Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies – Volume 146: “Captain Newman, M.D.”

• Today’s Movie: Captain Newman, M.D.
• Year of Release: 1963
• Stars: Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson
• Director: David Miller

This movie is not my list of essential films.

NOTE: This installment of Sports Analogies Hidden In Classic Movies is being done as part of something called the Everything is Copy Blog-A-Thon being hosted by Taking Up Room. In the words of our esteemed host, this event is all about “honoring the Ephron family, who have been involved in various forms of American entertainment for decades.”

You can see all the contributors to this blog-a-thon here:

• Days One, Two, and Three

The Story:

Set during the Second World War, Captain Newman, M.D. is based on a Leo Rosten novel which was adapted to the screen by Phoebe and Henry Ephron (among others). The title character and protagonist is Captain Josiah J. Newman (played by Gregory Peck), who is in charge of the neuro-psychiatric ward in a large military hospital in Arizona.

In typical Peck-ish fashion, his portrayal of Newman features a characteristically intelligent yet restrained approach. Newman routinely places his Hippocratic oath over the one he took as a soldier, and this forms the spine of the film through a series of patients. The most notable include Corporal Jim Tompkins (played by Bobby Darin), Colonel Norval Bliss (played by Eddie Albert), and Captain Paul Winston (played by Robert Duvall).

Cpl. Tompkins is a decorated air combat crewman who is reluctant to divulge the nature of his problem. But after being persuaded to take a shot of “flak juice” (which is actually sodium pentothal a.k.a “truth serum”), he confesses to an overwhelming sense of guilt for having to leave a fellow crew member in a burning aircraft.

Guilt also riddles the conscience of Col. Bliss, who can’t cope with the concept of how many men he has sent to their deaths in bombing missions over Nazi Germany. Now suffering from what seems to be incurable schizophrenia, he paces manically in his cell, bellows rant-like erratic orders, and road-blocks all of Newman’s attempts at treatment.

Throughout all of this, Bliss spews constant threats of suicide. Despite this, Captain Newman persists but fails as Bliss escapes his attendants and scales a nearby water tower.

Offsetting that failure is Newman’s success with Cpt. Winston who has withdrawn to such an extent he refuses to communicate. Newman uses Helene Winston (Paul’s wife, played by Bethel Leslie) to lure him out of his self-imposed isolation.

To round out the supporting cast, the “comic foil” comes in the form of Newman’s orderly and smooth-talking operator Corporal Jake Leibowitz (played by Tony Curtis). For the obligatory romantic interest, Newman’s nurse Lieutenant Francie Corum (played by Angie Dickinson) does quite nicely…even if she is sometimes over-the-top sweet.

Generally speaking, Captain Newman, M.D is a fun, if not episodic “dramedy;” it’s main flaw being it can’t decide which one to be. Director David Miller’s work gives the Ephron’s screen adaptation of Leo Rosten’s novel plenty of laughs, but the pacing of the comedy is always being side-tracked by the back-and-forth with scenes having seriously heavy overtones.

Classic film fans giving Captain Newman, M.D an initial viewing will find it familiar; Miller clearly used brushes from films like Mister Roberts, Operation Petticoat, and The Snake Pit to paint his vision. Not to mention, the perceptive eye will easily see why there is a school of thought believing this film served as the prototype for the television series M*A*S*H which would follow nine years later. The series became monstrously popular largely because it moved the needle from the 50/50 comedy-drama mixture of this film decidedly in the direction of comedy.

Captain Newman, M.D also features a cast brimming with familiar faces from the world of classic television. There’s Dick Sargent of Bewitched, Larry Storch of F Troop, and James Gregory of Barney Miller…which is only one notch in his impressive IMDB listing. You can even see Ted Bessell of That Girl, and speaking of M*A*S*H, there’s even the most fleeting glimpse of Mike “B.J Hunnicutt” Farrell.

The Hidden Sports Analogy:

For my money, Captain Newman, M.D. did blaze a new trail. There simply weren’t many examples before this exploring the psychologic effects of war while sweetening that bitter elixir with sprinkles of light comedy. In any event, this movie was talking about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) before the term was even invented.

If nothing else, both comedy and drama are just uniforms donned by entertainment. One of the foundational bedrocks of this series…if not this entire blog…is the belief sports is just another wardrobe choice hanging in the closet of enjoyment where we escape the drudgery of every-day life.

To that end, there’s an adage in the sporting world that fans really only cheer for the laundry. As cynical as it sounds, there’s an uncomfortable amount of truth in the idea that sports fans don’t really care about the hearts that beat inside those uniforms; it’s the performance that matters.

It’s borderline cliché to say athletes are people too, but truth is the raison d’être behind the overuse of any term. Actors and athletes both serve at our escapist whims, but it’s far easier to see the humanity when it isn’t hidden under helmets, shoulder pads, and a numbered jersey. In much the same way that Gregory Peck’s Captain Newman was the first to explore the psychologic effects of war on those who fight, a man named Coleman Griffith blazed a similar trail for athletes.

Largely regarded as the father of sports psychology, Coleman Griffith’s path to that distinction began with his professorship in educational psychology at the University of Illinois. It was in those halls of higher education where his research was published in books such as Psychology and its Relation to Athletic Competition in 1925, The Psychology of Coaching in 1926, and The Psychology of Athletics in 1928.

In all those publications and more, Griffith took concepts from kinesiology, physiology, and biomechanics to understand the relationship between an athlete’s physical performance and various psychological factors affecting that performance. Specifically, Griffith’s work broke ground in areas like motivation, teamwork, performance anxiety, and the psychologic effects of physical injuries both during treatment and recovery.

Griffith’s work didn’t go unnoticed. In 1937, the owner of the Chicago Cubs Philip Wrigley was well-regarded as a captain of American industry. But amongst his fellow team owners in baseball, Wrigley had a reputation for being an eccentric renegade. That’s why nobody batted an eye when Wrigley offered Griffith a position with the Chicago Cubs…complete with an equipment budget, his own research laboratory, and an invitation to join the team for spring training on California’s Santa Catalina Island. Griffith packed his chronoscopes, high-speed motion-picture cameras, and took the westbound train.

Unfortunately, Wrigley’s experiment didn’t work. Griffith was met largely with resentment and distrust by the players, and his relationship with Cubs’ manger Gabby Hartnett was contentious at best. By 1940. Griffith returned to the University of Illinois, where he eventually became a provost. While Griffith’s time with the Chicago Cubs didn’t yield immediate results, there is such a thing as being ahead of one’s time.

The work Griffith did with the Chicago Cubs led to the founding of North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity in 1967. By 1970, University of Massachusetts professors Walter Kroll and Guy Lewis brought Griffith’s work to the forefront in a sports world which was much more receptive to it’s avant garde nature.

Now, the sports psychologist and his trade are seen by professional sports teams with the same regard as the athletic trainer and the orthopedic surgeon. To this day, the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology bestows an annual award named for Coleman Griffith…the Captain Newman M.D. of sports.

The Moral of the Story:

If it’s broke, fix it. Even if you don’t know how, somebody does.

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