No American male in 1963 had a scruffy semi-beard like Efron's. NONE. - Parkland (2013) Discussion

[–] doug65oh 10 years ago

I think they were going for the “surgical resident” look and just plain overshot the mark. I found it distracting myself at first.

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[–] jaystarstar 10 years ago

"Surgical residents" in Texas in 1963 wore crewcuts or extremely short haircuts like everybody else. And they sure as hell never showed up for work with several days' growth of shaggy beard.

As I posted earlier, any resident showing up for work looking like that in 1963 would have been pulled aside by the supervisor or the nurse supervisor and told, "you look like hell son, you been out drinkin' all night? Now get in that staff dressing room and shave your scruffy face or you're going home and getting written up."

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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

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[–] tremas-1 10 years ago

As someone who was 26 years old in 1963, I can vouch for JAYSTARSTAR's comment. The "scruffy look" in the workplace came decades later. In fact, I seem to recall a comedy film (starring Dick Van Dyke, I think) whose plot was the uproar that a man created when he went to his office sporting a beard. Anyway, the semibeard is a false note in an otherwise excellent film.

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[–] DrGerbil 10 years ago

Maybe they were trying to make Zac Efron look older with the beard? If so, they didn't succeed and it was a mistake. I think he was miscast as a resident; wondering if he might have been more believable as a young Secret Service or FBI agent?

Obviously they were trying to give him a large role, since he has box-office draw, but he did not look like he belonged there.

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[–] klantry 10 years ago

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065010/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

4.5 star rating, never released on home video, from the looks of it.

"Well, there it is."

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[–] tremas-1 10 years ago

Thank you, LAFRENTZ, for locating the Dick Van Dyke movie I mentioned and giving us a link to its IMDB page.
Another reader says that "in 1963 a lot of young males were emulating the look of beatniks," and he's right, but the point made by the Original Poster was that scruffy beards were unwelcome IN THE WORKPLACE, which is also right.

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[–] ksgirl81 10 years ago

I actually was impressed with Zac in this movie, i thought he did a great job, very mature! I have to hand it to him that he's made some pretty good decisions as far as what movie roles to take, he hasn't stayed with the teen movies since hsm.

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[–] lafrentz1 10 years ago

No American male in 1963 had a scruffy semi-beard like Efron's. NONE

In 1963 a lot of young males were emulating the look of beatniks and particularly the facial hair of Maynard G. Krebs of the very popular Dobie Gillis TV show played by Bob Denver. You would later know him as the clean-cut and dim-witted Gilligan.

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[–] doug65oh 10 years ago

Maynard actually crossed my mind but since he was a fictional character I thought no, why go there?

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[–] jaystarstar 10 years ago

Any surgical resident in 1963 who said he was trying to emulate the personal look of Maynard G. Krebs would have been handed a 2-week suspension without pay, ordered to submit to psychological testing and placed on last-chance probation at the hospital.

(And I'm not really kidding. Zany, wacky, off-the-wall individuality was not something that was really very highly prized in American male society in 1963, and even less so in a Texas hospital. You'd be taking a huge chance at being labeled a 'weirdo' if you even admitted to knowing who Maynard G. Krebs was.)

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4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

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[–] doug65oh 10 years ago

You're missing the point honestly. This isn't a debate about what rules or regulations existed for surgical residents in 1963. I don't for a moment dispute your assertion - in fact I agree entirely with you on that point. The point is what the film makers were aiming for in depicting Parkland's surgical residents. They got it wrong, obviously, and there's not much else to say.

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[–] raf-33 10 years ago

North Korea isn't too fond of individuality either. Land of the free, eh?

You don't know sh!t, Jon Snow!

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[–] SteveH2002 10 years ago

I'm not really disagreeing with anyone here who says the facial hair is out of place, but my impression was they were trying to indicate the Efron character was pulling a long shift in the Parkland emergency room. They never really explained it one way or the other. The beard didn't look much more than a day or two old.

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[–] oregon-5 10 years ago

I have to agree, without getting into the particulars of 1963 standards. Me perception was we saw 2 residents sacked out in the lounge and it was Zac who picked up the phone to report for duty.

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[–] mcstauff 10 years ago

In my years of hospital work, there were many a resident that had pulled a 36 hour on call rotation. Those of whom had heavy beards, definitely had a 5 o'clock shadow at the end of their call. Many times there was simply no time to shave or even bathe. A quick change of scrubs and deodorant was all they had time for before the beginning or early rounds with the attending doctor. But I firmly believe that this was an attempt to show that Zac's character was catching what sleep he could, and the beard growth was merely due to his having a dark heavy beard. Some men do need to shave twice a day.

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