Cheap Caretakers / Movie (Video) (Hall Bartlett) Price

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Customer Reviews of Caretakers / Movie

Even a bad picture is still good if Joan Crawford is in it!
Joan plays Nurse Lucretia Terry in this 1960's picture, floating on her "Baby Jane" success. <
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>Lucretia Terry is an unsympathetic and careless nurse, working in a mental hospital. I think the film would have been a lot better if Joan's character was developed more. It also lacked some type of substance and there wasn't really a climax. <
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>If you'd like to see a Crawford picture that she made later in her career (her older ones weren't all bad), then I recommend "Straight-Jacket." <
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>Nevertheless, even a bad picture (like "Caretakers") is still good if Joan Crawford is in it!

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Drama With Some Surprising Viewpoints on Mental Illness
"The Caretakers", has always come in for its fair share of criticism on how it depicts mental illness and it's treatment and I guess most films on this controversial topic receive their fair share of critical scrutiny. Opinions on this effort range from accusations of melodramatic excess through to appreciation of its at times humane viewpoints on patients who suffer from mental illness. Working in the field of mental health myself I was pleasantly surprised after a recent screening of "The Caretakers", at this films handling of this delicate subject matter. While there are elements of Hollywood melodrama for sure the film stood out for me in its vivid illustration of the new forms of mental health treatment that were slowly gaining a following during the 1960's and 70's as illustrated in the "radical", views of Robert Stack's character. Seen as revolutionnary and totally unorthodox in this story they come across to the viewer now as surprisingly quite modern by today's standards in particular in their views on the rights and dignity of mental health patients. The film proved to be a most interesting viewing experience and perfectly illustrated the slow change over occuring from old style forms of treatment as represented by Joan Crawford's head nurse in the story, to the more humane forward thinking methods of today as seen in Robert Stack's characters views on the subject. The clash of the two sets of ideologies makes for some fine dramatic moments as old and new Hollywood also clash in the forms of veteran Joan Crawford and "new", star Robert Stack. <
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>Based on a book by Daniel Telfer the opening moments of "The Caretakers", finds a dazed and disoriented Lorna Melford (Polly Bergen), experiencing a terrifying breakdown that has its tragic conclusion in a movie theatre after which she is taken to a hospital for the mentally ill. The hospital features the usual disturbing features of such an institution however on the staff is Dr. MacLeod (Robert Stack), a new young doctor who has very "advanced", views on the proper treatment of patients involving such features as group therapy sessions which he hopes will supersede the old brutal methods employed in such institutions. Dr. MacLeod however is in conflict with the head nurse of the mental hospital Lucretia Terry (Joan Crawford), who believes in the traditional methods of handling mental patients and still views them as a potential danger to her nurses. While Dr. MacLeod makes plans for the establishment of day clinics for borderline cases where the patients can leave at night, Lucretia trains her nurses in judo as means of self defense. Caught in the middle of this clash of wills is Dr. Harrington (Herbert Marshall), an elderly head of the hospital who although willing to look at Dr. MacLeod's methods is indecisive and very much influenced by Lucretia's viewpoints and powerless to stand in her way. Lucretia is also backed up by her harsh assistant nurse Bracken (Constance Ford), who she is grooming to take over from her in the future. Dr. MacLeod despite oppostion continues his group therapy sessions where we are introduced to the patients who include apart from Lorna, Marion (Janis Paige), an aggressive woman of the world, Connie (Sharon Hugeny), a hippy girl who invents a family, an elderly former school teacher Irene (Ellen Corby), and Edna (Barbara Barrie), a woman who doesn't speak and tries to set fires in the ward. Each of their ailments and neurosis are explored in Dr. MacLeod's group therapy sessions and despite progress being made there are always the set backs such as when Lorna is almost raped by some male patients and when Edna sets fire to the women's ward. Lucretia is even more strongly opposed to these methods introduced by Dr. MacLeod. Despite Lucretia trying to get Dr. MacLeod removed from the hospital his more humane efforts do start to win out with new and more progressive views of mental patient care coming in resulting in his dream of a string of day clinics becoming a reality and indicating a more humane future approach to the treatment of mental illness. <
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>For a film produced in 1963 "The Caretakers", in some respects has a refreshingly modern approach to mental illness and its proper treatment in among the Hollywood melodrama. I find the message it is trying to convey a most interesting one and for the most part it makes a sincere effort to display mental illness in all its many faceted forms. The performances here are 100% sincere in their delivery and Polly Bergen as the young mother traumatised by the death of her child in a car accident where she was responsible is in my belief superb. Often accused of going over the top in her manic moments I feel she captures the tormented character perfectly and she is especially riverting in her scene where she is reunited with her husband (Robert Vaughn)where all he rold grievances surface with tragic consequences. Robert Stack, despite his at times uninteresting acting style does represent the new frontier of mental illness and his scenes where he clashes with veteran Joan Crawford display some interesting viewpoints on where mental illness treatment was at thi stime and where it could be possibly going. Stack and Crawford really cut their acting chops in their scenes together and Crawford who was fresh from her triumph in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", in the previous year makes a great impression in the smallish but standout part of hard a snails nurse Lucretia. Equally effective is Constance Ford in the role of Lucretia's tough no nonsense assistant nurse Bracken. The patient's stories are for the most part are treated in a sympathetic manner and the real strength of "The Caretakers", is that these women never loose their basic humanity and hope for a better life despite the crisis' they encounter in the hospital. A real stand out among them is Janis Paige as the street wise Marion who hates men and has supposedly seen it all. Her scenes in the group therapy sessions where she alternates between being a "kitten", and then changing into an aggressive tigeress are some of the films dramatic highlights. The extremely effective black and white photography courtesy of Lucien Ballard was nominated for an Academy Award and is one of the films strong points where light and shadow takes on a character of its own and illustrates the visual image so well of what life in a mental institution would look like. <
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>While certainly no classic "The Caretakers",has been accused of being melodramatic and dated by any standards which I still feel is a harsh judgement. It certainly is not a film with a subject matter that would suit alot of tastes but it has many interesting viewpoints expressed that have never before appeared in film with thi ssubject matter. It also provides Hollywood legend Joan Crawford with what largely proved to be her last meaty film role which she makes the most of in her sadly rather limited screen time. Mental health treatment has certainly come a long way from the days of "The Caretakers", but the film does at least attempt to show the directions it is headed in where doctors and nurses are as Robert Stack's character declares in the story "the entrusted caretakers of their patient's hope and their futures".

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Difficult to watch portrayal of mental illness
The one reason to get this movie is to get an idea of the timely sociology of mental illness. The overall movie is a disappointment. Most of the glimpses into mental illness are a bit antiquated and not at all convincing. Lorna (Polly Bergen) is at times hystrionic in a way that is just ineffectual to the viewer, there's only so much madness that one can take in this type of movie, which in the end actually kind of turns out to be a propaganda-driven view of psychiatry. If you are watching it for Joan Crawford's sake, then you'll be pleased with the Judo scene of course and the various "don't [mess] with me fellas" moments, but all in all, it's not a great classic, and worth watching mostly for the sociological implications behind the film itself.