Review: Mr. Patman
James Coburn is the title male nurse at a psychiatric facility where the rest of the staff aren’t as compassionate as he. Patman is also starting to crack at the seams psychologically and becoming paranoid. Meanwhile, Patman is juggling two affairs, one with a co-worker (Kate Nelligan) the other with a neglected landlord’s wife (Fionnula Flanagan). Blu Mankuma and Lois Maxwell have tiny roles. One of the more obscure and certainly strangest films in the career of James Coburn, this poverty-stricken 1980 Canadian film from director John Guillermin ( “The Blue Max” , “The Towering Inferno” ) is also known in some quarters as “Crossover” . Scripted by Thomas Hedley Jr. ( “Fighting Back” , “Flashdance” ), it’s also known by the few people to have seen it as not very good. The early scenes depicting the heartless, cold hospital staff are at least something approaching interesting, and the film’s drab, made-in-Canada look is for once a plus. However, for the most part this is woefu...