Vital Signs (1990 film)

Last updated
Vital Signs
Vital signs film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Marisa Silver
Screenplay byLarry Ketron
Jeb Stuart
Story byLarry Ketron
Produced byLaurie Perlman
Cathleen Summers
Starring
Cinematography John Lindley
Edited byRobert Brown
Music by Miles Goodman
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • April 13, 1990 (1990-04-13)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,224,605 [1]

Vital Signs is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Marisa Silver and starring Adrian Pasdar, Diane Lane and Jimmy Smits.

Contents

Premise

A group of 3rd year medical students has to come with terms with the personal and professional tension that goes on in a teaching hospital.

Cast

Development

The film was originally to have been about a country doctor. [2]

Release

Reception

Vital Signs received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 43% of 7 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review. [3]

Leonard Maltin gave the film one and a half stars and wrote in his review: "Watchable, but of absolutely no distinction; stick with The New Interns , where you can at least compare the acting styles of Dean Jones and Telly Savalas. Smits effectively projects quiet authority as the surgeon instructor." [4]

Valerie Schoen of the Chicago Tribune also gave the film a star and a half and wrote, "I have to find Vital Signs dead on arrival." [5]

Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel gave the film two stars, calling it "weak - very weak." [6]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times also gave the film an unfavorable review, writing that the film "never has much energy of its own. The film's very basic problem is that it contains no surprising turns, and that its characters are familiar through and through." [7]

Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "The movie has everything, which may be its problem. This brisk, whipped-up show has no rough edges." [8]

Jay Carr of The Boston Globe criticized the film's screenplay: "Vital Signs has a much better title than last year's med school outing, Gross Anatomy . But it's not a much better movie. In fact, this coming-of-age-in-med-school film is DOA, sunk by a banal script, the kind that insists that every crisis contain the seeds of its convenient resolution." [9]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review: "The movie never strays far from camp, but on its own shameless terms, it delivers." [10]

Home media

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on June 7, 2005. [11] The film was released on Blu-ray on October 1, 2013, by Anchor Bay Entertainment. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness</i> 1927 film

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, also known simply as Chang is a silent film about a poor farmer in northern Nan Province and his daily struggle for survival in the jungle. The film was directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. It was released by Famous Players-Lasky, a division of Paramount Pictures.

<i>Resurrection</i> (1980 film) 1980 film by Daniel Petrie

Resurrection is a 1980 American drama film directed by Daniel Petrie, written by Lewis John Carlino, and starring Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, Richard Farnsworth, Roberts Blossom, Lois Smith, and Eva Le Gallienne. It was produced by Renée Missel and Howard Rosenman. The plot involves a woman who returns to life after dying momentarily in a car crash and finds that she has the power to heal people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McTiernan</span> American filmmaker

John Campbell McTiernan Jr. is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his action films, including Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), and The Hunt for Red October (1990). His later well-known films include the action-comedy-fantasy film Last Action Hero (1993), the action film sequel Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), the heist-film remake The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and The 13th Warrior (1999). His last completed feature film was the mystery-thriller Basic, released in 2003.

<i>The Fly II</i> 1989 science fiction horror film directed by Chris Walas

The Fly II is a 1989 American science fiction horror film directed by Chris Walas. The film stars Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga, and is a sequel to the 1986 film The Fly, itself a remake of the 1958 film of the same name. Stoltz's character in this sequel is the adult son of Veronica Quaife and Seth Brundle, a scientist who became a human-fly hybrid as a result of an experiment gone awry, played by Jeff Goldblum in the 1986 remake. With the exception of stock footage of Goldblum from the first film, John Getz was the only actor to reprise his role, with another actress filling the Geena Davis role as Quaife in the opening birth scene. Unlike the previous film, this film received negative reviews.

<i>The First Nudie Musical</i> 1976 film by Bruce Kimmel

The First Nudie Musical is a 1976 American musical comedy film directed by Mark Haggard and Bruce Kimmel.

<i>Porkys Revenge!</i> 1985 film by James Komack

Porky's Revenge! is a 1985 sex comedy film and the third and final film of the original Porky's film series. It was directed by James Komack.

<i>Henry & June</i> 1990 film by Philip Kaufman

Henry & June is a 1990 American biographical drama film directed by Philip Kaufman, and starring Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, and Maria de Medeiros. It is loosely based on the posthumously published 1986 Anaïs Nin book of the same name, and tells the story of Nin's relationship with Henry Miller and his wife, June.

<i>The Blob</i> (1988 film) 1988 film by Chuck Russell

The Blob is a 1988 American science fiction horror film co-written and directed by Chuck Russell. A remake of the 1958 film of the same name, it stars Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Paul McCrane, Art LaFleur, Robert Axelrod, Joe Seneca, Del Close and Candy Clark. The plot follows an acidic, amoeba-like organism that crashes down to Earth in a military satellite, which devours and dissolves anything in its path as it grows. It is the third film in The Blob film series.

