WebMD/Medscape Reveal Winners of ‘Meddys’ Film Awards

Why let the Oscars have all of the enjoyable?

In honor of this yr’s Academy Awards, Medscape and WebMD requested readers to choose one of the best of one of the best from the world of healthcare-related movies and performances. More than 250 readers weighed in on greater than 50 characters and 25 movies to pick one of the best portrayals of drugs on the silver display.

Readers had been allowed not solely to pick from pre-selected candidates, however might additionally write of their favorites.

So, with out additional ado, the Meddy goes to …

• Best Medical Film: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Criminal Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) pleads madness and finds himself out of jail, however in an establishment overseen by the iron-fisted Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). The 1975 drama earned a number of Oscars, together with Best Picture (one among its producers is the actor Michael Douglas), Best Actor (Nicholson), Best Actress (Fletcher), and Best Director (Milos Forman).

The movie earned 42% of the vote in our reader ballot, adopted by “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” (15%), “The Fault in Our Stars” (10%), “The Hospital” (7%).

Upon its launch, The Hollywood Reporterheaped reward on the movie’s actors and its director, calling the film “a frighteningly persuasive portrait of a preeminently sane man being pushed to the outer limits of his sanity by the need to conform to hospital rules and regulations.”

Drew Ayers, PhD, affiliate professor of movie for Eastern Washington University, stated the movie’s glorious ensemble represented the feelings of most of the time.

“This was the mid-1970s, and the film spoke to alienation and not fitting in, especially Randle McMurphy,” he stated. “There was this quest for freedom, but it was unobtainable, as in Easy Rider or Bonnie and Clyde.”

Wayne Grody, MD, PhD, professor of pathology & laboratory drugs, pediatrics, and human genetics on the UCLA School of Medicine in addition to a frequent guide for movie and TV exhibits like CSI, understands the enchantment of the general winner.

“Certainly, it’s a classic. It’s considered one of the greatest films ever made by director Milos Forman,” he stated. “As with the original text by Ken Kesey, the film adaptation adopts that sort of sensationalized, magical realism slant that takes it from being a true depiction of psychiatry to something more Hollywood – which clearly resonates.”

• Best Doctor: Robin Williams, Awakenings

In a shock to many on the time, Williams was not nominated for an Oscar for his position as neurologist Malcolm Sayer, MD. That honor went to his co-star, Robert DeNiro, as affected person Leonard Lowe, the beneficiary of an experimental drug used on catatonic sufferers. Williams truly tied with DeNiro for Best Actor honors from the National Board of Review.

Awakenings, which did garner a Best Picture nomination, relies on the memoir of the identical identify by Oliver Sacks, the inspiration for Williams’ character. When the film was launched in 1990, movie critic Roger Ebert referred to as it one among Williams’ “best performances, pure and uncluttered, without the ebullient distractions he sometimes adds —the shtick where none is called for.”

In our ballot, Williams was the overwhelming favourite, with 55% of the vote. Trailing a bit behind in second was Jennifer Garner in “Dallas Buyers Club,” adopted by Omar Sharif in “Dr. Zhivago” (12%), and Michael J. Fox in “Doc Hollywood” (10%).

For Ayers, Williams’ portrayal of the true physician, and the true drug, combined with slightly fictionalization of Hollywood is a part of what makes the movie and its performances so practical.

“[Sacks] was a well-known doctor and that lent credibility, as well as the real story behind the drugs,” he stated. “It’s probably the most accurate portrayal [of the nominees].”

• Best Nurse: Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

The aforementioned Fletcher not solely gained an Oscar, but additionally a Golden Globe, and honors from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for her position as cultural icon Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. In her Academy Award speech, she thanked the group with the road, “all I can say is I’ve loved being hated by you.”

Our viewers additionally liked Fletcher, with 47% of the vote. Emma Thompson’s Nurse Emily in “Angels in America” completed a distant second, adopted by Ben Stiller’s position as Greg Focker in “Meet the Parents.”

For Grody, Fletcher’s position stands as “an iconic moment in movie history.”

When the American Film Institute compiled its record of prime film villains in 2003, the strict nurse ranked #5 behind Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, Darth Vader, and The Wicked Witch of the West. In 2018, Fletcher instructed Vanity Fair that the thought to have the nurse communicate placidly was her thought — one thing director Milos Forman finally accepted — and that she had concocted a backstory for the character shared with nobody else on se or to at the present time.

“The role is memorable,” stated Ayers. “This depiction of a nurse is clearly not one to emulate, but it’s memorable.”

• Best Patient: Tom Hanks, Philadelphia

Tom Hanks gained the primary of his two back-to-back Oscars for the position of Andrew Beckett, a homosexual Philadelphia legal professional pressured to cover his sexuality and his HIV-positive standing from his companions at a robust regulation agency. Hanks’ portrayal in one of many first main studio films to deal with the AIDS disaster broke the mould of him as a largely comedic actor, whereas additionally offering essential illustration of homosexual characters to a large viewers.

Upon receiving the Trailblazer Award for his position in 2015 by Out Magazine, the journalist Nathan Smith outlined the importance of a recognizable actor taking part in Beckett: “What Philadelphia showed was this: Tom Hanks gave a face to being gay. Tom Hanks gave a face to living with AIDS. Tom Hanks gave a face to being both gay and living with AIDS.”

Ayers referred to as Hanks’ portrayal and the film itself “historically important,” in the way it addressed homosexuality, the AIDS disaster, and most people’s understanding—and maybe extra particularly, worry—of the virus, spurring public dialogue.

Grody agrees that Philadelphia performed a pivotal position within the public’s notion of these residing with HIV/AIDS. “The movie showed that people living with HIV and AIDS are just like everyone else and Tom Hanks’ portrayal was essential in proving that point – he just plays such an admirable character.”

Hanks’ position resonated with our viewers, with 46% naming him one of the best affected person on display. Jack Nicholson’s Randle McMurphy from “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” garnered 27% of the vote, adopted by Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of Lisa Rowe in “Girl, Interrupted.”

• Best Worst Caretaker: Kathy Bates, Misery

When it involves the individual our viewers desires to least obtain care from, Annie Wilkes from the 1990 movie Misery was the clear winner with 60% of the vote.

Kathy Bates’ portrayal of the antagonist within the film based mostly on a Stephen King novel earned her a Best Actress Oscar. Wilkes’ nurturing of novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) following a automotive crash proved that not everyone seems to be match for caring for others.

Grody agrees that for the Best Worst Caretaker, Annie Wilkes was the one selection. “I don’t know who else you could choose for this category,” he stated. “No one else could come close to winning this award.”

The late movie critic Gene Siskel stated Bates’ efficiency elevated the movie from being a “routine thriller” via her “wonderful performance … as the crazed fan who alternates between compassion and violent kookiness—all while smiling beatifically and with a little gold cross hanging from her neck.”

Finishing second to Bates in our polling was Anthony Hopkins’ Dr. Hannibal Lecter from “Silence of the Lambs” (21%) and Gene Wilder’s Dr. Frankenstein from “Young Frankenstein” (13%).

For Ayers, the movie is much less about caregiving, however extra about one thing extremely prevalent at the moment, 30 years after the movie’s launch: poisonous fandom.

“It’s all about owning or controlling the art or the thing that’s made, feeling it is just ‘for them’ and thus deserving access to it,” he stated. “This speaks to social media today and how some attack and actor or author over something they’ve made because they feel it is theirs.”