Gregory Peck followed his Oscar-winning turn in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) with the title role of an Air Corps psychotherapist who uses whatever means necessary to connect with his troubled patients and help them to adjust to life after combat in Captain Newman, M.D. (1963).
Most of the 1950s and ’60s films regarding psychiatrists and their methods are straight dramas which attempt to delve into the disturbed minds of the patients and depict how difficult it is for the psychiatrists to help their wards. Captain Newman, M.D. is a notable exception in that it is quite humorous, despite its rather intense subject matter. Most of it is serious, of course, but the script allows director David Miller to inject satire and even some slapstick into the proceedings occasionally, to great effect.
At an air base hospital in 1944, Captain Newman (Peck) and his staff are given just six weeks with each patient before the men are to be transferred to long-term mental health facilities or returned to active duty. This time limit makes it difficult to treat the men properly. The story focuses on three particular subjects: an honored officer who begins to behave erratically (Eddie Albert), a corporal who turns to drink (Bobby Darin) and a flyer who had been hiding in a European cellar for more than a year (Robert Duvall).
But the film is as much about the doctors as their patients. Besides Peck as the head psychicatrist, the story highlights Tony Curtis as an orderly who has a way with the patients and ambitions to join Captain Newman in private practice, and Angie Dickinson as a caring nurse with the best legs in the Air Corps. It is their devotion to their patients that drives the drama.
Captain Newman, M.D. is very dramatic, particularly when one of the patients goes on the rampage with a knife. But it is also quite humorous, usually led into that realm by Curtis. His byplay with both Newman and the patients is smart and sure, and usually amusing. Then there are the sheep, which take over the base runway at a crucial juncture, and the Italian prisoners of war who spend their Christmas season learning how to perform the traditional song “Hava Naguilla.”
The film isn’t groundbreaking, but it is solid, provocative, thoughtful entertainment, well acted by a veteran cast which also includes Jane Withers, Dick Sargent, Larry Storch, Vito Scotti, James Gregory and Bethel Leslie. It’s ending also qualifies it as a nice film for the holidays. My rating: ✰ ✰ ✰. (7:2).