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On the basis of the movie's trailer, I was expecting "Doc Hollywood" to be a comedy. And it is a comedy. But it surprised me by also being a love story, and a pretty good one - the kind where the lovers are smart enough to know all the reasons why they shouldn't get together, but too much in love to care.

The movie stars Michael J. Fox , an actor who knows how to be quiet and attractive with-out seeming to work at it, as a recent medical school graduate on his way from Washington to Los Angeles.

He's looking forward to a high-paying job as a plastic surgeon. It's a good field. "After all," one of his colleagues tells him, "the surgery is neat, the pay is good, and no one dies on you." Fox feels a little guilt about going into the field, but he also feels a lot of ambition, and he's looking forward to that California paycheck.

On his coast-to-coast drive, however, he gets sidetracked in the South Carolina hamlet of Grady ("Squash Capitol of the South"), where his car plows through the fence of the local judge, and he's sentenced to workrelease at the hospital. The locals quickly organize themselves into a conspiracy to persuade "Doc Hollywood" to settle in Grady. He is absolutely opposed to the idea. But that's before he meets Lou ( Julie Warner ), who drives an ambulance and is studying for the bar and is drop-dead wonderful.

"Doc Hollywood" is not a cranked-up, assembly-line comedy - it would rather be sweet than clever - and although its general contours are familiar, a lot of the local color is not. The film was directed by Michael Caton-Jones , who has a knack for finding the right character actors here to create the local color. Instead of the usual cliched rednecks and homespun philosophers, he uses good character actors like David Ogden Stiers (as the local mayor and head of the recruiting effort), Barnard Hughes (as the aging local doctor), Woody Harrelson (who cannot decide if he would rather beat up Fox, or just sell him some insurance), Bridget Fonda (as the local sexpot) and George Hamilton (perfectly cast as a plastic surgeon, and reminding us that his talent, while narrowly defined, is inimitable).

The town of Grady (actually Micanopy, Fla.) is also a character in the movie, with its statue of a local hero holding a squash in his hand. Like all small towns in Hollywood movies, this one has a parade, an anniversary celebration and a fireworks display during the course of the story, but Caton-Jones has fun with the parade (lots of marching squashes), and the carnival provides the backdrop for a small, tender, perfectly choreographed and photographed love scene; while Fox and Warner dance to Patsy Cline's "Crazy," all of the people drop out of the background and only the bright lights remain.

The chemistry does work between Fox and Warner (who is making her movie debut after TV work such as "Star Trek: The Next Generation"). They're good together, partly because the screenplay by Jeffrey Price , Peter S. Seaman and Daniel Pyne doesn't give them sappy things to say; they hold reasonable conversations from which, eventually, romance blossoms.

Love stories are among the trickiest kinds of movies to make.

Stories of sex and passion are easier. What love needs is an ability to idealize the loved one, and to feel narcissistic bliss because one is loved by such a paragon. Dialogue and plot and all the rest take second place to the conviction that two people only have eyes for one another. Fox and Warner create that feeling, which is why "Doc Hollywood" is a sweetheart of a movie.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Doc Hollywood (1991)

Rated PG-13

Michael J. Fox as Ben Stone

Julie Warner as Lou

Barnard Hughes as Dr. Hogue

Woody Harrelson as Hank

David Ogden Stiers as The Mayor

George Hamilton as Dr. Halberstrom

Bridget Fonda as Nancy Lee

Produced by

Deborah D. Johnson

Photographed by

Michael Chapman
Jeffrey Price
Peter S. Seaman
Daniel Pyne
Carter Burwell
Priscilla Nedd-Friendly

Directed by

Michael Caton-Jones

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Doc hollywood, common sense media reviewers.

Dated '90s comedy has nudity, some language.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

If you're with the right person, it doesn't matter

A young doctor is arrogant and obnoxious but is ta

A close-up is shown of a finger with a fishing hoo

A skinny-dipping woman walks out of a lake naked a

One utterance of "f--k." "S--t," "hell," "damn," "

The movie strives to favorably contrast the decenc

Adults drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. A drunk

Positive Messages

If you're with the right person, it doesn't matter where you are. Big cities dehumanize us.

Positive Role Models

A young doctor is arrogant and obnoxious but is taught to be kinder, more considerate by a town full of warm and welcoming people.

Violence & Scariness

A close-up is shown of a finger with a fishing hook stuck in it. A man has a heart attack but survives. People protect deer from hunters. A pig is saved from a butcher. A car is hit by a large tractor trailer.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A skinny-dipping woman walks out of a lake naked and is seen from the waist up. A man and woman dance seductively and kiss. A baby is born. A doctor says to a beautiful woman, "If you tell me you're here for a physical you'll make my day." A man says he wants to get an attractive woman drunk, implying she might have sex with him then. Two people urinate around the woods to drive deer away from hunters. A cake is decorated with bare buttocks.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

One utterance of "f--k." "S--t," "hell," "damn," "ass," "schmuck," "horny," "crap," and "poop."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

The movie strives to favorably contrast the decency and family values of small-town life against the shallow, mercenary concerns of the big city.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. A drunk vomits on a doctor.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Doc Hollywood from 1998 features Michael J. Fox as a hotshot, know-it-all young doctor waylaid by an accident on his cross-country drive to a job with a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon. Sentenced to perform community service at a small town's hospital, he disdains the good values and the narrowness he observes during his stay. This changes when he meets the girl of his dreams, who has no desire to move to the big city. A woman's breasts are seen, and a man and woman run around the woods urinating to scare away deer. Kissing is shown. Adults drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. A man says he wants to get an attractive woman drunk, implying she might have sex with him then. A close-up is shown of a finger with a fishing hook stuck in it. There's one utterance of "f--k" as well as other cursing, including "s--t," "hell," "damn," and "ass." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (3)
Kids say (1)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Gratuitous Nudity - Topless women -Skinny Dipping

What's the story.

Ben Stone ( Michael J. Fox ) is DOC HOLLYWOOD, a D.C. resident heading for a job in a fancy Beverly Hills plastic surgery practice. He is flippant to patients and colleagues alike, and when heavy traffic slows him down, he drives illegally around it. His arrogant manner announces that he doesn't believe the rules apply to him. When he smashes his 1956 convertible Porsche Speedster into a fence while avoiding someone walking a cow in the middle of the road, the local South Carolina judge sentences him to a few days of community service. This causes him to miss his Los Angeles job interview. He's resentful and condescending to the townspeople in spite of the fact that they show him hospitality and warmth. He immediately misdiagnoses a 6-year-old with heart disease and scarcely apologizes to the older doctor (Barnard Hughes), who gets it right. The mayor (David Ogden Stiers) tries to sell him on staying for good, knowing he is attracted to Lu (Julie Warner), the town ambulance driver who is ethically opposed to eating meat. Ben insists he's L.A.-bound, so the wily mayor bets that he won't be able to bed Lu before leaving. In spite of himself, Ben starts to appreciate the sweetness of small-town life, but remains determined to leave. Given his plans, when the hard-to-get Lu kisses him, he decides it's not right to have sex with her. The movie comes to an expected romantic conclusion.

Is It Any Good?

As a Michael J. Fox vehicle, this film shows off the actor's masterful comic timing, but even he can't overcome the unlikability of the arrogant central character he plays. Transforming him into someone decent and generous enough to be worthy of his love interest, the empathetic and lovely Lu, is the necessary goal that Doc Hollywood fails to achieve. Ben talks down to the small-town folk: He "cures" a woman who can't see by simply wiping her glasses clean. He removes a fish hook from a clumsy fisherman's finger, a fellow later seen catching fish by detonating explosives in a lake. What's worrisome is that Ben is a seriously creepy guy. He tells a beautiful woman, "If you tell me you're here for a physical, you'll make my day." Eww.

