Coma (1978)

Michael Crichton directed and adapted the screenplay from the novel by Robin Cook, so both writers involved in the project have medical degrees which works well given the subject matter. There is a conspiracy at a prestigious Boston hospital to put healthy patients into permanent medically induced comas and make it look like a bad reaction to the coma drugs, this is so that healthy organs can be harvested in an on demand black market. A&E did a mini-series adaptation of this story back in 2012 staring Lauren Ambrose and James Woods. This film stars Geneviève Bujold and Michael Douglas and I think it works better because its much tighter. This movie has a number of before-they-were-stars bit parts, including Dixie Carter, Tom Selleck and Ed Harris. Even though I already knew the basic story this was a gripping well done thriller, and the mostly realistic look into the operations of a large hospital of 40 years ago is an interesting bonus. Also staring Richard Widmark. ***1/2