Medicine Man

Theatrical Release Date: 1992 02 07 (USA)

UPC: 717951003188

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Mild Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Profanity]

Summary: The Amazon rain forest is a living laboratory for Dr. Robert Campbell (Sean Connery), a reclusive research scientist living with a Brazilian native tribe. Campbell has accidentally discovered a flower extract that cures cancer, but has been unable to duplicate the formula. With the assistance of Dr. Crane (Lorraine Bracco), he explores every possible chemical derivative, but continues to fail. When a child in the village is near death from a tumor pressing against his trachea, Campbell and Crane stand against each other on the moral issue to use the last of the successful serum to save him or to keep it for further analysis. At the last moment, Crane reconsiders, and agrees to save the child. At the same time, commercial loggers begin to creep ever closer to the village, and government officials demand the tribe's relocation. With only yards remaining between the bulldozers and the tribe, Campbell discovers a vital clue to the elusive elixir he seeks. His attempt to stop the workmen results in violence and a raging forest fire which destroys his lab equipment and the natives' village. The story ends with Campbell, Crane, and the tribe pushing deeper into the jungle in search of new answers. In a change of pace from his usual action film fare, the skilled work of director John McTiernan brings emotional depth to what would otherwise be just another pro-environmental propaganda film. Connery, who had starred in McTiernan's crowd-pleasing 1989 film The Hunt for Red October, gives a convincing performance as the determined and complex researcher haunted by mistakes of the past. Bracco's character adds the realistic humor of the city scientist adjusting to Spartan life in the trees, but she does so with both strength and dignity. The constant bickering of two equally obstinate scientists gives a mild "honeymooners in the jungle" quality. Filmed in the Mexican rain forest, the canopy is captured in breathtaking cinematography. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, Rovi

Category: Drama

Features: Widescreen [2.35:1]
Dolby Surround
French-language track
Production featurette
Theatrical trailer
Chapter search

Medicine Man

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 08/17/1999

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Runtime: 105 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Mike DiBella

John McTiernan's enviro-conscious suspense thriller is a departure from the director's normal blood-and-guts fare. Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco entertain with their odd-couple exchanges amid a lively rain forest backdrop similar to McTiernan's earlier work in Predator. There is an interesting strain of environmental backlash, as slash-and-burn big business and the bulldozers of progress cost the world a cure for "the plague of the 20th century." Also, Connery's character has an almost Kurtz-like quality, a renegade in a lonely jungle far away from the tides of civilization, but the film simply is too intellectually flat to push the Heart of Darkness comparison any further. The congruent story lines and slow, methodical pace of the film are the strong points here; overall, the film's pseudo-mysticism does not detract from its quiet charm. ~ Mike DiBella, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Bonnie Timmermann  Actor 
Francisco Tsirene Tsere Rereme  Actor 
Edinei Maria Serrio dos Santos  Actor 
Elias Monteiro da Silva  Actor 
Elias Monteiro Da Silva  Actor 
Bec-Kana-Re dos Santos Kaiapo  Actor 
Jose Lavat  Actor 
Sean Connery  Executive Producer 
D. Dubrow  Producer 
Jerry Goldsmith  Composer (Music Score) 
John McTiernan  Director 
Tom Schulman  Screenwriter 
Tom Stoppard  Screenwriter 
Andrew G. Vajna  Producer 
Sally Robinson  Screenwriter 
Beau Marks  Producer 
Donna Dubrow  Producer 
Sean Connery  Actor 
Lorraine Bracco  Actor 
Jose Wilker  Actor 
Rodolfo de Alexandra  Actor 
Angelo Barra Moreira  Actor 

Country: USA