Night Call Nurses

Thriller, USA, 1972, 74 min.



It's always harder at night.
Nurses Barbara, Janis and Sandra live together and work in the psychiatric ward of an urban hospital. One day, a young patient climbs to the hospital roof and, before Sandra can stop her, jumps to her death. Barbara and Janis attempt to ease Sandra's sense of guilt, and all are distracted by the arrival of a new patient on the prison ward, Jon Sampson, a notorious Civil Rights activist and prison reformer who has supposedly attempted suicide. Janis tends to another new patient, cowboy trucker Kyle Toby, who is hallucinating after taking too many amphetamines in order to clock enough driving hours to pay off his truck. With the care of Janis and kind orderly Kit, Kyle is subdued and treated. Barbara, meanwhile, tries to cheer up patient Miles Bailey, a millionaire hospital patron who was burned by a disgruntled employee, causing such severe facial disfigurement that his head is wrapped in gauze, but he sends her away. Later, Sandra receives a note written in lipstick that threatens rape. The girls laugh at the note, then gently dissuade "Bathrobe Benny" from his customary afternoon flashing episode. At night, Barbara unwinds by skydiving and then having sex with her boyfriend Zach. The following day, ex-convict Jude attempts to find Jon in the hospital, but when Warden Kelley bars his way, he appeals to Sandra, who is African American, for help. Although she initially claims that Jon is not there, she is swayed by Jude's passionate plea to save the reformer, who was shot by prison authorities to discourage his activities. Agreeing to pass on a message, she promises to contact Jude later. While Barbara fends off a corrupt pharmaceutical company representative, a recovered Kyle asks Janis for a date. Later, the nurses try to relax in the break room, but young patient Chloe wanders in naked, terrified by orderly Bert, who pretends to be insane. Over the weekend, Janis goes waterskiing with Kyle, and when they go to a bar that night, Bert is there and attacks Kyle, who is forced to fight Bert and his buddy. Afterward, he and Janis have sex. At the same time, Barbara and Zach attend an encounter session run by psychiatrist Dr. Bramlett, who leads the group of young men and women in an orgy in order to "make a single organic entity" to give "us a greater understanding of who and what we are." He then administers a personality test, and as he is handing out the answers, Barbara goes inside the house to get a drink. Bramlett is recording the session, and Barbara hears his voice on the tape telling the other participants not to reveal to Barbara that her test revealed her to be a deviant personality. Later, during a discussion session, the men encourage the women to strip to prove that they are comfortable with their bodies. Barbara, who has remained mostly silent all day, refuses and is labeled a "hostile cop-out." Pushed, she reveals what she heard, but the others deny it, causing Barbara to cry and run out. On the street, she accepts a ride from a man in a sports car, but is increasingly confused mentally, recalling Bramlett's words about her deviant tendencies. She wanders the streets all night, paranoid and confused. The next morning, she drives to Bramlett's house and tries repeatedly to run him down as he jogs along the street. She then collapses into sobs, allowing him to soothe her. Wondering if anxiety made her hear what she did, Bramlett asks her about her sex life, then offers to sleep with her to help break through her inhibitions. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Sandra sneaks onto the prison ward through a locked back door and relays Jude's message to the patient. Jon reveals that his life is in grave danger from the prison authorities, but assures her that it does not matter whether he lives or dies, as his followers will consider him a martyr if he is murdered and continue his work. That night, Sandra and Jude discuss how to release Jon, then have sex. At the same time, while Janis is sleeping with Kyle, Barbara is with Bramlett, each couple unaware that someone wearing a nurse's uniform is watching them. When Sandra asks Janis to help her smuggle Jon out, Janis is unsure until Sandra reminds her that she became a nurse to help people and save lives. Janis and Barbara both receive threatening letters written in lipstick, but remain unconcerned, joking about the various psychopaths on their ward. When Barbara has sex with Bramlett again, however, they are watched from inside the apartment by the letter writer and Peeping Tom, orderly Kit, now dressed in drag as a nurse. Bramlett tells Barbara, who is falling in love with him, that their relationship is merely professional, then confesses that he set up the pre-recorded tape so she would "accidentally" overhear the false statement that she was deviant. He cheerfully informs her that she has proven his theory that a sane person can be driven into a psychotic state just by being told that she is insane. She threatens to report him and have his license removed, but they are interrupted by Kit, who pulls out a knife and then slams Bramlett in the head with a glass tumbler. Kit announces he will now punish Barbara, but when she appeals to his ethical responsibility to save a patient, he helps her attend to Bramlett. Meanwhile, Janis distracts Jon's guard, allowing Sandra to sneak Jon out of his room and up the back stairs. Wrapping his face to disguise him as Mr. Bailey, Sandra wheels Jon outside, where Jude is waiting. Just then, the warden returns and finds the prisoner gone, then spots the trio in the parking lot. Commandeering a car with a furious female owner inside, he follows them as they drive to the hills. There, Jude drives into a dark cave, and while Sandra helps Jon to the street beyond, where Kyle and Janis wait in his truck with two of the prisoner's friends, the warden runs into the cave with his gun drawn. Seeing the trio get into the truck, the warden shoots one of Jon's friends, who then returns fire and kills the official. Kyle drives off, but as he has once again been taking amphetamines, begins hallucinating and driving erratically. When a police car spots them and gives chase, Kyle evades it by speeding down the twisting mountain curves. Jon's friend fashions a crude bomb and throws it out the window onto the police car, disabling it. The group drives to the airport, where they escort Jon and his friends onto a plane out of the country. As Kyle, Janis, Sandra and Jude celebrate, Barbara strides down her street, triumphant.
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Režie: Jonathan Kaplan
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