"The Hospital" as well-crafted as it is is a wholly unpleasant viewing experience. It is not so much a dark comedy but a mean-spirited one. I was a fan of Paddy Chayefsky's "Network" and at least that film had a little bit of light to compensate for the darkness. I'm led to believe that Chayefsky must have had a bad experience with the medical profession and this resulted in him skewering it as a whole. If George C.Scott's character is supposed to be the voice of reason why is it that when he's not brooding, drinking, or contemplating suicide he's off on some rant? Diana Rigg is completely wasted in this film. Her whole purpose here seems to be to sport a short mini-skirt and be ravaged by Scott's character. The film is also not helped by the lead-footed direction of Arthur Hiller. The medical profession can be lampooned but don't look for it in this uneven tirade of a film.

This is a must-see for 1970s film buffs in particular. Consider it a kind of companion piece to "Network," another Paddy Chayefsky-scripted masterwork that deals with similar themes.

In both, a madman claiming to be on a mission from God takes it upon himself to "cleanse" a corrupted society. Meanwhile, our hero -- a cynical middle-aged man (here played by the amazing George C. Scott) -- struggles to find a purpose in the world as the relationships and institutions he's spent a lifetime building crumble around him.

"The Hospital" works best when it's in black comedy mode. A series of horrible and hilarious hospital mishaps form the backbone of the plot, and rise, by the end of the film, to a crazy crescendo.

For a long spot in the middle, though, Chayefsky and director Arthur Hiller focus on the Scott character's cynical rage, mostly in the form of several long monologues. Brilliant, eloquent writing, yes, but at some point it gets repetitive and, to my mind, indulgent.

Even those spots are worth viewing for Scott's mesmerizing performance though. And as he did with "Network," Chayefsky has created, here, a visionary piece of social commentary. Despite all mankind's medical breakthroughs, Scott screams at one point, "We're sicker than ever!" Given the current health care crisis, "The Hospital" is nothing short of prophetic.

That said, I have to agree with the reviewer, above, that this important film could have been better presented on DVD. The framing is indeed awful -- in one early scene, the characters' heads disappear entirely offscreen. Squeezing the film into wide-screen format also results in the actors appearing "stretched" and elongated. C'mon, MGM. You can do better than this.

It's a [more vulnerable] Patton in a white coat, running a hospital, and it's all great fun, with a good story from an Oscar-winning script. You have to love it when Scott dresses down a bureaucratic nurse in that gravelly bellow. You half-expect him to finish her off with "There are brave men DYING out there!"

Schizophrenic film that can't decide whether it's Playhouse 90 or Airplane!. In one corner are Scott and Chayevsky making with the intense psychological realism and some really powerful moments; in the other is chaotic urban hospital laboring at zany gallows humor with a few scattered laughs. In between is director Hiller hoping for single workable whole. Result is awkward pastiche that doesn't live up to super-rich potential. Film is object lesson in how miscasting of even top-notch talent can produce disappointment. I keep wishing gifted amateurs like Zucker Bros. & Jim Abrams had gotten hold of idea first. Sure, Scott is great actor, but he's so authentic he overwhelms ambient efforts at satire; yes, Chayevsky gets off some good lines, but keeps piling on the prose long after it's peaked out. What the movie really needs are more sight gags and a lot less talky angst. In short, let the visuals carry the message -- something word fiend Chayevsky could never allow. My advice: once hippie chick Rigg starts bragging about Scott's restored virility, switch off, because it's a downhill ride from there.

Only a volcanic performance by George C. Scott keeps `The Hospital' alive once Paddy Chayefsy's script flatlines.
The blackly comic set-up of the movie's first half _ a large urban hospital whose crass staff is dying off along with its hapless patients _ yields to smug moralizing in the second half and a ludicrous denouement.
As it unravels, `The Hospital' plays like a half-baked sketch for Chayefsky's far superior `Network,' and viewers looking for satire are better directed to that movie.
Still, in misanthropic medical director Dr. Herbert Bock, Scott has a character that allows him to give full vent to his talents as well as to Chayefsky's middle-class, white male rants.
Estranged from his family, curt with associates, overwhelmed by his job, Bock begins the movie one jolt short of suicide. That comes as other inhabitants of his institution beging dying off, in what seem to be hilarious if horrifying accidents.
But in the first of Chayefsky's major blunders, the good doctor's salavation arrives in the form of a free-spirited Southwestern hippie chick, played by Diana Rigg in an odd bit of casting.
After seeing this movie, Rigg talked about the difficulty of watching oneself on-screen. That's true figuratively and literally here. Her character is written not as a person but as middle-aged male wish fulfillment.
`The girl,' Barbara Drummond, mouths psycho-babble. Supposedly caring for her comatose father, she wanders around the hospital braless, her shirt unbuttoned to the waist. Rather than sexy, it seems witless and looks sexless on the utterly undeveloped Diana Rigg.
Wardrobe failures aside, at least Rigg has a semblance of a role. That's more than can be said of an estimable supporting cast that includes Barnard Hughes and Nancy Marchand.
There's only room for one person in Chayefsky's script, and that's his mouthpiece, Bock. It's to Scott's great credit that he makes his every moment on screen riveting. Fans will want to rent this movie. Others will want treatment afterward.