On the other hand, a naked woman emerges from a lake and brazenly walks right up to a complete stranger, making no effort to cover herself or walk away quickly. That's pretty odd and, moreover, unlikely as well. When Ben, knowing he is leaving town for Los Angeles in only days, develops a conscience and refuses to have sex with the willing Lu, we wonder: Where did that decency come from?

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the good and bad of living in small towns. Would it be comforting to know everyone in your town, or would it feel like an invasion of your privacy?

Ben must take a journey from arrogance and superiority to decency and humility for the story to work. Do you think he persuasively makes the transition, or do you think Doc Hollywood fails to convince the audience that Ben has changed?

Why are there so many movies that idealize life in small towns? Can you think of some others?

Movie Details

In theaters : August 2, 1991
On DVD or streaming : February 3, 2004
Cast : Michael J. Fox , Julie Warner , Woody Harrelson , Barnard Hughes , David Ogden Stiers
Director : Simon Caton-Jones
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Comedy
Run time : 104 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
Last updated : May 13, 2024

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Doc Hollywood Reviews

Doc Hollywood isn't that bad, because Michael J. Fox is really good. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 2, 2023

It may have been lightly regarded when it came out, but I think you can make the case that "Doc Hollywood," a throwback comedy even then, stands the test of time better than most any rom-com of its era.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 19, 2022

Pandering pablum, but not without its charms.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 18, 2021

The destination is obvious. Getting there is all the fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 24, 2021

The whole sunny production is like Frank Capra with a lobotomy.

Full Review | Jun 24, 2021

There's nothing startling here, nothing flashy, nothing complex. Just the solid, old-fashioned pleasure of watching an expert cast carry out a well-crafted story that celebrates the virtues of life off the fast track.

Fox is back where he belongs, playing self-effacing comedy and allowing his boyish style to frame a characterization.

Fox and Julie Warner strike a compelling chemistry despite the relationship's predictability.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 24, 2021

It looks like a movie, sounds like a movie, smells like a movie. But is it a movie? Naaah, it's a sitcom on steroids.

The rare film that actually improves as it develops. What begins as an all-too-standard fish-out-of-water comedy eventually grows into something more.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 24, 2021

The film has a gentle charm that surpasses expectations.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 24, 2021

Director Michael Caton-Jones leans much heavier towards the romantic end of the rom-com spectrum rather than out-and-out laughs, but the film remains heart-warming without ever approaching a syrupy corn-fest.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jun 24, 2021

An amiable, rather corny, fairly predictable feature-length situation comedy...

The movie would be a lot more beguiling if it weren't so sure of itself. Its charm has the practiced, impersonal touch of the professional salesman.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 24, 2021

Fox's character has been accurately described as Alex Keaton with a stethoscope. It's a role he knows well and can perform with ease. But he's burdened with a script that has no edge.

Caton-Jones, who showed his gifts for ensemble in "Memphis Belle," contrives to keep "Doc Hollywood" appealing, if not suspenseful, by his affectionate handling of his large and well-chosen cast.

Capra would probably approve.

...a far-from-innovative premise that's employed to consistently watchable and pleasant effect by Caton-Jones...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 15, 2020

Although Doc Hollywood caricatures Tinseltown as a symbol of greed and excess, it would be hard to find a more contrived product of Hollywood formula than the movie itself.

Full Review | Oct 15, 2019

Dated '90s comedy has nudity, some language.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 6, 2018

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Doc Hollywood

Time out says, release details.

Duration: 103 mins

Cast and crew

Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Screenwriter: Jeffrey Price, Peter S Seaman, Daniel Pyne
Michael J Fox
Julie Warner
Barnard Hughes
Woody Harrelson
David Ogden Stiers
Frances Sternhagen
George Hamilton
Bridget Fonda
Mel Winkler
Helen Martin
Roberts Blossom

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Where to watch

Doc hollywood.

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones

He was headed for Beverly Hills to be a plastic surgeon... but he took an exit to a town that didn't take plastic.

After leaving Washington D.C. hospital, plastic surgeon Ben Stone heads for California, where a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills awaits. After a car accident, he's sentenced to perform as the community's general practitioner.

Michael J. Fox Julie Warner Barnard Hughes Woody Harrelson David Ogden Stiers Frances Sternhagen George Hamilton Bridget Fonda Mel Winkler Helen Martin Roberts Blossom Tom Lacy Macon McCalman Raye Birk Eyde Byrde William Cowart Amzie Strickland Time Winters K.T. Vogt Jordan Lund Robert Munns Douglas Brush Barry Sobel Amanda Junette Donatelli Billy Gillespie Kathy Poling Eric Bechtel Cristi Conaway Kelly Jo Minter Show All… Michael Caton-Jones Michael Chapman Daniel Cerny Janis Bjorkland Ted Davis

Director Director

Michael Caton-Jones

Producers Producers

Deborah D. Johnson Susan Solt Neil B. Shulman

Writers Writers

Jeffrey Price Daniel Pyne Peter S. Seaman Laurian Leggett

Original Writer Original Writer

Neil B. Shulman

Casting Casting

Marion Dougherty Owens Hill

Editor Editor

Priscilla Nedd-Friendly

Cinematography Cinematography

Michael Chapman

Assistant Director Asst. Director

J. Stephen Buck

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Marc Merson

Lighting Lighting

Richard Quinlan

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Michael Genne

Production Design Production Design

Lawrence Miller

Art Direction Art Direction

Dale Allen Pelton Eva Anna Andry

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Cloudia Rebar

Stunts Stunts

Charles Croughwell

Composer Composer

Carter Burwell

Sound Sound

Ken King Richard King Martin Maryska Albert Gasser Jay Dranch Ed Callahan Christopher Flick Christine Danelski John Duvall Chris Jenkins Doug Hemphill Mark Smith Richard Portman

Costume Design Costume Design

Richard Hornung

Makeup Makeup

Hallie D'Amore Bron Roylance

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Lisa Meyers Rick Provenzano

Warner Bros. Pictures

Releases by Date

31 jul 1991, 02 aug 1991, 03 oct 1991, 10 oct 1991, 18 oct 1991, 21 oct 1991, 15 nov 1991, 22 nov 1991, 24 jan 1992, 10 jun 1992, 07 oct 1998, 03 feb 2004, 11 oct 1997, 08 jun 2005, releases by country.

Theatrical M
TV 12 TV SBT mj.gov.br
Theatrical TP
Theatrical 6
Theatrical 12
TV 12 Markíza
Premiere PG-13 Los Angeles, California
Theatrical PG-13
Physical PG-13 DVD

104 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Matt Singer ★★★ 2

This movie is so much like Cars that my new theory is that Lightning McQueen is Michael J. Fox’s car, from the time before the cars gained sentience and rose against humanity. Then, after feeling tremendous guilt about his part in the violence, Lightning recreated the events of his vehicular life as part of some twisted attempt at penance for his horrible crimes.

Review by saffron ★★★★ 1

when I read that people thought that cars stole the plot of this movie, I thought it was an exaggeration. but the plot of this is literally about an asshole who crashes his car in a small town and is sentenced to stay, pay off the damage and learn to become less of an asshole. doc hollywood should honestly sue the shit out of lightning mcqueen

Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 2

A terrific comedy with a delightful cast, Michael Caton-Jones' "Doc Hollywood" is a lightweight, good-natured romp. Starring Michael J. Fox as a surgeon stuck in a small town mostly against his will, the film is a feel-good charmer with an easy energy and unassuming style.

