One of my favorite thrillers of all time has finally made its way to Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Home Video. Coma, based on the novel by Robin Cook, is a pretty remarkable thriller about seemingly healthy patients undergoing routine operations and ending up in irreversible comas. When the best friend of Dr. Susan Wheeler (Geneviève Bujold) slips into a coma after a “routine D & C” (aka abortion — try getting that in a movie today!), followed by another young, healthy man (Tom Selleck!) hospitalized for a minor touch football injury … at least that’s his story … Wheeler discovers that there have been ten other unexplained comas at Boston Memorial in the past year. Wheeler begins to dig in places she shouldn’t, and is constantly patronized by her boyfriend, Dr. Mark Bellows (Michael Douglas), who thinks she’s just being a woman — hysterical for no reason. (Yes, for a movie released in 1978, this could be a feminist’s nightmare.) But the more Wheeler digs, the more she puts the pieces together until she finds out the horrifying secrets and reasons behind the comas.
Coma holds up surprisingly well for a film made 34 years ago. The story puts the viewer on basically the same level as Dr. Wheeler in that we know about as much as she does throughout the film. As she’s trying to put the pieces together to solve the mystery, we’re doing the same thing and it’s not one that’s easily solved. The film moves ever so slightly into science fiction once the action moves briefly to the Jefferson Institute, where the comatic patients are “cared for” (and we’re given the film’s iconic image of bodies suspended by wires). Once Wheeler sees this, and is given an important clue by a hospital handyman, she goes into action and we’re right there with her … even when she does one crazy thing to get her evidence when she could have gone in a completely opposite, and safer, direction.
Director/screenwriter Michael Crichton (yes, the guy better known as the creator of ER) keeps the plot moving along swiftly, even for a movie that clocks in at nearly two hours. He truly knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat and manages to keep the mystery a true mystery without throwing in any red herrings to distract you from sloppy storytelling (I’ve never read Cook’s book, but I assume Crichton had a strong story to build off of). Some of the situations and speechifying about the medical industry seem eerily relevant to what’s happening in the country today, especially when Dr. Harris (Richard Widmark) talks to Susan about how the multi-billion dollar medical industry basically controls the country. And this is 1978! (And I still can’t get over how an abortion is treated as a routine operation.) The only thing that really dates the movie (besides the AMC Pacer seen in a parking lot) is its attitude towards women. It really makes your skin crawl to see how patronizing Susan’s boyfriend is to her as she’s trying to deal with losing her friend and finding out why all of these people are slipping into comas. You just wish she’d slap him really hard … but at the same time, his behavior always makes you wonder if he actually knows what’s going on.
The performances are all top notch with Bujold carrying the film squarely on her delicate shoulders. Douglas is surprisingly relegated to a supporting player (but looking back, this was his first feature film after completing his stint on TV’s The Streets of San Francisco), but Richard Widmark and a very young-ish Rip Torn are appropriately shady … but still not the “twirling mustache” villains you’d expect. Elizabeth Ashley only gets a small amount of screen time but her performance as Mrs. Emerson, the overseer of the Jefferson Institute, is indelible. I knew Tom Selleck ended up as a dead body, but it was a surprise to see Ed Harris as a pathology resident, Lois Chiles (one year before portraying Dr. Holly Goodhead in Moonraker), Charles Siebert and Joanna Kerns in small roles as well. The score is by Jerry Goldsmith, but there’s not really any music until about an hour into the film … and then it’s easily recognized as classic Goldsmith (if you’re familiar with that type of thing).
Warner Home Video has done a terrific job of bringing the film to Blu-ray, especially one of this vintage (and probable low budget). Film stock of the 70s has a distinct look, sometimes appearing soft and faded with a lot of film grain, and you can certainly see that all in this transfer. However, the image itself is remarkably sharp and colorful, and has an appropriate amount of grain which gives it that film-like quality without being distracting (don’t expect razor sharp HD video though). Only during the opening titles, which would be considered an optical effect, does the film grain become more prominent. After that, you really don’t even notice. Warner has also retained the film’s mono soundtrack — no remixing into stereo for this release — but it’s clear and sharp and the music never intrudes on the dialogue. Other language options include French, Spanish and German with optional related subtitles. There is also a trailer, but no other extras.
Revisiting Coma again after so many years was a terrific treat. The story kept me on the edge of my seat, and the presentation on the Blu-ray was outstanding. Kudos to the team at Warner Home Video for giving this film its due. It will be interesting to see what A&E does with the story in this fall’s new TV mini-series.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Jul 18, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
