I cannot understand why this 1971 Hollywood production is currently only available through an Australian video company, but such is the unfortunate obscurity of this unsung Peter Sellers classic (Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide continues to grant it the same BOMB review they gave it in the 1970's). With so many scene stealers on display, Sellers comes through with what may perhaps be his most hilarious role. It all begins with his discovery of a patient who expired at 11:15AM, but Sellers argues that the corpse is still living due to the fact that the new day doesn't start until noon! The final straw for the beleaguered hospital commissioner comes in that very room, the DO NOT DISTURB sign still on the door; once he exits the room (handkerchief holding his nose), there is a brief conversation with the doctor who hustled him in- DOCTOR: "We can't save them all! That man was at least 85! COMMISSIONER: "How old was he when he died, 63?" Harold Gould plays a squeamish surgeon who shuts his eyes when the knife digs in, Pat Morita shines as the labman who falsifies the medical charts, Richard Lenz (whose 'pompous ass' reporter in "The Shootist" was booted in the rear by John Wayne) plays the patient who exposes the fraud (he only came in for a chest x-ray, until they discovered he owns a house). After discovering that they removed his healthy appendix, he informs the Commissioner, who exclaims, "Great balls of fire!" Lenz: "They could be next!" Also in the cast on screen (and supplying some excellent country-flavored music) is Keith Allison, former guitarist for Paul Revere and the Raiders, who also worked with Michael Nesmith on a few Monkees recordings like "Auntie's Municipal Court." Alas, there is some missing footage from this print, including a topless sequence with Uschi Digard near the end, also a scene with actress Kathleen Freeman wanting to use green stamps to finance her operation, getting locked by Sellers in his office, never to be seen again (in the uncut version, he returns to find that she has written in large letters on the wall 'UNFAIR PRICK' his response: "you misspelled price!").
Review of Where Does It Hurt?