<i>Crazy People</i> 1990 American film

Crazy People is a 1990 American black comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah, directed by Tony Bill, and music by Cliff Eidelman.

<i>Calendar Girl</i> (1993 film) 1993 film by John Whitesell

Calendar Girl is a 1993 American comedy-drama film starring Jason Priestley, Gabriel Olds, and Jerry O'Connell. The film was directed by John Whitesell and written by Paul W. Shapiro. Set in 1962, it tells the story of three young men who go on a trip to Hollywood to fulfill their dream of meeting Marilyn Monroe. It has similarities to the real-life story of Gene Scanlon, who in 1953 crossed America with a friend and had a date with Marilyn Monroe for which she paid the bill.

<i>Alligator</i> (film) 1980 film by Lewis Teague

Alligator is a 1980 American independent horror film directed by Lewis Teague and written by John Sayles. It stars Robert Forster, Robin Riker and Michael V. Gazzo. It also includes an appearance by actress Sue Lyon in her last screen role. Set in Chicago, the film follows a police officer and a reptile expert who track an enormous, ravenous man-eating alligator flushed down the toilet years earlier, that is attacking residents after escaping from the city’s sewers.

<i>Anatomy of Hell</i> 2004 film by Catherine Breillat

Anatomy of Hell is a 2004 erotic drama film written and directed by Catherine Breillat, based on her 2001 novel Pornocratie. According to Breillat, Anatomy of Hell is a "sequel" to Romance.

<i>Bug</i> (1975 film) 1975 film directed by Jeannot Szwarc

Bug is a 1975 American horror film directed by Jeannot Szwarc and written by William Castle and Thomas Page, from Page's novel The Hephaestus Plague (1973). Shot in Panavision, it was the last film Castle was involved in before his death in 1977. The film starred Bradford Dillman, Joanna Miles and Richard Gilliland.

<i>Cop and a Half</i> 1993 film by Henry Winkler

Cop and a Half is a 1993 American family buddy cop-comedy film directed by Henry Winkler, and stars Burt Reynolds, Norman D. Golden II, and Ray Sharkey in his final role. Reynolds plays a veteran cop who reluctantly takes an eight-year-old boy (Golden) as his partner to solve a murder investigation.

<i>The Night Flier</i> (film) 1997 American horror film

The Night Flier is a 1997 American horror film based on the 1988 short story of the same name by Stephen King. Directed and co-written by Mark Pavia, the film stars Miguel Ferrer as Richard Dees, a tabloid reporter who, while investigating a series of murders committed in airfields, begins to suspect that the killer may be a vampire.

<i>Berkeley in the Sixties</i> 1990 American film

Berkeley in the Sixties is a 1990 documentary film by Mark Kitchell.

Maynard Eziashi is a Nigerian-English actor. In 1991, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival for his starring role in Mister Johnson (1990).

<i>The Fourth War</i> 1990 film by John Frankenheimer

The Fourth War is a 1990 American cold war drama film directed by John Frankenheimer. It is set in West Germany of the late 1980s, and was filmed in Alberta, Canada. It stars Roy Scheider and Jürgen Prochnow as two military men whose personal dispute threatens to escalate into a larger conflict.

Little Men is a 1998 Canadian family drama film starring Mariel Hemingway and Chris Sarandon. It is based on the 1871 novel of the same name written by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. It is a loose sequel to Little Women (1994).

Little Vegas is a 1990 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Perry Lang and starring Anthony Denison, Catherine O'Hara and Lang.

References

  1. "Vital Signs (1990)". Box Office Mojo .
  2. Kempley, Rita (13 April 1990). "REVIEW". The Washington Post . Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  3. "Vital Signs". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  4. Maltin, Leonard (2014). Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide. Penguin. ISBN   9780698183612.
  5. Schoen, Valerie (13 April 1990). "Poor Prognosis For 'Vital Signs'". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  6. Boyar, Jay (18 May 1990). "'Vital Signs' Could Use Malpractice Insurance". Orlando Sentinel . Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  7. Maslin, Janet (13 April 1990). "Vital Signs (1990) Review/Film;'Vital Signs,' On Doctors In Love And Conflict". The New York Times . Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  8. Wilmington, Michael (13 April 1990). "MOVIE REVIEW : A Slick 'Vital Signs' Races Past Substance". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  9. Carr, Jay (13 April 1990). "'VITAL SIGNS': SCRIPT GOES FLAT". The Boston Globe . Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  10. Gleiberman, Owen (27 April 1990). "Movies". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  11. Vital Signs DVD release
  12. "Vital Signs Blu Ray".