All language subtitles for Spielberg Completist THE PSYCHIATRIST Par for the Course The Private World of Martin Dalton(1971).en

one day at Universal Studios in the fall

of 1970 Universal librarian Chuck silver

as was walking down the street when the

head of the camera department passed by

him and said you've got to go down to

the soundstage it's something you'll

never see again your friend Steven

Spielberg is directing when silvers

remarked I've seen people directing

before the department head replied

you've never seen a crew stand there and

cry the production was for a television

show called the psychiatrist and the

episode was entitled par for the course

we are very proud of this one Spielberg

said and he would later call it my best

work in television given its reputation

it's a little startling to me that par

for the course has never ever been

released onto home video in fact for

many years it was thought to have

disappeared and neither Spielberg nor

Universal President Sid Sheinberg were

able to find copies of it so I was

thrilled when I recently paid a visit to

the palace Center for media in Beverly

Hills and found an extremely rare copy

of par for the course in their archives

having finally watched the episode

itself

I can concur that everything you've

heard about it is true par for the

course is an astonishing piece of

television let's start by talking about

the phenomenal acting in this episode

Clou gallagher plays frank Halloran a

golf professional who suddenly finds out

that he is dying

Joan Darling plays his wife Mary both of

their performances are jaw-dropping

slowly but surely this episode sucks you

in

Spielberg makes every other shot feel

claustrophobic like its hero you feel

like you're losing control of your

senses as you watch it life feels

heavier death becomes inevitable there's

a sequence where dr. Whitman played by

Roy Thinnes takes Frank to a golf course

and Frank tells himself that if he hits

the ball into a huge hole it means he'll

live

he of course makes the hole and kids

himself into thinking

that everything will be okay but there's

simply no way of getting around it

Frank Halloran is going to die and then

comes the death scene it hits you right

out of nowhere

Spielberg's camera gets right in on clew

Gallagher's face confronting you with

how small Frank feels how little time he

has left and when it's all over

even a crestfallen dr. Whitman is forced

to admit that there was nothing he could

do to save him what makes par for the

course so refreshing is that it tells

the truth there is no happy ending there

are no pretentious life lessons to be

learned the show is simply about how

death is a fact of life

why because to quote Robert Altman's the

player that happens that's the reality

and yet while par for the course is a

sad episode I would never for a moment

say that it is depressing

I thought Spielberg's night gallery

episode to make me laugh was depressing

because it ended on a nihilistic note

which wasn't necessary for that story

but par for the course ends the only way

that it can end with the hero's death

and with the grief of his friends and

family actress Joan Darling has recalled

how Spielberg would direct her using

terms such as be like Jackie Kennedy and

she immediately knew what he was talking

about Spielberg was only 23 years old

when he directed the episode and he was

reportedly given some creative control

over it despite being so young he drew

on from his own personal experiences of

observing his grandfather Fievel

during his dying years in a nursing home

using these memories Spielberg took a

good script by Thomas white Drake Gerald

Friedman beau Mae and her Berman and

transformed it into something

sensational the other episode of the

psychiatrist which Spielberg directed

was the private world of Martin Dalton

while this episode is not on the level

of greatness of par for the course

I still enjoyed it in this episode

Stephen who displayed an out-of-control

schizophrenic kid and Pam Linford and

played the loving sister whom he

to Spielberg had creative control over

this episode as well and I wonder if he

may have drawn from his own memories of

torturing his sisters when he was a

little boy the episode has a lot of

surreal imagery and exciting montages my

only issue with it is that it ends with

dr. Whitman coming up with a contrived

explanation for the kids behavior and I

just didn't buy it by comparison

I much prefer par for the course which

does not end with an overblown

explanation but with painful truths

that's kind of ironic in retrospect

Martin Dalton turned out to be the

lesser episode because it was about a

psychiatrist doing his job which was

after all the whole theme of the show

whereas par for the course turned out

brilliantly in spite of the fact that

the psychiatrist was totally irrelevant

an obsolete throughout the whole episode

maybe that's why the psychiatrist wasn't

a very successful show and has all but

completely forgotten these days there

was only so much that viewers could take

of a psychiatrist going around and

solving people's problems actually par

for the course could have made for a

terrific TV movie the week all on his

own it didn't really need to be a part

of a whole television series overall

both of these episodes of the

psychiatrists are absolutely worth your

time if you can find them

Martin Dalton is decent par for the

course is a masterpiece these episodes

must be restored as soon as possible

they are essential stepping stones in

the early career of a great director for

more information about these episodes of

the psychiatrists check out Joseph

McBride's biography of Spielberg and

once again my sincere thanks to the

power center for media for making these

episodes available for public viewing