Daily Dialogue — October 31, 2017

“It is all rubbish, isn’t it? I mean… transplants, anti-bodies, we can produce birth ectogenetically, we can clone people like carrots, and half the kids in this ghetto haven’t been inoculated for polio. We have established an enormous medical entity and we’re sicker than ever. We cure nothing! We heal, nothing! The whole goddamn wretched world, strangulating in front of our eyes.

— The Hospital (1971), written by Paddy Chayefsky

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Hospital.

Trivia: Writer Paddy Chayefsky performed a number of roles on the film. Chayefsky was the writer and a producer and also narrated the film at the start. Chayefsky reportedly had full control over content and casting of the movie.

Dialogue On Dialogue: The point of medicine is to heal people. Not so in this movie’s hospital. Dr. Herbert Bock, as played wonderfully by George C. Scott, delivers a powerful monologue and indictment of the medical industry.