When Fox's up-and-coming surgeon smashes his car into a judge's fence on his way to a job interview in Los Angeles, the doctor is required to serve the judge's rural populace as restitution for the damaged property. "Doc Hollywood" revolves around the relationships developed and the hearts impacted as the doctor finds himself more at home in the small town than he could have imagined.

Part fish-out-of-water comedy, part rom-com, the film is solidly entertaining.…

Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★★★ 1

Michael J. Fox for most film fans will always be associated with the character Marty McFly. Back To The Future arguably cemented Fox's ascension into the Hollywood A-List, but with the onset of early Parkinson's Disease he stepped back from the spotlight and made fewer and fewer performances in front of the camera. Voice-work in later years would remind us of his talent, and he has been missed, but he did leave us with more than those time-travelling jaunts in that fancy gull-winged car. 1991 saw the release of two of my favourite films starring Fox, The Hard Way, where he got absolutely overshadowed by James Woods' epic turn as Detective John Moss, and Doc Hollywood, another of his more…

Review by Rob Hill ★★★ 4

Whoa! The entire Radiator Springs arc of the movie Cars is a blatant ripoff of this film. The hot shot en route to L.A., the damaged property, the characters, the local talent, even the statue looks similar.

Speaking of local talent, Julie Warner looks incredible, and reminds me of a more chill Brie Larson. I don't think her character is particularly well written, but she delivers it all about as well as possible.

I hate to dunk on the runtime of a 104 minute film, but this bogs down in the second half. As the film transitions away from comedy, it really loses steam. (I know, where have you heard this before? Oh, yeah, ME, every time I review a comedy.)

There's a legitimately great 90 minute film in here, but what we have is still enjoyable enough.

Review by Ethan ☀️

Ok fine formulaic movies can be good

Review by reed 📽️ ★★½

Cute and I feel it’s super underrated! Michael J Fox is such a cutie

Review by BrashBelle ★★★½

Saw this in the theater as a kid and many times on HBO so I might be blinded by nostalgia but this film is delightful and comforting. That dance scene where everyone disappears is brilliant.

Review by DreamScape40 ★★★½ 2

Had a crush on Michael J. Fox in the 80's and when he did "Back to the Future" films. Named a cat after him when I was young.. hehe.

Review by chavel ★★½

Amiable for awhile, and I was hoping that would be enough. Michael J. Fox getting derailed in a small town before he gets to his destination Beverly Hills plastic surgery job has a story of obstacles that lends it qualities of sweet and perky. Julie Warner positively radiant in her first nude scene—and she is photographed nude in a heart-stopping beautiful shot as conceived by director Michael Caton-Jones (gee, nudity in movies is good for the heart); and overall, Warner is fetching and adorable as a smart aleck. Fox as romantic hero Doc Hollywood , well, he’s a little too eager to please, a little too dorky. But is all that okay? What lost me ultimately is that the Southern folk,…

Review by Jordan Beaumont Anderson ★★ 3

One of those harmless early-90s fish-out-of-water comedies - America loves to point out differences - kept on the fun side of slightness by Fox's boyish short king energy.

Review by RhodesMovie ★★★ 1

I fondly recall renting this on VHS in 91/92. I loved the picturesque backwater small town of Grady, which seemed like a home from home through my Hitachi TV screen. And of course, Michael J. Fox wielding the same charismatic star power of Back to the Future , Family Ties and Pepsi adverts was a potent pull for any 14-yr-old.

Seeing it now, in 2022, those old charms still have some potency, but the movie isn't aiming to be riotously funny and it feels a touch lengthy. It works fine as an undemanding rom-com, as Fox plays a roundly despicable character, slowly realising the error of his ways via the homely community hum of the good ol' Grady townsfolk.

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MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Doc Hollywood’: Southern Exposure

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In “Doc Hollywood,” Michael J. Fox plays Ben Stone, a hotshot Washington, D.C., plastic-surgery resident who piles into his ’56 Porsche Speedster and heads for the nip-and-tuck heaven of Beverly Hills.

The movie (citywide) is about how he is detained unexpectedly in the small town of Grady, S.C., a hick byway in urgent need of a young, new doctor. We’re supposed to discover, along with Ben, the countrified charms of the simple life, which includes his reading letters to illiterate patients and walking pet pigs. Will Ben decide to stay in Grady or will he follow his wallet to Hollywood?

If you have any doubt as to the outcome, you haven’t been paying attention to the latest self-serving movie trend. The back-to-basics, anti-greed message of “Doc Hollywood” has been all over the screens this season, from TV’s “Northern Exposure” to the movies’ “City Slickers,” “Regarding Henry,” “Life Stinks” and “The Doctor.”

In “Doc Hollywood,” the “basics,” as represented by Grady, is really the same old movieland hicksville. The Scots director Michael Caton-Jones and his screenwriters, Jeffrey Price, Peter Seaman and Daniel Pyne, give us the kind of small town that could only exist in the perfervid imaginations of filmmakers who have never stepped inside one, at least with their eyes open. If Ben is uncertain whether to move on to Hollywood, the filmmakers have clearly never left it.

This is a movie for all those who believe, or want to believe, that people who choose to live in America’s rural byways are a rollicky and simon-pure clan of good-natured doofuses and folksy eccentrics.

When an old lady complains to Ben that she can’t see properly and he solves the problem by taking her glasses and clearing away a smudge, we seem to have entered the Land of the Stunted. Scenes like these go beyond condescension--they’re flabbergasting. The whole sunny production is like Frank Capra with a lobotomy.

Grady, which bills itself as the Squash Capital of the South, is supposed to be an idealization of the finer things in life--in other words, everything that Beverly Hills isn’t. Everyone lives together in higgledy-piggledy harmony: blacks and whites, young and old, rich and poor. Next to it, the Mayberry of “The Andy Griffith Show” is austere. (The movie is closer to “Green Acres,” though that show seems almost Shavian by comparison.)

But the fantasy has no texture. Capra, whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” shows up in a millisecond clip, at least leavened his corn with sharp small-town observation. Preston Sturges, another of the film’s models, gave his country types such roisterous, ornery life that it would never occur to us to call them hicks.

“Doc Hollywood” (rated PG-13 for brief nudity) draws its energy almost exclusively from cliche. Caton-Jones, perhaps because he’s Scottish, feels free to indulge himself with every piece of small-town, movie-derived Americana he can train his camera on; he’s an equal-opportunity borrower. Even “Local Hero,” directed by fellow Scotsman Bill Forsyth, gets pillaged.

The cornball rowdiness is partially redeemed by the good cast, which includes Woody Harrelson as a lunky insurance salesman, David Ogden Stiers as the mayor, Roberts Blossom as a judge, Barnard Hughes as the town’s decrepit doctor and Frances Sternhagen as a local busybody. Bridget Fonda turns up as a Hollywood-struck belle and, as usual, she’s much stronger than her role allows for. Fonda has the power and the sass to become a major actress. Why did she bother with this dinky cameo?

Michael J. Fox, as in “The Secret of My Success” and the “Back to the Future” films, goes in for a lot of scampering here. In between scampering, he mugs. It’s probably just as well that Fox doesn’t bring much gravity to the role; if he were any moonier and heartfelt, the film might really be exposed as a crock.

It is anyway, since Ben is saddled with a love interest who does the heartfelt bit for the both of them.

Julie Warner’s Lou, Ben’s ambulance driver and a would-be lawyer, makes her first appearance striding out a lake buck naked. She’s wise to Ben’s slick city ways but she falls for him anyway; she recognizes the simplicity of his soul.

