''Young Doctors in Love'' is a 1982 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Garry Marshall Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American filmmaker and actor. He started his career in the 1960s writing for ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play ''The Odd Co ...

. It spoofs a variety of medical shows (in particular, ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'') and has many guest stars from

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

s. The film stars

Sean Young Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in sci-fi films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres. Young's early roles include the independent romance ''Jane Auste ...

Michael McKean Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in '' Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in '' ...

Harry Dean Stanton Harry Dean Stanton (July 14, 1926 – September 15, 2017) was an American actor, musician, and singer. In a career that spanned more than six decades, Stanton played supporting roles in films including '' Cool Hand Luke'' (1967), ''Kelly's Heroe ...

Dabney Coleman Dabney Wharton Coleman (born January 3, 1932) is an American actor. Coleman's best known films include '' 9 to 5'' (1980), '' On Golden Pond'' (1981), ''Tootsie'' (1982), ''WarGames'' (1983), '' Cloak & Dagger'' (1984), ''The Beverly Hillbillies ...

and

Patrick Macnee Daniel Patrick Macnee (6 February 1922 – 25 June 2015) was a British film and television actor. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he began his acting career in Canada. Despite having some small film roles, Macnee spent much ...

. It also features

Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After making her film debut in 1981, Moore appeared on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' (1982–1984) and subsequently gained recognition as a member of the Bra ...

in one of her early film roles.

Plot

A group of eight young

medical interns A medical intern is a physician in training who has completed medical school and has a medical degree but does not yet have a license to practice medicine unsupervised. Medical education generally ends with a period of practical training similar ...

join the City Hospital surgery staff run by Dr. Prang, a brash and cynical surgeon leading an expensive and dissolute lifestyle. Meanwhile, old mafioso Sal Bonafetti is admitted to the same hospital under an assumed name after suffering a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

; his son Angelo disguises himself as a woman or 'Angela' in order to watch over Sal, fearing retaliation by rival crime syndicates. Professional hitman Malamud is admitted to a bed next to Sal's in order to assassinate him, but his every attempt fails, causing Malamud himself to undergo painful and unnecessary treatment. The resident who regularly checks in with Sal and Angela is Dr. Walter Rist. Over time he seems to develop feelings for "her", not knowing it's Sal's son in disguise. Residents Dr. Stephanie Brody and Dr. Simon August develop a relationship as the film progresses. Out to dinner, she has a strong pain in her side, but shakes it off, insisting it's nothing. As Dr. Phil Burns is working two other jobs to afford the residency, he's half-asleep when a dirty note is passed to him by head Nurse Norine Sprockett. Taken from a patient, Phil mistakens it as a come on. When he makes a pass at her, Norine slaps him. As a way of apologizing, he shows her the fox step, as his second job is as a dance instructor. Phil discovers Norine wears the key to the medications cabinet around her neck when he convinces her to get him an upper. Dr. Prang tells Simon he will schedule him for a basic surgery, and when he's asked to perform an appendectomy he chokes. He has a flashback to a joke played on him with a piñata on his birthday. Stephanie makes love to him on the operating table in the operating theater to cure him of his panic of the room. Months pass, Sal continues to thwart Malamud's assassination attempts. At the hospital Christmas party, Stephanie and Simon announce their engagement and she collapses shortly afterwards. It's discovered that she is afflicted with a condition requiring a labor-intensive procedure. Simon forces a reluctant Dr. Prang to go ahead with the operation. As it's complicated, the surgeons practise on a dummy. In the meantime Phil, who's greatly increased a pill pushing business he's started by stealing using a copy of the medicine cabinet key, gets nabbed by the police. Norine had tipped them off once she'd discovered he'd been robbing the hospital. Stephanie's operation is scheduled, but at the last minute both the nurses go on strike and Dr. Prang loses it after his accountant says that he has to declare bankruptcy. Simon must operate without him, using his fellow residents as support. After some scares, the operation is ultimately a success.

Cast

as Dr. Stephanie Brody *

as Dr. Simon August * Gary Friedkin as Dr. Milton Chamberlain * Kyle T. Heffner as Dr. Charles Litto *

Rick Overton Richard Overton (born August 10, 1954) is an American screenwriter, actor and comedian. His writing credits include ''Dennis Miller Live'', and his acting credits include ''Beverly Hills Cop'', ''Groundhog Day'' and ''Mrs. Doubtfire''. Life and ...

as Dr. Flicker *

Crystal Bernard Crystal Lynn Bernard (born September 30, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for her roles as Helen Chappel-Hackett on the sitcom ''Wings'' (1990-1997), Amy on ''It's a Living'' (1985–1989), and K.C. Cunningham on ' ...

as Julie *

Ted McGinley Ted Martin McGinley (born May 30, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jefferson D'Arcy on the television sitcom '' Married... with Children'' and as Charley Shanowski on the ABC sitcom ''Hope & Faith''. He was a late regular ...

as Dr. DeVol *

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on '' Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

as Kurtzman *

as Dr. Ludwig *

Hector Elizondo In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

as Angelo *

Pamela Reed Pamela Reed (born April 2, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic police partner in the 1990 movie ''Kindergarten Cop'' and as the matriarch Gail Green in ''Jericho''. She appeared as Marlene ...

as Nurse Sprockett *

as Dr. Prang *

Michael Richards Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and comedian best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom '' Seinfeld''. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first enterin ...

as Malamud Callahan *

Taylor Negron Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron (August 1, 1957 – January 10, 2015) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Milo in the 1991 buddy cop action comedy film ''The Last Boy Scout''. Early life Negron was born in Glendale, C ...

as Dr. Phil Burns *

Titos Vandis Titos Vandis ( el, Τίτος Βανδής; 7 November 1917 – 23 February 2003) was a Greek actor. Biography Vandis began his career on the Greek stage in the late 1930s. In 1962, he won the Best Actor award for the film ''Poliorkia'' at ...

as Sal Bonafetti * Patrick Collins as Dr. Walter Rist *

as Jacobs *

Haunani Minn Haunani Minn Singer (September 30, 1947 - November 23, 2014) was an American film and television actress. She was married to actor Marc Singer. Among her TV credits are "Hawaii Five-0" (" Murder with A golden Touch") and MASH (" Guerilla, My dr ...

as Nurse Chang *

Lynne Marie Stewart Lynne Marie Stewart (born December 14, 1946) is an American actress, best known for her performance as Miss Yvonne, the Most Beautiful Woman in Puppet Land. She originated the role in the 1981 stage show ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'', continuing it ...

as Nurse Thatcher *

Richard Dean Anderson Richard Dean Anderson (born January 23, 1950) is a retired American actor and producer. He began his television career in 1976, playing Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series ''General Hospital'', and then rose to prominence as the lead a ...

as the drug dealer (uncredited)

Reception

The film was a moderate box office success with over $30 million. It received a positive review from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', which wrote that "there are enough bright moments to make this a passable hot-weather entertainment." It maintains a 31% "rotten" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 16 reviews.

Flixster Flixster is an American social-networking movie website for discovering new movies, learning about movies, and meeting others with similar tastes in movies, currently owned by parent company Fandango. The formerly independent site, allows users t ...

References

External links

* * * * {{Jerry Bruckheimer 1982 films 1980s sex comedy films 1980s English-language films Films set in hospitals American sex comedy films ABC Motion Pictures films Films directed by Garry Marshall Films scored by Maurice Jarre Films shot in Los Angeles Films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Films about physicians Films about surgeons 1982 directorial debut films 1982 comedy films 1980s American films