# Shrinks in Movies/fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186 "2009-11-11T15:14:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/21 "2009-11-11T20:00:47Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#): > > Any thoughts /viewing suggestions? Columbo took down a number of psychiatric overachievers, who reliably managed to ratchet up the “condescending” while patiently explaining stuff to the guy who _couldn’t possibly pin anything on – oh, crap._ ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/22 "2009-11-11T20:07:33Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > I always liked Judd Hirsch as Dr. Berger in “Ordinary People.” I second Judd Hirsh in “Ordinary People”. One of my favorites, though, is Alan Arkin in “Grosse Pointe Blank” (of course I like Alan Arkin in pretty much anything) Kind of a “self analysis” and with a bit all-too-convenient wrap-up is Albert Brooks in “Mother” (again, I like Albert Brooks in pretty much everything as well 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/23 "2009-11-11T21:29:41Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I love J.K. Simmons when he does his occasional spots as the shrink on _Law & Order_. Especially that tiny smirk he got when he realized that one guy was faking his psychosis. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/24 "2009-11-11T22:56:28Z")
> [@StoutHearted](#): > > I always enjoyed the therapist in _Monk_, but he passed away. . . . I liked him, too. However, I also really like Hector Elizondo as the replacement shrink. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/25 "2009-11-12T00:22:59Z")
Jeff Bridges in _K-Pax_, though I think everything was solved a little too neatly. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/26 "2009-11-12T01:23:32Z")
Sidney Poitier as a prison shrink treating bobby Darin in [Pressure Point](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056370/). Made during the era of juvenile deliquent exploitation films, it had a scene where Darin and his buddies cover the entire interior of a bar, including the bartender’s naked wife, with tic tac toe. In one of the Pink Panther movies, Chief Inspector Drefus is on the couch recounting in agony his ordeal with Clouseau, and the camera pans over to the psychiatrist, who’s curled up in his chair in horified revulsion. Richard Basehart saw a shrink briefly as [Hitler,](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056072/) but decided it was nonsense. Hitler had been briefly analyzed IRL, some of which may have made it into the novel _The Eyewitness_ by [Ernst Weiss,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Weiss) who committed suicide in Paris as the Germans invaded so as not to face some very tough literary critics. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/27 "2009-11-12T01:36:29Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Yes, Richard Dreyfuss’s character (the psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin) is a reasonably sympathetic one, even if he is a bit uptight, and his family loves him in spite of his faults, so if you identify with him you might have trouble enjoying the movie. I found it difficult to explain to my kids why the doctor might be irritated, and why I would not want my patients coming home for dinner with us. That pesky idea of “professional boundaries” just doesn’t come across well to a 10 year old. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/28 "2009-11-12T03:54:25Z")
\*Equus \*is very good. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186/29 "2009-11-12T05:35:13Z")
“Harvey” - Dr. Chumley . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shrinks-in-movies-fiction/517186.md?page=1)