Breast Men

Starring:David Schwimmer, Chris Cooper, Emily Procter, Matt Frewer, Terry O'Quinn, Kathleen Wilhoite, John Stockwell, Lisa Marie, Louise Fletcher, Michael Cavanaugh, Michael Chieffo, Pat Cronin, Amanda Foreman, Lyle Lovett, Julie McCullough, Rena Riffel, Raphael Sbarge, David Wells, Colleen Werthmann, Starr Andreeff
Director: Lawrence O'Neil
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Based on actual, if enhanced, facts, this bouncy comedy stars David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper as the Texas surgeons who pumped up women's profiles by inventing silicone breast implants in 1962. Dispensing scathing social commentary, this follows the mismatched and rather unsympathetic pair over three decades. Cooper, an often underrated actor, breaks away from his usual typecasting as a laconic cowboy. He plays an angry, Machiavellian doctor who sees potential and enormous financial reward in Schwimmer's gelatinous inventions. Schwimmer displays more range than we've previously seen, and there are some interesting supporting faces amid all that jiggly silicone. It is not the vulgar farce you might expect from the title, but a stylish blend of comedy and drama. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews:

Not a very good film, i like the history but a bit boring, however i am a fan of Schwimmer.......2007-05-08

Is nice but at times a bit boring. The history in the film is good but a bit slow at times.

Based on a true story, slightly augmented.......2006-07-05

HBO has a great knack at taking bits of history which we never think much about, and turning them into incredibly entertaining movies. Example: This breezy, very clever satire about the rise and fall of the two inventors of the silcone breast implant.

David Schwimmer and Chris Cooper star as the two doctors who come up with the idea of the implant, and both play there parts very well. Say what you want about Schwimmer, (I never liked him in other roles), but he fairs pretty well here, as he almost constantly shifts from burnt-out loser to a man with new-found riches.

A slightly augmented history of silicone breast implants.......2005-03-29

"Brest Men" is not exactly a black comedy, but it has some moments that are definitely in that direction. This 1997 HBO film tells the story, "slightly augmented," of the invention, development, and commercial exploitation of silicone breast implants. The punny phrase "slightly augmented" means "fictionalized in this case. Silicone gel breast implants were invented by the plastic surgeons Thomas Cronin and Frank Gerow at the University of Texas in the early 1960s. They were then developed as a commercial product by Dow Corning in 1962. This film tells the story of the rise and fall of silicone gel breast implants in the persons of Dr. Christopher "Kevin" Saunders (David Schwimmer) and Dr. William Larson (Chris Cooper), a pair of reconstructive surgeons in Texas.

The film begins with the first in a series of shots of women whose faces cannot be seen who bare their breasts and explain what they think about them. Both the breasts and the comments are across the spectrum, and constitute one of the more thought provocative parts of "Breast Men." They also pop up often enough throughout the film to ground it back in reality. That is because as Doctors Saunders and Larson create this new field of reconstructive surgery things get a bit strange, whether it is the bizarre condescension of their colleagues to their proposal or the rich life style they are able to afford because of the success of their practice. Although there is mention of reconstructive breast surgery for women who have undergone a mastectomy, that is quickly ignored for women who want larger breasts.

Saunders gets the idea for breast implants when he spies a neighbor using breast enhancement cream and he is apparently sincere in his desire to help women, at least until he gets to operate on the woman of his dream (Emily Proctor), who ends up becoming his wife. Larson is a senior surgeon who originally dismisses the idea but gets tired of being considered a joke by the other doctors at the hospital and gets in touch with a Dow Corning representative (Matt Frewer) who takes Saunders original design, with used a saline solution, and upgrades it to silicone. It takes a while for the two doctors to find a woman (Kathleen Wilhoite) willing to undergo the new procedure and then to get their practice up and running, at which point it becomes extremely lucrative. Along the way the two doctors enjoy the good life but come to a parting of the ways over who deserves the lion's share of the credit for this whole business.

Then the first stories start coming out about implants that are leaking and the first lawsuits get filed. The story tries to provide both sides of the controversy, but it is hard for the doctors spouting statistics over the phone to compete with a lawyer (Terry O'Quinn) in court pointing out that the same company that made the implants made Agent Orange and holding up examples of implants that have dissolved. Yes, you get to see dozens of pairs of breasts in this movie, but you are also going to be confronted with film of actual surgery and examples of implants that have gone horribly wrong. Believe me when I say it is going to be the latter examples that will stand out in your memory.

