EPISODE · May 29, 2024 · 1H 14M
Where Does It Hurt? (1972)
from Goon Pod · host Goon Pod
In 1972 a film was released which is generally regarded as one of Peter Sellers' weakest films - Where Does It Hurt - and joining Tyler to kick it around for an hour or so are Jeremy Limb & Paul Litchfield. Sellers plays administrator Albert T. Hopfnagel at Vista Vue Hospital, described by Sellers' biographer Roger Lewis as being like “every over-the-top insurance salesman and fraudulent television evangelist you pray you’ll never meet…. He’s a streak of brown lightning… he appears happy and comprehensively spurious as a minor Richard III, bribing and threatening.” From the outset the film adopts a cynical framing of the US medical system. When laid-off construction worker Lester Hammond arrives at Vista Vue seeking a routine check-up he gets more than he bargained for – Hopfnagel runs the hospital like a racketeer, where the age-old medical maxim “First do no harm” has been downgraded to “First bleed them for every dime they’ve got”. As well as comprehensively trashing the film the chaps turn to other matters of import, such as My Mother The Car, Derren Nesbitt, Doctor Who, the Carry On films and Dick Emery. 10-4!
What this episode covers
In 1972 a film was released which is generally regarded as one of Peter Sellers' weakest films - Where Does It Hurt - and joining Tyler to kick it around for an hour or so are Jeremy Limb & Paul Litchfield. Sellers plays administrator Albert T. Hopfnagel at Vista Vue Hospital, described by Sellers' biographer Roger Lewis as being like “every over-the-top insurance salesman and fraudulent television evangelist you pray you’ll never meet…. He’s a streak of brown lightning… he appears happy and comprehensively spurious as a minor Richard III, bribing and threatening.” From the outset the film adopts a cynical framing of the US medical system. When laid-off construction worker Lester Hammond arrives at Vista Vue seeking a routine check-up he gets more than he bargained for – Hopfnagel runs the hospital like a racketeer, where the age-old medical maxim “First do no harm” has been downgraded to “First bleed them for every dime they’ve got”. As well as comprehensively trashing the film the chaps turn to other matters of import, such as My Mother The Car, Derren Nesbitt, Doctor Who, the Carry On films and Dick Emery. 10-4!
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Where Does It Hurt? (1972)
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