The Young Doctors (1961)

After arriving at his new post in a hospital pathology department, a young doctor (Ben Gazzara) clashes with the department head (Fredric March), who views the young doctor as competition. Based on the novel THE FINAL DIAGNOSIS by Arthur Hailey (AIRPORT) and directed by Phil Karlson (KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL). Medical television shows (GREY'S ANATOMY, ER, CHICAGO MED, etc.) are common fodder today but not in the early 1960s. So it left the movies to fill the gap and this is a decent and well acted medical melodrama (another medical drama THE INTERNS arrived the following year and was a big hit). The clash between a young doctor and an older doctor isn't particularly fresh (think of the DR. KILDARE movies from MGM in the 30s and 40s) but the medical ethics narrative still resounds today. There's a nice score by Elmer Bernstein. With George Segal, Eddie Albert, Arthur Hill, Dick Clark, Ina Balin, Aline MacMahon, Phyllis Love, Rosemary Murphy and Edward Andrews.