Tammy and the Doctor (1963)

Such a frustrating disappointment

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The first must-see film of the year.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Tammy And The Doctor was the big screen debut of Peter Fonda and back in his Easy Rider rebel days he referred to it as Tammy And The Schmuckface. I wonder know in his late 70s how Peter Fonda feels about the film?It was the last of the big screen Tammy films, she would go on to a short lived television series with Debbie Watson. Sandra Dee plays Tammy Tyree of the Mississippi Delta a southern fried version of the little miss fixit roles that Deanna Durbin also did for Universal Studios back in the day.In this film Beulah Bondi the rich old lady to whom Tammy has become attached is taken ill. Specialist Macdonald Carey is in from Los Angeles and he recommends that Bondi have open heart surgery which he will perform. Like every other man of all generations Carey gets taken with her and thinks she will be an asset in giving Bondi a proper attitude toward the surgery.So Tammy gets taken on at the big LA hospital and as she always does her naivete but also her strong common sense wins over everyone around her eventually. Nurse Alice Pearce becomes her best friend. But her real conquest is young doctor Peter Fonda who is a protégé of Carey's.Seeing her going off with Peter Fonda also makes me wonder what happened to Leslie Nielsen and John Gavin in the previous two Tammy films. Or if there were more Tammy films how many of the male sex she would have endeared herself to.One does wonder how Peter Fonda views the film today. For me it's pleasant easy to take entertainment. Tammy does kind of grow on you.

Being from the south, I'm insulted by the portrayal of Tammy's speech. No one--I repeat--no one from the south has, does, or ever will speak that way. I've known some very backwoods people in my time, and even they did not speak in the way that the Tammy character does in this movie. It makes no sense and is very unrealistic. It's too bad that the writers didn't spend a single day in Mississippi to see how people from that state actually talk. While the plot is just as implausible as well, there are some slightly refreshing and entertaining aspects to this movie. It cannot, however, come even close to being compared to the original--Tammy and the Bachelor, a much classier movie.

I am a teenager and with all the junk out on television today this comedy/romance was refreshing. There was no vulgar language of such, except for Mr. Tripp saying one word which is funnily commented after. It is brilliant and I enjoyed every moment of it right up the ending. The backward "stanty boat" girl, who lived "betwist here and Vicksburg" all her life. And has never flown in a plane before. So if you want to see a truly great film this is one of them! Watch all three of them. The three would be Tammy and the bachelor, Tammy be true, and Tammy and the doctor! They are all special in the own way. You can them on AMC sometimes.Kayla

Sandra Dee and I are near the same age. I didn't pay too much attention to her acting career as a young adult, I mentally wrote her off as just another teen sensation that faded away rather quickly after she grew up. But recently I saw 'Gidget' again, and marveled at what a fine actress she was, and created such a unique and sympathetic character. In 'Tammy and the Doctor', at age 18/19, she did it again. A totally different character, a sheltered, bible-quoting Mississippi hick girl who sounds like she was raised by a southern black family. Totally foreign to what she really was, and she created one of the most endearing characters in any movie. As I watch her, so many of her mannerisms remind me of a fine modern young actress, Renee Zellweger from Houston. Both of them can be so expressive with their voices and their faces at the same time. But there will never be another Sandra Dee, and without her this would have been a very ordinary movie, and one not worth watching. Of note, the doctor was played by Peter Fonda, 24, in his first role. He looked a bit amateurish. The rest of my comments contain SPOILERS so you may quit reading at any word. Tammy was in school in Mississippi and sharing a place with an older lady who became ill, a fancy doctor from Los Angeles came in with special equipment, decided she needed heart surgery but must be strengthened first. So Tammy went with her to Calif, only employees and patients could stay in the hospital, so through her charm got a job. Although bright, Tammy was very unsophisticated. Instead of just mopping floors, at times she was given chances to do more meaningful tasks, but each time she messed up and went back to mopping. Forgetting to put baby I.D. tags on properly, got them all mixed up, nursing mothers had a fit. In surgery prep, touched a surgeon's clothes, made him go through disinfecting again. Cut a patient's traction rig when she thought he was going to hang himself. Borrowed a surgical instrument to cut bandages, when it went missing they almost re-opened a patient to find the missing instrument, but she returned it is time. Meanwhile, young intern (Fonda) and Tammy were falling for each other. In the end the older woman came through surgery in good shape, befriending the sour old man in the process, Tammy got her doctor, and she also was the catalyst to get the chief surgeon and his long-time nurse together. Not a very important movie, not one that deserved any awards, but one that showcases Sandra Dee at her very finest. She truly is one of the underappreciated actresses of the 1960s.