By the end, her dialogue appears to have been ghost-written by the late Maxwell Anderson or Cyrano de Bergerac; she compares Ben to a “bright shooting star” and it’s music to his ears. Now if only Ben had decided to leave Grady to become a screenwriter instead of a doctor.

In Hollywood, he could hear that kind of dialogue all the time.

‘Doc Hollywood’

Michael J. Fox: Ben Stone

Julie Warner: Lou

Barnard Hughes: Dr. Hogue

A Warner Bros. presentation. Director Michael Caton-Jones. Producers Susan Solt and Deborah Johnson. Executive producer Marc Merson. Screenplay Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman and Daniel Pyne. Cinematographer Michael Chapman. Editor Priscilla Nedd-Friendly. Art directors Eva Ana Bohn and Dale Allen Pelton. Set decorator Cloudia Rebar. Running time: 1 hour, 54 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG-13 (brief nudity).

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Doc Hollywood (1991)

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He was headed for Beverly Hills to be a plastic surgeon... but he took an exit to a town that didn't take plastic.

Michael Caton-Jones

Daniel Pyne

Jeffrey Price

Peter S. Seaman

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Michael J. Fox

Benjamin Stone

Julie Warner

Vialula (Lou)

Barnard Hughes

Aurelius Hogue

Woody Harrelson

Hank Gordon

David Ogden Stiers

Mayor Nick Nicholson

Frances Sternhagen

Lillian, Welcoming Committee

George Hamilton

Doctor Halberstrom

Bridget Fonda

Nancy Lee Nicholson

Mel Winkler

Melvin the Mechanic

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A review by Wuchak

Written by wuchak on may 21, 2021.

Likable small town dramedy with Michael J. Fox

A young doctor in DC (Michael J. Fox) wants to become a flashy, high-paid plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, but breaks down in a quaint town in South Carolina where he gets back-to-basics and learns that some things are more important than money. Julie Warner and Bridget Fonda play contrasting romantic interests while Woody Harrelson is on hand as a rival and David Ogden Stiers as the mayor.

The plot of “Doc Hollywood” (1991) is reminiscent of Northern Exposure and was obviously ripped off by the animated “Cars” (2006). It’s an agreeabl... read the rest.

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Original Language English

Budget $20,000,000.00

Revenue $54,830,779.00

plastic surgery
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Doc Hollywood Review

01 Jan 1991

104 minutes

Doc Hollywood

This is a straightforward tale: the slick young Dr Stone (Fox) is driving across America to an outrageously well-paid post as a Los Angeles cosmetic surgeon, forced to spend a few days in a tiny town in Georgia he succumbs to its rural charms (Warner as the sexy-but-wholesome Lou) and decides a life of ease and plenty isn’t for him.

The storyline is both over-obvious and highly unlikely from the moment Stone claps eyes on Lou — with no twists, surprises or secondary plots.

But most disappointing of all is the desire for simplicity resulting in the “comedy” losing out badly to the “romantic”. In spite of a few neat running gags — a pig, a belligerent nurse and a soap opera style episodic letter — the laff level is far below par.

Fox has made his name playing a clever blend of high farce and lowdown cynicism, yet the edge he could be relied on to cut through any mush with is almost completely missing. Likewise the possibilities for extraneous lunacy by supporting characters is woefully underused (notably Woody Harrelson as a super-macho insurance salesman).

Classic Film Review: The Timeless Charm of “Doc Hollywood”

Michael J. Fox had a nice, decade-long run as an “It” star in Hollywood, the Canadian-next-door leading man who got first dibs on a lot of prestige projects.

That wasn’t just due to his TV fame, the sitcom stardom brought by “Family Ties.” His stepping into “Back to the Future” saved the movie, created a franchise, made Universal rich and him one of the most bankable stars of his era.

He took his shot at a Vietnam drama (“Casualties of War”), coming of age as an upper class addict (“Bright Lights, Big City”), an aspiring rocker whose sister (Joan Jett) has her eyes on the prize (“Light of Day”) and comedies and rom-coms of every variety.

But the most endearing and perhaps most enduring of those was the most easygoing. It’s the movie that best let us see how the with-it TV actor always compensated for his lack of height by bouncing along on the balls of his feet, even when he was walking a pig.

“Doc Hollywood” took a corny and geographically indefensible premise — young surgeon leaves his DC residency for a prestigious LA plastic surgery clinic, and gets waylaid far off the interstate in rural Grady, South Carolina (never understood this pre-Waze navigation) — and threw a LOT of talent at it.

And the result seems literally effortless, with every single bite of low-hanging fruit delivering a grin.

Director Michael Caton-Jones broke out with the British sex-and-spies-and-politics drama “Scandal,” and was fresh off the sentimental World War II aerial combat thriller “Memphis Belle.” Why anybody thought he was right for a “Mayberry” throwback comedy in an idealized Sleepy Time Down South After Integration romantic comedy is its own story.

But the problem-solving exercise the project presented also serves up an Old School Hollywood solution. Upend stereotypical expectations. And employ every comical character actor and bit player you can get your hands on, the older the better.

Fox’s Dr. Ben Stone’s wrecks his vintage Porsche in the middle of BFE, S.C. But the African American garage owner ( Mel Winkler , adorable) has got the hook-up on parts. This newfangled inventory aid called the Internet, y’see.

There’s small town chicanery afoot as the stern, self-serving judge ( Roberts Blossom , whose credits went back decades and decades) sentences the doc to public service, filling in for their aged curmudgeon small-town sawbones ( Barnard Hughes, who’d played a version of this character in a sitcom in the ’70s). The drawling, oozing southern charm mayor ( David Ogden Stiers) makes his pitch, the first of many, for Ben Stone sticking around “The Squash Capital of the South.”

The cute single-mom ambulance driver (Julie Warner ) isn’t interested in giving him a reason to stay. The entitled local doofus ( Woody Harrelson, hilarious in every scene) labels him “Doc Hollywood” and can’t wait for him to breeze on out of there, and the cranky old doctor’s crankier old nurse ( Eyde Byrd , a stitch) isn’t that impressed with him either.

But Southern fried socialite Nancy Lee, vamped up by Bridget Fonda, who started her own run of star vehicles right after this yummy turn, is all over the doctor with the Hollywood dream.

Still, it’s the sassy, hard-nosed ambulance driver who turns Doc’s head, and the sparks set off are screwball comedy classic in style, modern in tone.

“I suspect that your version of romance is whatever will separate me from my panties.”

“No, I am just talking about dinner. Wear make-up, put on a dress. Panties are optional .”

Warner wasn’t just the right height to pair her up with Fox (Fonda also had that advantage). She had a touch of “spitfire” about her that shows up in her work, even today.

With the screen packed with “characters,” as if the film was a sitcom pilot trying to introduce everybody ( Frances Sternhagen leads a cadre of familiar-faced townsfolk) in the coming series, the script was engineered to give everybody a funny moment.

Doc finds himself “paid” for his services by a family’s “pet” pig. But he needs cash to pay Melvin the mechanic to get the car fixed.

“You want to trade, the pig for the part?”

“If you can part with the pig.”

Sure, there’s pop music on the soundtrack, Patsy Cline singing Willie Nelson’s “Crazy” for a slow dance. But the sight gags are lightly underscored with the jovial wedding music from Prokofiev’s “Lt. Kije Suite,” used in literally dozens of comedies, from Alec Guinness to Woody Allen.

