PSYCHOLOGY IN THE REEL WORLD
The movies noted below are just some of the psychology based films I have seen (and could
remember) over many years. The ratings and one sentence synopsis are my perceptions.
Ratings: (* = Crummy , * * = Ok, * * * = Good, * * * * = Really Good, * * * * * = Superb )
A Beautiful Mind
(2001) * * * *
Film about John Nash’s (Russell Crow) life as a mathematician, schizophrenic and
Nobel Prize winner.
American Psycho
(2000)*
Egocentric excess. Satire of American morals and values.
Analyze This (1999)*
* *
Mob boss Robert DeNiro's portrayal of anxiety and depression.
As Good As It Gets
(1997)* * *
Jack Nicholson with OCD meets Helen Hunt, single mom and waitress.
Awakenings (1990)* *
* *
Robin Williams is a neurologist who “awakens” patients with encephalitis
lethargica---Interesting look inside a mental hospital in the 1960s.
Annie Hall (1977)* *
* *
Woody Allen at his most "neurotic."
Being There (1979) *
* *
Film about a gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only exposure to the "real world" comes from
television.
Benny and Joon (1993)* * * * *
Johnny Depp loves Mary Stuart Masterson who portrays a schizophrenic.
Caine Mutiny (1954)* * * *
Humphrey Bogart is the ship’s paranoid captain
A Clockwork
A Stanley Kubrick masterpiece where aversive conditioning backfires.
The Couch Trip
(1988)* * *
A stressed-out radio psychiatrist and schizophrenic mental patient---comedy with Dan Aykroyd
and Charles Grodin.
Crazy People (1990)*
*
Dudley Moore devises a series of brutally honest advertisements, which prompt his ad company to place him in a mental institution.
Cube (1997)* * * * *
Not very well acted but an exceptional psyco-thriller: “Will the CUBE kill them or
they kill themselves?"
David and Lisa (1962)* * *
Story of romance between young adults in a mental institution.
Don Juan DeMarco (1995)* * *
Johnny Depp with delusional fantasies that affect Marlon Brando as his therapist
The Dream Team (1989)* * *
Michael Keaton as the group leader of psychiatric patients in search of a killer to save their
psychiatrist who witnessed a murder.
Dressed to Kill (1980)* * *
Serial killer on the loose who is killing the female
patients of Michael Cain as a
psychiatrist specializing in sexual disorders.
Fisher King (1991)* * *
A suicidal radio DJ, Jeff Bridges, saved by a deranged street person (former professor) Robin
Williams who catches him up in his psychosis.
Good Will Hunting (1997)* * *
A warm and fuzzy film has Robin Williams providing psychological treatment for
Matt Damon’s (Will Hunting) troubled self.
House of Games (1987)* *
A con artist, whose life fascinates a psychiatrist/author, luring her into learning “things about
yourself that you would rather not know.”
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) * *
A woman's continuing fantasies from childhood land her in a mental hospital, with a therapist
attempting to reunite her with reality.
King of Hearts (1966)* * * * *
The Germans have set a bomb to blow up a town and the only people left in the
village are the "crazy" people in the asylum who “escape” and become the townies .
Kiss the Girls (1997)* *
Dr. Alex Cross, a forensic psychologist and a couple of serial killers.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)* * * *
Staring: Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey. Brainwashing by hypnosis.
Nurse Betty (2000)* *
Renee Zellweger becomes delusional after witnessing the murder of her husband. and goes into
a fugue state and believes that she is the former fiancée of a soap opera idol.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)* * * * *
A Ken Kesey novel---Why faking insanity is not a good idea.
Ordinary People (1980)* * *
A tale of teen suicide and alienation---dysfunctional family.
Patch
Robin Williams "illegally" treats patients with humor.
Psycho (1960) * *
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh in the shower!
Pulp Fiction (1994)* * * *
Quentin Tarantino depicts a sadomasochistic underworld.
Rain Man (1988)* * * * *
Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of an autistic savant makes for a great movie!
Silence of the Lambs (1991)*
Jody Foster as a junior FBI agent, off to find a psychopathic killer.
Sling Blade (1996)* *
Billy Bob Thornton (wrote, directed and starred) as a long-term psychiatric patient.
Titicut Follies (1967) Impossible to rate
This is a controversial documentary, with graphic images of abuse of patients in a
Vertigo (1958) * *
Classic Hitchcock with an acrophobic Jimmy Stewart.
What About Bob (1991)* * *
Richard Dreyfuss as the burned out psychotherapist and Bill Murray as the patient.