I’ve watched Arthur Hiller and Paddy Chayefsky‘s The Hospital seven or eight times, but until this morning I’d never read portions of Chayefsky’s actual script. The pre-dialogue intro hums with sardonic perspective and architectural exactitude. In a word, brilliant.
I’m imagining what it must have been like to read it cold in ’70, before filming. This kind of writing has always been rare; it’s almost nonexistent today.
![](/images/column/19finale/paddyhospital.jpg)
![](https://hollywood-elsewhere.com/wp-content/themes/amory/patreon-banner.jpg)