Yet the picture’s engaging, ongoing appeal rests squarely on the shoulders of Fox as straight man. He is personable, even at his big city snobbiest. The exasperating moments of his dilemma — played for broad laughs — just sort of roll off the character who’s maybe lost-his-s–t more than his share of times already. We see the people and the place working on Ben Stone in all the most formulaic and familiar ways. He sees it, too, and damned if he knows what to do about it.

Take the pig for a walk, I suppose.

Fox was headed back to TV shortly after this film outing, and five Emmys suggest that was always his first, best destiny. I recall driving down to Atlanta to interview him shortly before “Doc Hollywood” came out, getting up to leave, and stopping in the door on the way out, overcome by the “Hey, you’re done for the day, wanna grab a beer?” impulse. That’s never happened to me, before or since. That’s TV for you. The “stars” start to seem like people you know, just because of that boob tube’s intimacy.

The film’s giggles carry on right up to the picture’s finale. A perfectly-cast shallow LA aesthetic surgeon cameo, then Harrelson, in an over-the-top bit part, nailing “Cheers” star Ted Danson with one last one-liner, and love and squash triumphing in the end.

It may have been lightly regarded when it came out, but I think you can make the case that “Doc Hollywood,” a throwback comedy even then, stands the test of time better than most any rom-com of its era. And for all the Marty McFly love that’s clung to Michael J. Fox over the decades, this might have been his best outing, the epitome of his appeal and a movie he’ll be remembered for.

Rating: PG-13, a little racy, here and there.

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, David Ogden Stiers, Woody Harrelson, Eyde Byrd, Frances Sternhagen, Mel Winkler, Roberts Blossom, Barnard Hughes and George Hamilton.

Credits: Directed by Michael Caton-Jones, scripted by Laurian Leggett, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman and Daniel Pyne, based on a novel by Neil B. Shulman.

Running time: 1:44

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Review/Film; A Hollywood Doctor In American Squashland

By Janet Maslin

Aug. 2, 1991

In "Doc Hollywood," Michael J. Fox plays a big-city doctor who wanders off the beaten track and right into a television sitcom, or at the very least a pilot for one. In a tiny town called Grady, famed as "the Squash Capital of the South," Mr. Fox's Ben Stone crashes cute (by driving his vintage red Porsche convertible into a judge's white picket fence) and is sentenced to stay and perform community service.

Supposedly, he is torn between a promising opportunity to perform plastic surgery on a vain Los Angeles clientele and the simpler, more immediate charms of Grady. And supposedly he has a hard time deciding what to do. But despite the prodigious efforts of the director, Michael Caton-Jones ("Scandal," "Memphis Belle"), to postpone it for as long as possible, the film's outcome is never in doubt. Anyone who has failed to notice this summer's epidemic of breast-beating among once-proud careerist yuppies has simply not been paying attention.

The town of Grady functions as an elaborate support system for Ben as he wrestles with his conscience. And Grady is a television comedy writer's dream. Funny, colorful and eccentric, it is not unlike the Alaska town that is the setting for "Northern Exposure," which really is a television series about a displaced big-city doctor living among a fine array of rustic oddballs. This time the setting is "heehaw hell," as a harried Dr. Stone puts it, but the willfully offbeat feeling is much the same.

Among the residents of Grady -- there is a temptation to call them "regulars," but that will probably come later -- are an older, curmudg eonly doctor (Barnard Hughes), who resents his citified colleague but eventually comes to respect him, and a pert elderly waitress (Frances Sternhagen) who wears pigtails, makes hip wisecracks and turns up as a record-scratching D.J. at Grady's all-important Squash Festival, which Mr. Caton-Jones has done his best to transform into April in Paris. It is here, amid the fireworks and the slow-motion shots of carnival rides, that Ben becomes deeply smitten with Lou (Julie Warner), the woman who insults him constantly because she wants him to stay.

Most of the other characters are considerably less abrasive. (Ms. Warner, attractive but too much the caustic sophisticate for this country-girl role, has been given a preposterous explanation for what Lou is doing in this tiny town, and for why she happens to be the ambulance driver accompanying Dr. Stone on his rounds.) Among the others, a very breezy and personable group, are Woody Harrelson as the insurance salesman who is jealous of Lou's affections, Bridget Fonda as the much-too-friendly daughter of the mayor (David Ogden Stiers), Mel Winkler as an especially ingratiating mechanic who can't seem to get Ben's Porsche fixed, and Eyde Byrde as a gruff, disapproving nurse. In addition to its other virtues, Grady happens to be a perfectly integrated Southern town.

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Doc Hollywood Reviews

56 Metascore
1 hr 43 mins
Drama, Comedy
Watchlist Where to Watch

A plastic surgeon finishes his residency and heads for a lucrative job in L.A. Distracted, he plows into a fence and is sentenced to community service and fence repair in a small South Carolina town.

DOC HOLLYWOOD is an unsuccessful attempt to create an old-fashioned slice of romantic Americana in the style of Frank Capra or Preston Sturges. A Washington D.C.-based plastic surgeon with dreams of making mounds of money in Beverly Hills, Dr. Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) speeds West in his vintage Porsche but gets only as far as Grady, South Carolina, before a fluke accident stops him cold. Within moments of crashing into the new fence of Grady's mayor Nick Nicholson (David Ogden Stiers), Ben realizes he may be in for a long stay. The mayor is eager to have a fresh-faced young doctor minister to the townsfolks' needs, and sentences "Doc" Stone to many hours of community service, while his Porsche is laid up at the local body shop for extensive repairs. Directed by Michael Caton-Jones (SCANDAL, MEMPHIS BELLE), DOC HOLLYWOOD is a clumsy, calculated attempt at warm-hearted, populist entertainment. As the title character, Michael J. Fox plays the same immature yuppie innocent he portrayed in the BACK TO THE FUTURE movies and THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS, as well as countless episodes of TV's "Family Ties." He does it well, but we've seen it too many times before. Julie Warner makes a respectable love interest, and Barnard Hughes is acceptable as the town's aging doctor whose home-spun remedies have kept the population in shape for many years. George Hamilton delivers a nice turn as the almost machine-like Dr. Halberstrom, while Bridget Fonda, whose forceful, sexy presence gives this sluggish movie a temporary shot of adrenalin, is all but wasted in a cameo as a Southern belle anxious to find her fortune in Hollywood.

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Film review: Doc Hollywood

By deseret news , chris hicks, movie critic.

Michael J. Fox is an enjoyable comic leading man, but how many films can he make that hang completely on his charm?

Like some of his other pictures, "Doc Hollywood" has some good ideas (though many are taken from other movies) and a terrific cast. But it suffers from a mediocre script (by three screenwriters whose efforts include "The Hard Way," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Pacific Heights").

Add to that some botched comedic timing by the editors and director (Michael Caton-Jones, who also did "Scandal" and "Memphis Belle"), and the result is overall disappointment, despite some sporadic laughs.

Fox's role seems tailor-made: He's a cocky med-school graduate who dreams of becoming a plastic surgeon in Hollywood. When he finishes residency in a Washington, D.C., hospital emergency room, Fox begins his trek to California. But an auto accident finds him waylaid in South Carolina, the small town of Grady to be specific.

There, he is ordered by the local court to spend a week of community service in the local hospital, and, of course, he gets his comeuppance, learns a thing or two about humanity and falls in love with a local girl, who just happens to drive the ambulance.

Anyone who's ever seen a movie will probably be a step ahead of every plot development and certainly every joke. The attempt here is to do something along the lines of "The Egg and I," with a bevy of eccentric rural rubes who prove they're wiser than the city folks they encounter. (Chevy Chase's "Funny Farm" is the most recent film to try this motif.)