The punch line for the film is historically accurate because it did turn out that what was profitable to give was even more profitable to take away. It is not that the history of silicone gel breast implants is a joke, but there are certainly surreal elements to it. There will be parts of "Breast Men" that you will find funny and others that will make you uncomfortable, and in both cases those responses will be appropriate. Writer John Stockwell (who played Dennis Guilder in "Christine" and Cougar in "Top Gun") does a nice job of mixing together the diverse threads and if I were to point to the moment in the film where it really hits home it would be when Saunders's former wife comes to his office to pay him a visit. You get more than you bargained for when you watch this movie.

"Super Size Me".......2004-04-09

"Breast Men" is a HBO film focusing on the two doctors with the questionable honour of being the surgeons who pioneered silicone gel implant breast augmentation. Dr William Larson (Chris Cooper) is working at Texas Medical Centre where he oversees young intern Dr. Christopher (Kevin) Saunders (David Schwimmer). Larson is suffering from a lack of recognition in his disrespected field. When Saunders discusses his interest and innovative ideas in breast implants, Larson is at first appalled, but he eventually becomes interested. The two form a partnership under great adversity--the hospital they both work for is violently opposed to any connection with breast implants. Larson and Saunders become rejects and outcasts in the medical profession as they launch their new silicone gel implant augmentation technique.

Soon the two doctors have a lucrative practice. The patients and the money roll in. But it's clear it won't last, and the film covers both the rise and fall of the silicone gel breast implant era.

While the story is just a little too cut and dried at times, overall, the film is extremely interesting, and there's even a fair touch of humour. The doctors--Larson and Saunders are foils for one another. Larson is respectable and knows to concentrate the sales pitch on the lofty ideals--women elect to have this sort of surgery for their self-esteem, so it must inherently be a good thing, blah, blah. Saunders, however, is a man with vision. He's not shy about marketing his product at all. They need each other, but at the same time, their different approaches destroy the partnership. Both roles are well cast and well acted. I had a very good friend who decided to have silicone implants in the 80s--before all the health problems arose, and I thought she was bonkers to do it. She fell into the trap--as did many women--thinking that if she had to pay $X for surgery, she might just as well have larger ones. One of the most intriguing questions raised by the film is the question of medical ethics. If this elective surgery is performed solely to please, then what happens if you start trying to please the unpleasable? At what point do you cross the line because it's "what the woman wants"? And what about serial augmentation? The film explores the question of medical ethics through the character of Dr Saunders and his innovative mega-breast surgery--a novelty that swept strip bars, adult magazines and films. He was known as "the Penthouse plastic surgeon."

There are several scenes in a strip bar--along with the obligatory swinging around the pole. There are also many scenes of women showing their breasts in screen-test sorts of scenarios, so this is not one for the kiddies. For anyone even mildly interested in the breast implant industry, the film is worth watching. It's an interesting rise and fall film--replete with addiction, greed, jealously, vanity, and all those other essential human qualities-displacedhuman.

Mildly engaging and amusing, rather forgettable movie.......2003-11-15

This is the Hollywood take on the history of the boob job. There are obviously at least two films someone with this particular brief might set out to make. The one is quite interesting, a piece of social history in which all kinds of interesting themes could have been explored. The other is a brilliant excuse to put an abundance of t & a (well, t anyway) on the screen, perhaps under the cover of a more serious movie purporting to be a piece of social history, etc. The second of these movies is what Lawrence O'Neil has mostly made. There is indeed an abundance of t on the screen. And there is a piece of not very strong drama limping alongside it. For the first half, this is more or less comedy and the two doctors Saunders (Schwimmer) and Larson (Cooper) try to sell their ideas for breast implants to their suspicious, offended and perplexed colleagues and potential patients. This is sometimes mildly amusing may be the most effective aspect of the film. Then it turns a bit darker as Saunders and Larson hit the top and start to quarrel and quite a lot darker as things sink into death, divorce and the litigation and recrimination of those who claim to have been harmed by the implants. While as comedy it is intermittently mildly effective, as drama however it's pretty shallow and forgettable and as social comment trite. Running through the film is footage from a fictional documentary about breast implants in which a parade of women appear on camera, talk a little bit about their body image or whatever, all very serious. ... The whole film is really a bit like that.

Album Description

Asian only (All Code/NTSC) DVD of HBO's 1997 docudrama that recaps the history of silicone breast implants. Starring Chris Cooper (Lone Star) & David Schwimmer (Friends) as the two doctors who invent the implant, make a fortune off it, and gradually watch it destroy their lives. This film is only available on VHS domestically.

Customer Reviews:

A slightly augmented history of silicone breast implants.......2005-07-19

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