House Calls (1978) – DVD

***/**** Image A- Sound A-
starring Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Art Carney, Richard Benjamin
screenplay by Max Shulman & Julius J. Epstein and Alan Mandell & Charles Shyer
directed by Howard Zieff

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover House Calls is an unusually sharp entry in the normally anemic romantic comedy genre. Standard rom-com procedure is to be as inoffensive as possible, or at least sniggeringly condescending towards whatever is potentially offensive: that famous faux-orgasm in When Harry Met Sally… is a reminder to the audience that they're racy and adventurous, thus releasing them to be as uptight and cowardly as they really are. Not so House Calls, which possesses a surprising level of maturity while managing to take a few good shots at capitalist medicine. None of this is enough to help the film amount to more than a solid romantic comedy, but with such weak competition in the field, it can't help but look sparkling by comparison.

To be fair, House Calls starts out in a rather wobbly fashion. Recently-widowed surgeon Dr. Charlie Nichols (Walter Matthau) is apparently playing the field again, and as he trades innuendoes with younger colleague Dr. Solomon (Richard Benjamin), he happens upon the head-trussed corpus of Ann Atkinson (Glenda Jackson). Recognizing this to be the result of quackery, he releases her from bondage, only to earn the ire of senile head surgeon Dr. Willoughby (Art Carney) for swiping his patient. But while this mechanically sets up the MacGuffin (Willoughby's subsequent manipulation of Charlie) and the love interest (divorced Ann/Jackson, natch) alike, it also ushers in a battle of the sexes worthy of the name–harking back more to screwball than to sitcom banalities. Ironically, the film inspired a short-lived TV series of the same name that aired in a block with "Alice" on CBS.

Screwball, of course, was never radical, and neither is House Calls, but it knows that and is thus free to play into the form's strengths. The film touches on issues without dwelling on them, such as the implications of its greed-choked hospital: though it's happy to point out that the system is rigged towards keeping inept monsters like Dr. Willoughby in business (and the staff lounge outfitted with a sauna), it uses that fact organically to both give the action grounding and keep the comedy from flying off into irrelevance. And the handling of the Matthau/Jackson romance is surprisingly laconic–not only have the filmmakers hired the most unvarnished presences in American movies, they've also given each of them things worth fighting about instead of relying on the usual insipid back-and-forth.

None of this adds up to earth-shaking statement-mongering: House Calls doggedly follows format in introducing conflicts and crises that predictably involve Charlie giving up bubbleheads for very assertive Ann and meanwhile screwing up the courage to cross Dr. Willoughby at the risk of losing his job. But assuming you want to invest in the proceedings instead of switching off into Adam Shankman Land, rest assured the film never condescends to the material. The script (by Casablanca's Julius J. Epstein and three others) is remarkably sharp more often than not, particularly for the number of cooks in the kitchen, and even directorial nonentity Howard Zieff becomes an asset by offering crisp yet unobtrusive background to the banter. You may not leave the movie with your life changed, but you'll feel as though you were treated with more respect than House Calls' genus typically offers.

THE DVD
Universal/Focus treats House Calls itself with a measure of respect on DVD. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen image is for the most part laudably sharp and vivid, though blacks are a tad sticky and video noise very occasionally rears its head. The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio is if anything superior, sounding surprisingly potent for a two-speaker track, while the film's dated trailer rounds out the disc.

98 minutes; PG; 1.85:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 2.0 (Mono), French DD 2.0 (Mono), Spanish DD 2.0 (Mono); English SDH, French, Spanish subtitles; DVD-5; Region One; Universal