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Extraordinary Measures

Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford, Keri Russell

Disease of the week movie. The concept is lost today. The first time I saw one I could not have been more than two or three and like a bad foot fungus it has stayed with me. Thirty years earlier, William Holden was Hollywood’s “golden boy,” but in this movie he was in the final stages of alcoholism and his battle with depression after killing another driver in a DUI accident. I mention these things because they might be the most uplifting aspects of this film. Like a cinematic Red Sovine song, you could almost imagine the scriptwriter’s sales pitch to the studio.

“Okay, here it is. Single father raises a son after his wife dies.”

Studio executive: “Been done before, a thousand times before.”

“Well, that is just the beginning. The kid is sick.”

“Interesting… What has he got? All the good diseases have been done.”

“Hum… Radiation sickness.”

“Get me more… Can’t be a Japanese kid because the audience is going to have to identify with the kid and his father. Is George Takei Japanese? He is still steering that star ship on that television show “Star Wreck” or something like that. A Japanese driver, what next, a blind guy driving the ship? But go on.”

“Hum… the father and son are out swimming… when a plane carrying a nuclear bomb crashes.”

“Now we are talking. Hot dog. I picture cute big eyes, black hair, dying slowly of radiation but he has to stay cute. Real radiation poisoning is awful. Hair falls out. Skin lesions. Tumors. He has to die beautiful. Now give me something to really tug at the heartstrings. Exotic.”

“Yeah, yeah, hum, how about wolves?”

“Wolves?”

“Wolves, yeah, the kid is dying see, so dad gives him everything he wishes for and he wants a couple of wolves. So, dad steals them from the zoo.”

“Anything else the kid wants…”

“A tractor, what kid does not want a tractor.”

“Has to be blue because the studio does not have a deal with John Deer or International. Plus, people like the color blue. Bring it home for me. How does the kid kick the bucket?”

“I am just thinking out loud here but it is Christmas time. Father and son love each other. Father walks downstairs the kid is sleeping under the tree. All of his presents are opened. Dad gets mad, starts to yell at the boy. Grabs the kid but the kid is not sleeping. He is dead.”

“You got a deal. We will call it The Christmas Tree.”

Disease of the week movies, Networks just had to figure out some disease that no one has ever heard of before, if it is based on someone in real life all the better, but make sure it is something that Americans are not too familiar with or you could lose any dramatic license. A lovable actor, familiar to audiences needs to be cast in the lead or as the parent. There needs to be frustration with the medical establishment. A heroic battle in which the person either overcomes the disease or illness, and then either dies at peace after learning how to really live or becomes a productive member of society, living happily ever after.

Because they almost write themselves, these are easy vehicles for manipulating the emotions of the audience, and are cheap to make, they seemingly pop up every week. Robert Urich could be a Chicago high school youth who battled a disease that made it impossible to sleep. John Travolta was the boy in the plastic bubble. At the end of the movie as the Paul Williams score swelled, he rode away on horseback with the hippie chick, with no bra, next door. Penn State running back, John Cappelletti, gives his Heisman Trophy to his little brother Joey. There is the tale of a moron in Iowa City. (I must apologize for using the word “moron”. I should have used the words “special needs” because I would need to be more specific by saying a “moron” in Iowa City. That is half the city! (Joke. Joke. Save the letters) Although, I did hear about one guy who rode his motorcycle naked through the town, in the 70s. [Publisher’s note: I only did that 3 or 4 times!] In all seriousness, there is a great documentary on Bill Sackter. (Why am I imagining a movie where Pam Anderson plays a mother with Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy?)

I mention “disease of the week” films because the freshly restarted CBS films return to their old format, only with better acting. Extraordinary Measures is the story of the John (Brendan Fraser) and Aileen (Keri Russell) Crowley family. John was climbing the success ladder in the business world, when his two youngest children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with a rare genetic disease called Pompe’s Disease. Basically the body is unable to break down sugar and those that get it can expect to live no more than two or three years. A movie like this has to walk, like a naked cowboy through a cactus patch, the main reason that Pompe’s and a lot of other similar diseases have not been cured, is that there is no money in it. No pharmaceutical company is going to spend billions to research an illness when they cannot make their money back. Sucks to lose the genetic lottery of life by having something rare, but that is the truth. So, the Crowley’s are discouraged by the pace of research, especially when his two kiddies have so little time. So, he quits his secure job and goes to work for Bristol-Myers Squibb, but grows frustrated because of the corporation’s slow pace on researching Pompe’s. I am thinking the same thing. You are a large corporation, more interested in money and shareholders than helping two small crumb crunchers. No way! So, he quits his job (God knows that a man with his undergrad from the Naval Academy, a masters from Harvard, and JD from Norte Dame, would have trouble finding another job) and is named CEO of a biotechnology start up company in Oklahoma City named Novazyme and focused the new company’s efforts to finding a cure for Pompe’s. Harrison Ford gets to play a cranky, but brilliant and unconventional scientist, Dr. Robert Stonehill, who leads the battle to find the life saving drug. Will a father’s love for his children save the day?

I love these super dad stories, but this is not an inspirational story. John Crowley had a unique educational background that made it possible to jump to Bristol-Myers Squibb and then become CEO of Novazyme. He would have been fired from this job, because even a start-up company needs to make a profit, unless you are the third largest biotechnology company in the world, Genzyme Corporation. Which bought the newly founded company less than a year into Crowley’s management. Now, a major corporation knows bad public relations when they see it and firing some dude who is trying to save his kid’s lives and turn the research onto more profitable areas, well, you might as well tattoo “devil” on your forehead. Novazyme was so small that its lack of gigantic profits could be written off, especially with the title like “Novazyme: A Father’s Love” started to appear. In January 2003, Megan and Patrick began their enzyme replacement therapy. Three years later, journalist Geeta Anand profiled John’s efforts in The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million – And Bucked the Medical Establishment – In A Quest to Save His Children. John Crowley is a hero of the far right, an example of an American success story in how he fought for his children, and almost ran for Senate in 2008. Just remember, most Americans will never have the educational background (much of it paid for by US taxpayers) or the lucky opportunities to do what Crowley was able to do. It is an inspirational story, but also a very unique one. I just hope he never runs for Senate, as politics tend to cheapen a man, and flesh out aspects and stories about them we would rather not know.

Verdict: A Well Acted Disease of the Week Film