Coma (film)

Coma
Directed by	Michael Crichton
Produced by	Martin Erlichman
Written by	Robin Cook (novel), Michael Crichton (screenplay)
Starring	Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley, Rip Torn, and Richard Widmark
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Victor J. Kemper
Editing by	David Bretherton
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	February 1, 1978[1]
Country	United States
Language	English

Coma is a 1978 suspense film based on the novel of the same name by Robin Cook. The film rights were acquired by director Michael Crichton, and the movie was produced by Martin Erlichmann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cast included Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley, Meshach Taylor, Richard Widmark, and Rip Torn.

The film is in color with stereo sound and runs for 113 minutes. It is notable for the intense paranoia which pervades the film, similar to other films of the 1970s such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Conversation, The Stepford Wives, and earlier, Rosemary's Baby.

Plot

Susan Wheeler (Geneviève Bujold) is a surgical resident at Boston Memorial Hospital, a close analogue of Massachusetts General Hospital. Wheeler is devastated when her best friend is pronounced brain dead and ends up in a coma after minor surgery at the hospital. Looking at the records, Susan finds that over the previous year a number of other fit young people have ended up the same way. She comes across two similarities to the cases - they all took place in the same operating theatre, and all the comatose bodies were moved to somewhere called the Jefferson Institute. She continues to investigate increasingly alone, starting to wonder if she can trust even her own boyfriend, Dr Mark Bellows (Michael Douglas).

Cast

• Geneviève Bujold as Dr. Susan Wheeler, the main protagonist, surgery resident at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Michael Douglas as Dr. Mark Bellows, chief surgery resident at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Elizabeth Ashley as Mrs. Emerson, RN, of the Jefferson Institute
• Rip Torn as Dr. George, Chief of Anesthesiology at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Richard Widmark as Dr. George Harris, the main antagonist, Chief of Surgery at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Lois Chiles as Nancy Greenly
• Meshach Taylor as Dr. William Kane, Chief Resident at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Frank Downing, as Kelly, a maintenance man at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Hari Rhodes as Dr. Morelind, hospital psychiatrist at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Richard Doyle as Jim, a pathologist at Boston Memorial Hospital
• Lance LeGault as Vince, the truck driver and killer
• Betty McGuire as a nurse
• Tom Selleck as architect Sean Murphy
• Joanna Kerns as Diane
• Ed Harris as one of two pathology residents who tell Susan how to kill a patient

See also

• Organ theft
• Organlegging
• gas cylinder

References

1. ^ http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=filmsearch_exact&dept=Film&movieID=7791

External links

• Coma at the Internet Movie Database