Gross Anatomy (1989)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Thom Eberhardt

Writers (WGA):

Mark Spragg (story) and
Howard Rosenman (story) ...

Release Date:

20 October 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

No one thought a rebel like Joe Slovak would make it through Medical School. But they didn't know Joe.

Plot:

A smart first-year med student takes nothing seriously, except the pursuit of his Gross Anatomy (human dissection) lab partner...

Plot Keywords:

College | Medical School | Medical | Illness | Cheating

Cast

Matthew Modine	...	Joe Slovak
Daphne Zuniga	...	Laurie Rorbach
Christine Lahti	...	Dr. Rachel Woodruff
Todd Field	...	David Schreiner
John Scott Clough	...	Miles Reed
Alice Carter	...	Kim McCauley
Robert Desiderio	...	Dr. Banks
Zakes Mokae	...	Dr. Banumbra
Clyde Kusatsu	...	Interviewing Professor
John Petlock	...	Interviewing Professor
J. Patrick McNamara	...	Interviewing Professor
Jan Munroe	...	Interviewing Professor
Kay E. Kuter	...	Lecturing Professor
Michael Flanagan	...	Lecturing Professor
Don Perry	...	Lecturing Professor

Also Known As:

A Cut Above

Runtime:

Canada:109 min | USA:109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hill/Rosenman

Goofs:

Continuity: Joe Slovak's shirttails unroll during the final scene.

Quotes:

Dr. Rachel Woodruff: And now, now I just wonder about some of these brilliant doctors of mine, you know, with their minds for medicine and their hearts for, what, real estate. You know, I wonder what they'd say to some lonely terrified patient, who grabs their hand and says, "Can you explain this to me? Can you help me accept this? Can you at least sit with me so I don't feel so alone?" Well, I bet they don't say anything because I didn't teach them to.

Soundtrack:

She Drives Me Crazy

Dissection of The First Year of Medical School

This is a genteel romantic comedy about the first year of medical school from the perspective of Laurie Rorbach (Daphne Zuniga). There's no hold barred from day one onward: This is a total commitment.

Enter Joe Slovak (Matthew Modine. He's the wise guy from a lower class background but he's got a system for beating the odds and getting by with a minimum of effort. His natural intelligence pulls him through most test of wills, but that chip on the shoulder attitude leaves him with utter contempt for the concept that something greater than educating a medical mechanic is at work. A wise instructor Dr. Rachel Woodruff (Christine Lahti) is out to teach Slovak a powerful lesson.

The lab partner make up an excellent supporting cast. The washout student who is bright willing though unable, the Joe-College type who has pretensions and ambitions as thinly veiled as Slovak's sarcasm, and the female student whose husband wants to keep her barefoot and pregnant give a good cross-section of young adulthood which is of course still in a "becoming" stage.

I was surprised to see that this delightful film did not get higher ratings.