to do with the story. In fact -- can I borrow a trope from Raymond Chandler? -- Coburn's outburst stands out like a tarantula on a slice of angel food cake. All doctors in the movies want to clean up the practice of medicine. I doubt that the AMA wants to see docs deprived of one of their three Ford Navigators. The docs in the socialized countries of Europe, like France, are reduced to only one or two Citroens. I'm joking about it but only because the question of medical costs is so much in the air as I write this. Also, I'm jealous. Unless they're old friends, every doctor calls every other doctor "Doctor." I have a PhD and nobody calls me "doctor." And I don't even have ONE Ford Navigator!At any rate, if it's sometimes confusing -- and it is -- it moves at a snappy pace. Coburn is fine as the bullheaded medico who puts friendship before institutional responsibilities. It takes Coburn the entire movie to track down the miscreant, who is not a doc. And at the end, two broken men face each other mano a mano, dripping blood. There's a wild but completely plausible car ride. There are no fireballs and no one's head is wrenched off.You'll probably enjoy it.

James Coburn is a doctor trying to help another doctor who's accused of a botched abortion that results in a death in "The Carey Treatment," a 1972 film that also stars Jennifer O'Neill, Pat Hingle, James Hong, Ed Herlihy, and Skye Aubrey.The movie was made on location, using a lot of exteriors of Mass General Hospital. The inside of the hospital looked very familiar as well, but it's been so many years, I couldn't place it. Having lived in Boston at one time, it was great to see all all of the location shots.The daughter of a hospital benefactor dies at 15 from a botched abortion, and a doctor who secretly performs abortions (Hong) because he's opposed to wire hangers is accused. His pathologist friend, Carey, a newcomer to the hospital, investigates, and the case takes another direction.The story is interesting but not very well done. There's a very late '60s, early '70s feel to the film (naturally, since that's when it was made) - but the plot, involving the abortion scenario, is dated as well. Coburn's character is also the flip, hip type that was prevalent at that time, embodied by someone like Peter Lawford.The beautiful Jennifer O'Neill is Carey's love interest, and she's fairly dreadful. She has a habit of really hitting a certain word in a sentence hard. "And the THINGS that I do..." "WHAT'S wrong" - once you become aware of it, it BECOMES very distracting.There was also one hole in the plot that wasn't explained - the young girl as she was dying apparently names the Hong character as her abortionist, according to her mother. I don't want to give anything away, but I'd love to know what all of that was about. The mention of that seemed like an excuse for Carey to visit a stereotypical character with whom he could be flip - the drunken socialite. It served no other purpose. This movie really doesn't either.

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.

James Coburn makes an (initially) likable hero, Jennifer O'Neill is radiantly pretty and Blake Edwards proves to be surprisingly adept at handling the "serious" material, quite a change-of-pace for him after all the "Pink Panther" entries. But the film becomes bloody and unpleasant in the last 20 minutes, and near the climax it features a particularly distasteful, almost repulsive torture scene. (**1/2)