But the first third of the movie seems off, with Fox and his friends stumbling in and out of various situations that must have seemed funny on paper but don't quite make the translation to the big screen. (What can you say about a movie that makes big jokes out of vomiting, urinating and a cake shaped like nude female breasts?)

The film does get a bit better as it goes along, but the bevy of terrific character actors — Frances Stern-hagen, Barnard Hughes, David Ogden Stiers, Woody Harrelson (who has a funny throwaway line about Ted Danson, his "Cheers" co-star), Roberts Blossom, Bridget Fonda, Eyde Byrde — are underused and never seem quite able to overcome the script's hurdles and lack of comedic energy.

All the cast members are good, of course, including Fox and newcomer Julie Warner, as his love interest, but it's simply not enough. (And such unnecessary modern excesses as having Warner introduced by rising up nude from a lake mar the film's attempts at old-fashioned sensibilities.)

All in all a sad misfire, despite some amusing moments in the film's second half.

"Doc Hollywood" is rated PG-13 for nudity, profanity and vulgarity.

— JULIE WARNER wasn't quite discovered sipping a soda at Schwabb's Drugstore in Hollywood, as legend suggests happened to Lana Turner. But her show business rise has been almost as rapid.

In her first film, "Doc Hollywood," the 26-year-old actress has the female lead opposite Michael J. Fox. "I'm thrilled, obviously," she said in a phone interview from Denver on the first leg of a publicity tour. "This is a far higher pinnacle than I thought I would reach at this point."

Warner went to Los Angeles from her native New York (after graduating in theater from Brown University) just two years ago, and almost immediately landed the plum role of Andrew Dice Clay's girlfriend on his 1989 HBO special "The Diceman Cometh."

"I guess I felt that New York was my hometown and I wanted to try something different," Warner explained. "I had been told, and kind of knew, that there were more opportunities in Hollywood — that's the place with the most luck.

"It was before Andrew became such a big star and my agent said to me, `You're going to meet this guy and I hear he's kind of crazy, kind of wild. So I go in and here's this big, hulking guy with a big belt and he said, `OK, here's the thing, we're going to have a big fight and you call me every dirty name you can think of.' And my New York spirit came through and he liked it."

As to all the controversy surrounding Clay's misogynistic standup act, Warner says, "The controversy is interesting but basically I feel that the public hasn't been able to separate him from his persona, the `Dice-man.' My feeling is that his act is really poking fun at racists and bigots and sexists and all-round terrible guys. I'm not sure if I agree with what he does, but that's what he's trying to do."

The Clay special led to other television work, including guest roles on "21 Jump Street," "Carol & Co." (starring Carol Burnett), "The Outsiders" and "an odd somebody on `Star Trek (The Next Generation).' I was a lieutenant in the cosmos, wearing a lot of turquoise and odd costumes. I was just a nice girl from planet Zarkon or something. I did two episodes."

When the "Doc Hollywood" opportunity came along, Warner says it was the usual audition process. "I went through five auditions and gradually moved up the ranks, then I had a screen test. I think they were originally looking for (a major star) for the role."

She chuckled as she added, "I'm 5-foot-2, and that might have helped," referring to working opposite Fox, who isn't much taller. "They knew we would have this dance scene together. He isn't sensitive about that, but studio doesn't want the movie to be a height joke."

As for the nude scene that introduces her character in the film and serves as Warner's introduction to moviegoers, she says, "I was daunted, sure. It was not something I was incredibly excited about doing, but it was a great way to introduce this character, and it was handled in a non-exploitative, non-sexual way.

"This is an old-fashioned movie where the kiss means something. I felt that the way I appeared as (the character) in the beginning was, `Here I am, a creature of nature, treat me like an equal.' She's certainly not the type who would run off into the woods. But it's not my preference, I'm not an exhibitionist, unless it's really called for in the script."

Warner says she doesn't have another film lined up but expects "Doc Hollywood" to open some doors. "You move on to the next echelon, and I'm certainly competing for the best projects and biggest roles now. But I'm not a proven entity at this point. I'm hoping that when the movie is released that may change a bit."

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Premiering at Karlovy Vary, Oleh Sentsov's film is composed of 90 minutes accidentally shot by the director's helmet camera during a Russo-Ukrainian War battle.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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‘tiny lights’ review: empathetic czech drama sees the world through a child’s eyes, ‘teen torture, inc.’ and paris hilton bring abusive industry to task, ‘beverly hills cop: axel f’ review: eddie murphy is back on the streets in routine netflix sequel low on new ideas, lupita nyong’o says cancer storyline in ‘a quiet place: day one’ was “therapeutic” after chadwick boseman’s death, robert towne, oscar-winning ‘chinatown’ screenwriter, dies at 89, kate winslet honored with lifetime achievement award at munich film festival.

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‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ Review: Eddie Murphy Shines in a Netflix Sequel That Gets the Job Done

David ehrlich.

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For better or worse, there’s no denying that “Axel F” displays the courage of its own convictions. It’s been 40 years since the first “Beverly Hills Cop” hit theaters (and 30 years since John Landis ’ “Beverly Hills Cop 3” shit the bed so hard that it instantly stalled out one of Hollywood’s most profitable franchises), but watching Axel Foley drive around Detroit as Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On” blares over the soundtrack tells makes it feel like no time has passed — first-time director Mark Molloy might have been something of a wild card , but returning superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer was there to ensure a bone-deep sense of franchise continuity.

It doesn’t hurt that Murphy has aged a lot better than much of the world around him, or that he slips right back into his most explosive character as if he hasn’t spent much of the last two decades sleepwalking down the long slopes that formed around the peaks of his early career success. If long, talky stretches of this relatively cheap-looking movie suggest that its star must have pocketed most of its reported $150 million budget himself (that’s almost five times the amount spent on the original even after you adjust for inflation), Murphy does his damndest to make sure that Netflix gets its money’s worth.

The same can’t be said for any of the other cops you might remember from Axel’s heyday. His former partner Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) is all too happy to fall on his sword in the wake of Axel’s latest stunt; he’d rather spend time with his sociopathic grandson than eat another helping of shit in the name of his job. That doesn’t sit right with Axel, who only feels relaxed when he’s risking his life busting crime rings or whatever, and — for all his improvisational genius — is so unsure of how to function in any other role that he’s barely spoken to his own daughter over the last couple decades.

Not that Jane would ever make the call, of course. That honor falls to franchise mainstays John Taggart (John Aston as Beverly Hills’ disbelieving police chief) and Lieutenant Billy Rosewood (a husky-voiced Judge Reinhold as our hero’s most loyal friend), the latter of whom goes missing before Axel even gets there. It’s just as well: Axel only knows how to care about people when they’re wrapped into a case. Will Beall, Kevin Etten, and Tom Gormicon’s script is only so interested in plumbing the depths of Axel’s interpersonal anxieties, and moments in which his character hangups meaningfully dovetail with the rest of the action prove all too few and far between, but the tug-of-war between work and family lends this movie the tension it needs to sustain itself between then and now.

'BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F,' from left: Eddie Murphy, Taylour Paige, 2024. ph: Melinda Sue Gordon /© Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

“Axel F” doesn’t put too fine a point on what that means (in keeping with the accidentally seismic energy of its source material, which only materialized after Sylvester Stallone dropped out at the last minute), but it’s funny watching Axel try to charm his way out of trouble now that virtually all of the street cops he encounters are Black women who just roll their eyes at his antics, and the valet at the local country club would sooner code switch to keep his job than help a brother out. Even the wannabe actor behind the desk at the local impound lot is too clued in for Axel to fool on his own, and this sequel is never stronger or more itself than it is when Jane is forced to help her dad pose as the producer of a new Liam Neeson action movie — a reference-happy exchange that suggests Axel taught his daughter everything he knows without learning a damn thing in return.

