Let's hear a cheer one more time for the good guys against harsh and self-serving authorities. And, despite a story that runs along as bumpily as a hospital trolley, the urge to watch the underdogs win sees this one through in an emotive conclusion. A slightly more serious sideshoot of M*A*S*H and The Hospital, the story centres on a forces' veterans' hospital where patients, if they can get treatment at all, are shunted out before they are ready, thanks to reams of red tape that bind all but the most maverick members of staff, led by rebel surgeon Ray Liotta, a thorn in the side of administrator John Mahoney, who runs the hospital for his convenience and profit rather than those of the patients. Enter Kiefer Sutherland as the new surgeon on the block, add a dash of romance behind those operating doors, cap it all off with a mutiny after Liotta is framed and suspended and you have a surefire recipe that leaves you wishing the film had picked up its pace, and the body of its plot, a bit earlier on. Never mind, its heart (ouch, a reminder that there are some gruesome ops here) is in the right place. Mysteriously denied a cinema release in the UK.

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