Oct 5, 2026 · 1 hr 5 min · 9 segments
This week's double feature is: Captain Newman, MD (1963) Oliver Sacks, His Own Life (2019) Trigger & Content Warnings for this episode include: Suicide, Ableism, Homophobia, War, Violence…
[upbeat music] Our double feature this week, we have Captain Newman, MD from 1963, starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis and Angie Dickinson.
In 1944, an Army doctor is in charge of a neuropsychiatric ward at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona, and he must deal with a variety of tough cases.
I really enjoyed Captain Newman.
Captain Newman is good.
It made me laugh out loud a few times.
I mean, they covered some serious topics, but it made me laugh out loud a few times.
It's one I have seen multiple times, and I think I get something out of it every time.
And it very much has this balance of some really funny moments and some really heartbreaking, really thoughtful, deeper insight into mental illness and psychiatric care and the trauma that soldiers go through.
Shell shock, yeah.
Well, I mean, not just shell shock, right? It's, it's all the different kinds of things that can happen to you as a soldier, um, mostly as a man, 'cause this-
Yeah
...
And pioneering this psychiatric care.
Yeah.
Dealing with a lot of PTSD, guilt, survivor's guilt, um, and dealing with dissociative identity disorder from PTSD.
Yeah, it's a fascinating portrayal.
What I really like is they really establish the stigma early as well.
Yes, they did.
There was a lot of pushback for people being checked into the psychiatric hospital.
And a lot of pushback, the stigma was not just affecting the patients, the stigma was on the doctors and nurses who would, who would work in that ward.
And a lot of pushback from the leadership and the brass.
[upbeat music] Our double feature this week, we have Captain Newman, MD from 1963, starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis and Angie Dickinson.
In 1944, an Army doctor is in charge of a neuropsychiatric ward at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona, and he must deal with a variety of tough cases.
I really enjoyed Captain Newman.
Captain Newman is good.
It made me laugh out loud a few times.
I mean, they covered some serious topics, but it made me laugh out loud a few times.
It's one I have seen multiple times, and I think I get something out of it every time.
And it very much has this balance of some really funny moments and some really heartbreaking, really thoughtful, deeper insight into mental illness and psychiatric care and the trauma that soldiers go through.
Shell shock, yeah.
Well, I mean, not just shell shock, right? It's, it's all the different kinds of things that can happen to you as a soldier, um, mostly as a man, 'cause this-
Yeah
...
And pioneering this psychiatric care.
Yeah.
Dealing with a lot of PTSD, guilt, survivor's guilt, um, and dealing with dissociative identity disorder from PTSD.
Yeah, it's a fascinating portrayal.
What I really like is they really establish the stigma early as well.
Yes, they did.
There was a lot of pushback for people being checked into the psychiatric hospital.
And a lot of pushback, the stigma was not just affecting the patients, the stigma was on the doctors and nurses who would, who would work in that ward.
And a lot of pushback from the leadership and the brass.
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