Product Details

• Actors: Sean Connery, Lorraine Bracco, Jose Wilker, Rodolfo De Alexandre, Francisco Tsiren
• Directors: John McTiernan
• Writers: Tom Schulman And Sally Robinson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Hollywood Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: August 17, 1999
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (158 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305428506
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,822 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Medicine Man" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Director John McTiernan (Die Hard) does an underwhelming job with this potentially interesting story of a research scientist (Sean Connery) who discovers a cure for cancer in the Brazilian rain forest, but then can't retrace his steps in creating the potion. Added pressure on his work is coming from developers burning down the forest, while an American bureaucrat (Lorraine Bracco), who holds the purse strings on the grant, has arrived to give him a bad time. The crucial chemistry between the stars just isn't there (Bracco can be hard to take at times), and, despite the added exotica of local witch doctors and seeing Connery swing through the trees, the elements just don't come together in this well-meaning but disappointing movie. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Academy Award(R)-winning star Sean Connery (Best Supporting Actor, 1987 -- THE UNTOUCHABLES), reunites with action director John McTiernan (THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, DIE HARD) for another powerful collaboration in the heroic box office smash MEDICINE MAN! Screen favorite Connery plays Dr. Robert Campbell, a brilliant but unorthodox scientist racing against time in his bold research for a cure against cancer. Set deep in the forbidding Amazon rain forest, this action-packed hit follows Campbell hot on the trail of an amazing discovery -- but the eccentric recluse soon finds himself caught in the midst of an explosive adventure! Also starring Oscar(R)-nominee Lorraine Bracco (Best Supporting Actress, 1990 -- GOODFELLAS), MEDICINE MAN delivers unmatched entertainment with its spectacular mix of breathtaking scenery, captivating performances, and thrilling, nonstop excitement!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Maligned Minor Masterpiece March 9, 1999

By A Customer

Format:VHS Tape

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".

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A very original story well told December 13, 2001

By D. M. Farmbrough

Format:VHS Tape

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 cou1se 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.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great Adventure!!! March 12, 2002

By Deborah MacGillivray HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

This movie is a favourite of the WISE Writers and Readers, beings that we are big Sean Connery fans!!... makes this movie work is the chemistry between the two leads. Lorraine Brocco absolutely is stunning!! She is a great comedic talent, a delight to watch as she matches wits with the ageless (only keeps getting better) Connery. The charm of their relationship, the incisive banter, the stunning location work, delivers one engaging movie.

They work in the question of the destruction of the rain forrest, and the real cost to man kind; the loss of moisture for rainfal, the loss of special one of a kind plants that could hold the cure for many modern diseases. I know many critics tried to put it down for offering no real solutions to this problem. Get real. This is a movie, it is meant to entertain. If it makes us think and wonder, then it has done it job. Solutions are up to the real world, not some fictional work. If someone could offer solutions to the problem in two hours - they would be a very rich man. I detest easy 'potshots' such as that.

The leads are charming, the natives in the film are wonderful, the scenery gorgeous ( Connery, Bracco AND the jungle!!), the writing is sheer perfection.

What more could you want??? From the moment Bracco arrives to find Connery in a bird costume and she introduces herself as Crane and he drunkenly replies, "No, Tucan.", you know you are in for a delightful time.

Also, notice the inside joke about the snake's name!!

DVD only enhances the experience of this utterly charming movie.