Rating: 
Summary: Great Tree Hugger Flick!
Review: If you are into anthropology or the environment, then you will definitely love this flick. It's hard to describe the movie without giving away the story, but it has a very interesting twist ending. I must admit that it could be taken as a bit of a propaganda movie for environmentalists...but for me, that just adds to its charm.The casting, acting, and staging are all very well done. The movie is from 1992 but brings up an issue that is very pertinent in today's world. As with many older movies that have been switched over to DVD, the special features can be considered weak/non-existent.
Rating:
Summary: Great entertainment, important message
Review: In this movie the lead scientist of a pharmaceutical firm (Bracco) travels to the Amazon rainforest to see what a field botanist (Connery) is up to. In the course of their interactions the street-wise city-dwelling Bracco experiences the transformative value of spending time in nature. At the same time, Connery struggles to come to grips with a personal history that torments him. In the meantime the two of them work together to race against time to locate the source of a possible miracle drug. I show the movie "Medicine Man" to all of my Introduction to Environmental Studies classes. Many of my students have seen the movie either in the theater or on video, but they have viewed it only as entertainment. There is a lot more to this movie than entertainment value though. If I were reviewing this movie for entertainment value alone I would probably rate it at about 4 stars. The cast is good, Connery and Bracco do a great job, and I particularly enjoy the supporting cast of local folks. The reason I rate it as a 5 star movie, and show it to my classes, is that the movie shows a believable story of the plight of indigenous peoples and the loss of pristine habitat, the importance of maintaining biological diversity, and the detrimental impacts humans can and do have on the natural environment. More important than that, however, are the lessons that can be picked up with respect to the importance of nature's ability to change people's attitudes if they step back and give it a chance. Good entertainment, and a great message about the environment. 5 stars. Alan Holyoak, Ph.D., Director of Environmental Studies, Manchester College, IN
Rating: 
Summary: Physon's Review
Review: It wasn't bad. Good but a lot of bad parts. But the rest was good.
Rating:
Summary: A very original story well told
Review: Medicine man could almost be made as a play as the vast majority of the time is taken up by dialogue between Connery and Bracco. Connery's character has found a cure for cancer, but cannot tell which of the various specimens he has been testing is the right one. There is rather a lot of moralising about the destruction of the rain forest, and whilst admirable sentiments are being expressed, we only need to be told once. The human story is more interesting than the ostensible plot, with Connery being driven by guilt over various events in his life which will become apparent over the course of the film. There is the rather predictable love affair between Connery and his 25 years younger co-star, but thankfully not much time is taken up with this. The jungle settings are well-filmed and shown off to their best advantage, while the native peoples are treated with respect, without being patronising. Despite my reservations, Connery's charisma overcomes all of this to make an interesting, entertaining film.
Rating: 
Summary: For fans of Connery
Review: Medicine Man is not as strong as it could have been, particularly because Lorraine Bracco's performance was too loud; she screams and yells and rants and complains a lot. What the movie does have going for it is its lush environs, and Sean Connery swaggering around with a pony tail. He's a compelling screen presence, and he can take the most awkward moments in the plot and make them absorbing. The movie is saved by the fact that he's onscreen for so much of it, giving a great performance as the eccentric, acerbic, and secretly tortured researcher.
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Summary: Biology at its best
Review: Sean Connery caught my attention immediately, while viewing the film in my biology class, with his tone of voice and choice of words. While we were supposed to be paying attention to their research methods and different variables in their research, I marveled at Connery's ability to steal the show, and Bracco's ability to make their relationship all the more humorous. The chemistry of the characters, they loathe each other at first, at each other's throats for most of the film. The film gave a good view into the lives of the natives in the rain forest, as well as the horrors of the destruction of it -- so many potential medicines are being lost everyday, along with plants and animals that have never been documented. A good film altogether and even better to write a paper about research on.
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Summary: Not the best Connery, but darn good stuff.
Review: Sean Connery plays a recluse doctor who discovers the cure for cancer, while working in a rainforest, among a tribe of natives. The dialogue is engaging and often witty. The plot is engrossing. Connery's character is thoroughly likeable and understandable. The setting is lush and wonderous. Even the natives' muddled English is translated for you in subtitles. It's an easily watchable film. And, listen to the great soundtrack, the music is intense and vibrant. It's a gem of a movie. I've watched it twenty times, so far.
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Summary: Wonderful movie...Please replicate in DVD format
Review: Sensitive and humorous...Spectacular rain forest scenery
Rating:
Summary: Maligned Minor Masterpiece
Review: The critics really blew it on this one. (Leonard Maltin must have been having a really bad day.) Some of the reviews are absolutely bewildering - as if they saw some other movie. "Medicine Man" is the rare action/adventure film with something more than car chases and shootouts on its mind, a passionate parable of the rampant destruction of the rainforest and the miracles of nature now threatened by "progress". Sean Connery gives one of the best, most nuanced performances of his career, almost certainly the definitive "mature" Connery role, and Lorraine Bracco is a perfect foil as the sharp-tongued but endearing "Dr. Bronx" - their conflict thoroughly understandable and its resolution none too easy. The breathtaking beauty of the rainforest and the haunting images of the native tribes driven from their homes (or decimated by the white man's diseases) are punctuated by thrilling aerial sequences high above in the jungle canopy - "the top shelf in the pharmacological superstore". Forget the critics. This is an almost perfectly realized film, one that just gets better with each viewing, one that stays with you long after it's over. For Connery fans, I also recommend one of his early (and nearly forgotten) films, "The Hill".
Rating:
Summary: Maligned Minor Masterpiece
Review: The critics really blew it on this one. (Leonard Maltin must have been having a really bad day.) Some of the reviews are absolutely bewildering - as if they saw some other movie. "Medicine Man" is the rare action/adventure film with something more than car chases and shootouts on its mind, a passionate parable of the rampant destruction of the rainforest and the miracles of nature now threatened by "progress". Sean Connery gives one of the best, most nuanced performances of his career, almost certainly the definitive "mature" Connery role, and Lorraine Bracco is a perfect foil as the sharp-tongued but endearing "Dr. Bronx" - their conflict thoroughly understandable and its resolution none too easy. The breathtaking beauty of the rainforest and the haunting images of the native tribes driven from their homes (or decimated by the white man's diseases) are punctuated by thrilling aerial sequences high above in the jungle canopy - "the top shelf in the pharmacological superstore". Forget the critics. This is an almost perfectly realized film, one that just gets better with each viewing, one that stays with you long after it's over. For Connery fans, I also recommend one of his early (and nearly forgotten) films, "The Hill".
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