And, hey, sometimes that works out! Sometimes you rediscover what you loved about something in the first place, and that ain’t nothing. It might even be the best you could reasonably hope to expect from a legacy sequel, let alone the deep-pocketed fourth installment of a franchise in which institutional legitimacy has often been used to disguise greed or corruption. But that can only do so much to distract from how deflated this movie is by all of the new elements it tries to introduce; nobody expected Netflix to re-capture lightning in a bottle, but far too much of “Axel F” forces you to contend with how rare that really is.

And while Jane is clearly the emotional core of this story, Paige’s energy-free performance makes it too easy for us to forget about her as well. The same recessiveness that saw her become such a perfect audience surrogate in “Zola” is all wrong for her role here; instead of matching her father’s livewire energy, Jane rebels against Axel by having no personality whatsoever, a potentially interesting choice that neither the script nor Molloy’s direction do nearly enough to justify. Paige is a better — and funnier — actor than she’s allowed to show here, a frustrating outcome for a part that should’ve highlighted her talents. It doesn’t stop “Axel F” from getting the job done, but that’s little consolation in a movie so concerned with the long-term consequences of not caring about anything else. If only “Axel F” didn’t make it so damn easy to forgive it for that.

“Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” will be available to stream on Netflix starting Wednesday, July 3.

Doc Hollywood

A young doctor on his way across the country to a job interview crashes his car in a small town and is sentenced to work for several days at the town hospital.
Benjamin Stone is a young doctor driving to L.A., where he is interviewing for a high-paying job as a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. He gets off the highway to avoid a traffic jam, but gets lost and ends up crashing into a fence in the small town of Grady. He is sentenced to 32 hours of community service at the local hospital. All he wants is to serve the sentence, get his car fixed and get moving, but gradually the locals become attached to the new doctor, and he falls for the pretty ambulance driver, Lou. Will he leave? — Sami Al-Taher <[email protected]>
A young male doctor stumbles in a small town as he is on his way to a job interview. He is stuck there and ordered to work at the town hospital. During his time, he gets to know the whole town and the true definitions of multiple things along the way. — RECB3
Dr. Benjamin Stone (Michael J. Fox) is a hotshot young surgeon who longs to leave the drudgery of a Washington, D.C. emergency room and finally leaps at his chance at more money (for repaying his med school debts) and less death as a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. On his last day, Ben's relationship with his co-workers is presumed to be anything but a warm one. None of his colleagues will join him for a drink, and a cake in his honor has an iced portion of the phrase "Good riddance, asshole" sliced out. Ben's cross-country drive in a 1956 Porsche 356 Speedster to become a Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon is interrupted when he crashes in the rural redneck hamlet of Grady, South Carolina. The crash is through the hand-made fence of local Judge Evans (Roberts Blossom). The superficial Ben offers to pay for the fence, so he can be on his way, but the Judge isn't interested, and he sentences him to 16 hours of community service at a nearby hospital. Ben gets angry, and the stern judge increases his community service to 32 hours. The local mechanic Melvin (Mel Winkler) tells Ben that he'll have his car fixed by the time he leaves, and Ben goes to report to the hospital, where the stiff Nurse Packer (Eyde Byrde) humbles him by ordering him to clock in and out, as would a factory worker and threatens to report him to the judge should he miss one day. Though upset, Ben quickly makes friends with Mayor Nick Nicholson (David Ogden Stiers), who is desperate to keep him in town because he knows it won't be long before their current doctor, Aurelius Hogue (Barnard Hughes) retires. He invites him to stay overnight at his lakeside lodge,where the town's café proprietor/waitress (Frances Sternhagen), and her friends, make Ben feel welcome with food and alcohol. After a night of drinking, Ben wakes up feeling rough, and goes outside to the lake, where he sees a naked woman, Vialula "Lou" (Julie Warner) emerge from the water. She gets dressed and leaves,and it isn't long before he discovers that she's the town's tomboyish ambulance driver. Ben soon finds his clinic work much more laid-back than the emergency room. His are simple cases for the redneck locals which include spots before the eyes (from an elderly woman not cleaning her glasses), fishing hook impaling, and even reading mail for a young hillbilly illiterate couple. But the experience also humbles Ben when he mistreats a case of mitral valve regurgitation leading to late cyanosis of a young boy. Hogue orders Ben to give the boy a Coca-Cola. Dismissing Hogue's treatment as quackery, Ben calls for a helicopter to transport the boy to another facility in Athens, Georgia, to see a heart specialist. But when the report comes back, Ben is embarrassed when he and Hogue learn that the boy has this chest condition because he had chewed (and accidentally swallowed) some of his father's tobacco and Hogue explains that the carbonic acid component of the soda would relieve his stomachache. The next day at the café, Ben meets the Mayor's flirty daughter, Nancy Lee (Bridget Fonda) who immediately has a crush on him, but he's much more interested in getting to know Lou. The Mayor doesn't reckon he's got much chance with her,but Ben makes him a $10 bet that he'll score with her before he leaves town. He arrives at Lou's place with flowers,and discovers that she's also a single mother to a four-year old girl called Emma, the product of a relationship she had with an ex-boyfriend,while living in New York. He invites Lou to have dinner with him at The Mayor's house, and he discovers that she is also the object of affection for Hank Gordon (Woody Harrelson), the local insurance salesman,and town's "golden boy". Later that night, Ben tries his best to make a move on Lou, but she refuses his advances, and tells him she knows about the bet with the Mayor. During the routine house calls, Ben and Lou's bond grows, and he confides in her that he grew up in a small town in rural Indiana, where his parents lived and died in a car accident when he was only 14. Ben can't see himself confined to any small town which reminds him of the memory of his parents which he chooses to push himself with work in order not to dwell in the past. During this time, Hogue also starts to respect Ben when Ben saves his life after he suffers a heart attack. At the town's annual festival, Ben and Lou have a slow dance, and almost share a passionate kiss, when Judge Evans interrupts, and tells Ben that because he's saved Hogue's life, he is now pardoned from community service. With his car fixed and ready to go, Lou wants to spend the night with him before he leaves. But Ben realizes he can't go through with it because he's fallen for her and wants her to be more than just a one night stand. Ben arrives at the lakeside lodge and finds Hank waiting for him. Ben expects a fight, but Hank explains that though he can't give Lou what Ben can, he's still a better man for her. After the two men talk, Ben comes to realize he's not selfless enough for a life with Lou and plans to not see her anymore. Not wanting to wait until the morning to leave, he breaks into the garage to get his car and drives out of town. But just as he is leaving, he sees a one of his patients who has gone into labor. He pulls over,and helps deliver the baby. However,as the woman is giving birth, Ben's car is wrecked when a truck driver smashes into it. The next morning, Lou tells Ben that she plans to marry Hank and that the town have paid for a plane ticket for him to leave right away. Secretly, she doesn't want Hank but she thinks Ben doesn't want to settle for the rural life. He reluctantly says goodbye to the locals, and leaves. In California, Ben's new boss Dr. Halberstrom (George Hamilton) hires him at the interview, thanks to an unexpected phone call recommending him from Dr. Hogue. Ben finally has his high-paying dream job on the west coast that he always wanted. But over the next several weeks, Ben quickly tires of the superficiality of Beverly Hills and of the patients. One day, Ben is surprised by the appearance of Nancy Lee and Hank, who have fled Grady to come to California and they are now a couple. Hank tells Ben he took his own advice to "do what a man's gotta do." Ben, seeing an opportunity at true happiness, returns to Grady, hoping to patch things up with Lou, who takes him back.

