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Coma (1978)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
6 January 1978 (USA) moreTagline:
Imagine your life hangs by a thread. Imagine your body hangs by a wire. Imagine you're not imagining.Plot:
At the Boston Memorial General Hospital, patients are being deliberately killed off and their organs sold on the black market... more | add synopsisAwards:
1 nomination moreUser Comments:
Fine medical thriller; good work by Bujold and Widmark moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Geneviève Bujold | ... | Dr. Susan Wheeler (as Genevieve Bujold) |
 | Michael Douglas | ... | Dr. Mark Bellows |
| Elizabeth Ashley | ... | Mrs. Emerson |
 | Rip Torn | ... | Dr. George |
 | Richard Widmark | ... | Dr. Harris |
| Lois Chiles | ... | Nancy Greenly |
| Hari Rhodes | ... | Dr. Morelind (as Harry Rhodes) |
| Gary Barton | ... | Computer Technician |
| Frank Downing | ... | Kelly |
 | Richard Doyle | ... | Jim |
| Alan Haufrect | ... | Dr. Marcus |
| Lance LeGault | ... | Vince (as Lance Le Gault) |
| Michael MacRae | ... | Chief Resident |
 | Betty McGuire | ... | Nurse |
 | Tom Selleck | ... | Sean Murphy |
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Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
113 min | Belgium:104 min (video version)Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Metrocolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:AA (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (cut) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) | USA:TV-PG (2006) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 (1978) | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:16 | Australia:M | Singapore:PGMOVIEmeter: 
29% since last week
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The building used for the exteriors of the evil medical facility is actually the former Xerox Lexington, Massachusetts sales office, located about 10 minutes from downtown Boston near the intersection of routes 2 and 128. It is now the headquarters of Stride Rite footwear. The building has been altered since 1978 but is largely unchanged. moreGoofs:
Continuity: When Mark puts Dr. Wheeler to bed after the chase at the Anatomy Lab, the bed covers change between when she lays down and when she leaves moments later. moreQuotes:
Dr. Susan Wheeler: You did it.[Put people in irreversible comas]
Dr. George A. Harris: No decision is easy, Sue. It only looks that way when you're young. When you're older, everything is complicated. There is no black and white, only gray.
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In COMA, petite heroine Genevieve Bujold shows you don't have to be an amazon like Sigourney Weaver or Lucy Lawless to get physical with the bad guys. Set against a hospital backdrop ranking in verisimilitude with that of THE HOSPITAL (the only other accurate medical drama of the 1970's), this is a gripping thriller even on repeat viewing over twenty years later. Bujold's acting has been mentioned by other reviewers, but I would award special accolades to Richard Widmark, whose character's unctuous avuncularity is executed with superb subtlety. Plus, he even comports himself just like a real physician of seniority.
I do have a few complaints, not least of which is the gratuitous and grossly inaccurate portrayal of clinical lab personnel and the laboratory environment. Shame on Crichton, who must have missed out on visiting the lab through his entire tenure as a medical student. The laserdisc transfer is technically one of the worst I have in my collection. The monaural soundtrack is overdriven and distorted; the colors are washed out; and careless unmasking of the print (COMA is not letterboxed) results in visible boom mikes in several shots.
Still, this is a classic film, and anyone who wants to get up to speed on medical movies wouldn't want to exclude COMA.