The Interns | |
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Original film poster by Howard Terpning
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Directed by | David Swift |
Produced by | Robert Cohn |
Written by | Walter Newman |
Based on |
The Interns 1960 novel by Richard Frede |
Starring |
Michael Callan Cliff Robertson |
Music by | Leith Stevens |
Cinematography | Russell Metty |
Edited by | Al Clark Jerome Thoms |
Production
company |
Robert Cohn Productions
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Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $9,230,769 |
The Interns is a 1962 American drama film that starred Michael Callan and Cliff Robertson. This film is a medical melodrama that presages many similar TV programs to follow. It centers on the personal and professional conflicts of young medical interns under the tutorage of senior surgeons, Telly Savalas and Buddy Ebsen. The film was followed by a 1964 sequel, The New Interns, and a 1970–1971 television medical drama series, The Interns, that was based on the films. The Interns was directed by David Swift.
A class of interns arrive for their first year in training at a public city hospital, which serves patients from many different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Close friends and classmates John Paul Otis (Cliff Robertson) and Lew Worship (James MacArthur) plan to become surgeons and open their own clinic together. They are less than thrilled about their assignment to obstetrics, feeling that delivering babies is not very difficult.
Lew becomes romantically involved with student nurse Gloria (Stefanie Powers), while John becomes infatuated with fashion model Lisa Cardigan (Suzy Parker). Lisa dislikes the idea of dating a relatively impoverished young doctor, and is pregnant out of wedlock by another man. Although John offers to solve her problem by marrying her, she pressures him to illegally obtain pills for her in hopes of ending the pregnancy. He finally does so and is caught and reported by Lew, ending their friendship and John's medical career.
Sid Lackland (Nick Adams) aspires to serve wealthy patients so he can make a lot of money. Then he becomes attached to Loara (Ellen Davalos), a girl from a poor village in Southeast Asia who is one of his patients. She has a rare medical condition and is scheduled for a serious operation. Loara resists his friendly overtures because she is sure she will die in the hospital. Sid is heartbroken when Loara dies during her surgery.