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Sheffield docfest awards top prizes to ‘at the door of the house, who will come knocking,’ ‘the boy and the suit of lights,’ ‘no other land’, breaking news.

Sunny Side Of The Doc’s Pitch Awards Go To ‘Inside Gaza,’ ‘The Brain Garden,’ ‘Our Sister Angela: Black Power In The GDR’ & More

By Matthew Carey

Matthew Carey

Documentary Editor, Awards

Blood In The Water: Dueling 'Jaws' Docs Circle Distribution Ahead Of Blockbuster's 50th Anniversary

Sunny Side Of The Doc Wraps 35th Edition, Pledges Support For Documentary Field In Time Of "Societal Polarization, Rise Of Extremism"

'Our Sister Angela: Black Power in the GDR'

“In East Germany, [Davis] was the biggest superstar ever,” Warda told Deadline after winning the pitch award. “There were statues built in her honor. There were paintings made of her. She was in every beauty magazine.”

The project leverages material shot in the GDR in the 1970s.

“Most of that archive was filmed by the East German state, which is also an interesting layer to the story,” Hannover said. Warda added, “Angela Davis’s visits [to the GDR] were documented so heavily at that time because it was state propaganda, but now we can profit from it because we have so much material to look at and to work with.”

The pitch award comes with a €3,000 prize.

A Special Jury Mention in the Best History Pitch category was awarded to The Curse of Sugar , directed by Mathilde Damoisel and produced by Hauteville Productions (France).

Inside Gaza , directed by Hélène Lam Trong and produced by Factstory, AFP – Agence France Presse (France), won Best Global Issues Pitch. The documentary sheds light on the catastrophic impact of Israel’s invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’s devastating sneak attack on Israel on October 7.

Producers of Inside Gaza tell Business Doc Europe they hope to release the film next summer.

Best Science Pitch went to The Brain Garden , directed by Randall Wood and produced by Storyland PTY LTD. (Australia). It’s centered around Wood, a veteran documentary filmmaker from Australia who suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident 18 months ago, and the healing modalities he discovered through ecotherapy.

“It is a personal story, but it’s actually a totally universal story,” Wood told Deadline. “What people don’t know is that there are around 69 million traumatic brain injuries globally each year. So, I’m one of millions of people who go through this.”

Randall Wood (at podium) pitches 'The Brain Garden' at Sunny Side of the Doc

Judges from the PBS science series NOVA and the CBC were among those who evaluated the six science pitches, including The Brain Garden . Winner of the pitch in that category, which also comes with a €3,000 award, was announced on Tuesday. Woods teared up when he heard his project would take home the prize.

“I think my tears — because I was a little emotional standing up there — were not just myself, but actually for the whole cause, the idea that we bring this issue to the front,” he said, “because traumatic brain injury is described internationally as the invisible injury because people don’t see it.”

Producer Ina Fichman (L) and director Ashley Duong (center) accept the Student Choice Award for 'Ba's Book.' At right is Kriss Degoutin, coordinator of the Sunny Side Pitching Sessions.

The Student Choice Award went to Ba’s Book , directed by Ashley Duong and produced by Ina Fichman, from production company Intuitive Pictures. The film’s logline reads, “As a father writes a memoir to his daughter about his harrowing experiences of both the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution, the daughter responds by making a film. Through their creative dialogue, this hybrid documentary offers a disarming look at the legacy of war.”

Among Special Awards, the Best Impact Movie Award went to Unwelcomed , directed by Sebastian González Méndez and Amilcar Infante and produced by Amilcar Films. It’s a story of mass human migration – but not one on the radar of many people. Millions of Venezuelans have fled their country as it has descended into political and economic turmoil under President Nicolás Maduro. About a million and a half alone headed south, eventually making it to Chile.

Unwelcomed is structured around “an anti-migrant parade that happened in the north of Chile because of this Venezuelan exodus,” Infante told Deadline. “Over 5,000 people marched against migrants and they were burning their tents, their belongings… It’s people [Venezuelan migrants] that’s been traumatized already in their country. You have to be traveling for a year to pass through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia. And in every place you go, you receive a kick in the butt. Who wants a poor migrant? Nobody.”

'Unwelcomed' directors Sebastian González Méndez and Amilcar Infante with their award at Sunny Side of the Doc.

This is the full list of Best Pitch winners at the 35 th Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France:

BEST SCIENCE PITCH Sponsored by PBS Distribution

THE BRAIN GARDEN

Produced by: Storyland PTY LTD. (Australia) Directed by: Randall Wood

BEST NEW VOICES PITCH Sponsored by Al Jazeera & AJB DOC Film Festival

DREAM OF THE WILD OAKS

Produced by: Seven Spring Pictures (Iran) Directed by: Marjan Khosravi

BEST GLOBAL ISSUES PITCH Sponsored by RTBF

INSIDE GAZA

Produced by: Factstory, AFP – Agence France Presse (France) Directed by: Hélène Lam Trong

Special Jury Mention:

SILENCE OF THE LAMS

Produced by: EZ Films (Ireland) Directed by: Ciaran Deeney

BEST ARTS & CULTURE PITCH Sponsored by Al Jazeera Documentary Channel & AJB DOC Film Festival

THE SHAPE OF BLUE

Produced by: Intuitive Pictures inc. (Canada) Directed by: Sybilla Patrizia

BEST IMPACT CAMPAIGNS PITCH

THE MYTH OF MONSTERS

Produced by: Gather Together (Malaysia) Directed by: Beatrice Leong

BEST NATURE & CONSERVATION PITCH

Sponsored by Blue Ant Media & Love Nature

Produced by: Ripple Productions Ltd (Kenya) Directed by: Eric Mwangi

BEST HISTORY PITCH

OUR SISTER ANGELA: BLACK POWER IN THE GDR

Produced by: Florianfilm GmbH (Germany), Dare Pictures (U.K.), La Lutta (United States)

Directed by: Jascha Hannover & Katharina Warda

THE CURSE OF SUGAR

Produced by: Hauteville Productions (France) Directed by: Mathilde Damoisel

SPECIAL AWARDS WINNERS:

PITCH THE DOC AWARD

A SATELLITE FOR BURU LAÏ

Produced by: Gédéon Programmes (France) Directed by: Antoine Lechat & Suium Sulaimanova

STUDENT CHOICE AWARD

BA’S BOOK

Produced by: Ina Fichman (Canada) Directed by: Ashley Duong

NIEMEYER 4EVER

Produced by: Special Touch Studios (France) Directed by: Aurélia Makdessi

The Roch Bozino de l’engagement AWARD

TALES AND SENTENCES

Produced by: Little Big Story (France) Directed by: Alexandre Donot-Saby

IMPACT SOCIAL CLUB AWARD

EVERY OTHER GIRL

Produced by: Cinatrix Media (Gambia) Directed by: Abdoulie B. Jarju

BEST IMPACT MOVIE AWARD

Produced by: Amilcar Films (Chili)

Directed by: Sebastian González Méndez & Amilcar Infante

INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARD

DOCEDGE AWARD

YURLU | COUNTRY

Produced by: Illuminates Films (Australia) Directed by: Yaara Bou Melhem

MOVIES THAT MATTER AWARD

AL JAZEERA DOCUMENTARY INDUSTRY DAYS AWARD

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