Let's be realistic.

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Based on a novel concerning the trials and tribulations of a gaggle of medical interns at a large metropolitan hospital, this busy, multi-character soap opera entertains in fits and starts, ultimately winding up rather pat and not that memorable. Callan plays an eager beaver, juggling a rich and sexy girlfriend (Helm) with an older, spinsterish nurse (Bard) who he thinks can help further his career. Robertson is a self-assured, older intern who gets mired in the problems of a troubled model (Parker.) MacArthur plays an idealistic guy who longs to have his own clinic and who falls for perky nurse Powers. Adams is a party animal who is tamed by terminally ill patient Davalos. Finally, Harareet is the lone female intern, who faces prejudice from the male-heavy establishment, particularly Savalas. Ebson is on hand as well to help reign in the boisterous, overworked doctors in training, meaning that the interns are presided over by Kojak and Barnaby Jones. Other story threads include a paralyzed man (Brocco) who longs to die and a nurse (Stevens) who throws one dilly of a New Years Eve party. The film opens with what had to be some pretty frenetic editing for 1962. Glimpses of the interns at work flash rather quickly on the screen. Afterwards, the film settles down to a pretty standard level of drama, strife and mild comic relief. Highlights of the film include the crowded party sequence (with its exaggerated bits of faux debauchery), an almost surreal birthing sequence with MacArthur getting his hands wet for the first time and a hysterically over-the-top meltdown scene with Callan when something doesn't go his way. The film touches upon some very controversial topics along the way such as abortion, euthanasia and drug abuse, but the script is so scattershot and the acting so ham-handed by some of the participants that these don't end up having very much impact. There seem to be just a few too many characters and story lines present for any one of them to really hit home the way it should. Ironically, the one storyline that gets the shortest shrift (Harareet's) turns out to be one of the most affecting thanks to some sincere acting on her part and the able support from Savalas. As is to be expected from a glossy soap like this from 1962, there are a few unintentional laughs along the way. Adams gives Davalos a mechanized toy that is so unbelievably annoying and excruciating, one can only assume that it caused her to take a turn for the worst. Also, for a film dedicated to the medical profession and the saving of lives, it's unreal to watch the ungodly quantities of cigarettes consumed throughout. A perennially pregnant woman not only smokes, but drinks! It's an entertaining couple of hours, and inspired a sequel, but is unlikely to stay in the memory for too long after viewing.

Group of medical interns (one woman and the rest men) and future nurses (all women) begin their duties at a large city hospital, cracking wise, planning parties, butting heads, and smoking pipes, cigars and cigarettes (Chesterfields, to be exact). Telly Savalas is the ego-driven chief surgeon who doesn't like women doctors ("You take up room in our hospitals until you fall in love with the wet diapers and the hot stove!"); Nick Adams is the resident goof-off (a cliché by now), however the worst offender in this medical casualty is director David Swift, lumping together more unimportant vignettes and crude slabs of 'comedy' than most TV soaps put together. The script, adapted from the bestseller by Richard Frede, hasn't an iota of natural conversation in it, and the look of the picture is flat and dull. Followed in 1964 by a sequel, "The NEW Interns", and in 1970 by a short-lived TV series. *1/2 from ****

I'd love to have sat in on discussions for this film, assuming there were any. Shot for about 15 cents and starring some of the worst young actors in Hollywood at the time (Nick Adams, Michael Callan and James McArthur), THE INTERNS takes us through the day to day rituals of a group of budding doctors, all of them white and male and fatally hip. You can say they reflect the period in which the film was made, and you would be right, of course. Anyhow, there is no plot -- and this is no SCRUBS, either. It is about as realistic as GREY'S ANATOMY, which is to say not at all. The dialog is horrible, the sets are a joke, the sound is awful, the lighting bad. I could go on. Watch it for one truly hilarious sequence: an intern high on speed, cracking up in the lunchroom and being carried away. I think it was that bad actor of bad actors, John Ashley, but am not 100 percent sure. And make sure you watch it for the gal (Stephanie Powers, I think) who decides abandon her education, not see the world but stay behind and marry her hunky young intern and be a housewife and make babies for the rest of her life. That should get your blood pressure percolating. Well, you can always watch it for tough but tender Telly Savalas or the goofy but droll Buddy Ebsen as chief doctors. The JFK-like Cliff Robertson is on hand as well. Man, what must have 1962 audiences thought of this one? You understand THE INTERNS was made well before EASY RIDER, the movie that wrenched the film business from the hands of aging studio execs who thought they knew what we baby boomers were all about and wanted. You want to see a 1960s hospital movie worth its salt? Catch 1963's SHOCK CORRIDOR with Peter Breck. Made by the one and only Sam Fuller. Only don't watch it alone. I'm warning you.

This film is an excellent drama depicting the challenges faced by wannabe doctors who first need to complete their Internships before they can really get to practice. It depicts the internal struggles of greed, racism and personal ethics. The best part of the whole movie is the wild party that takes place on New Year's Eve. There is lots of booze, lots of dancing, loud music, crazy antics and even a drunken stripper. It is the kind of party that most of us would probably do anything to get invited to.