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Previously filmed with Paul Muni in 1959, Gerald Green's novel The Last Angry Man was adapted for television by Green himself, who restored the original book's Depression-era setting in the process. Pat Hingle steps into the Muni role as crusty, temperamental Dr. Sam Abelman, who tends to the residents of a seedy Brooklyn tenement neighborhood. Refusing to treat his patients as victims of society, Sam practices his craft with a heady combination of common sense and tenderness. He is particularly interested in the welfare of a hostile teenager (Paul Jabara), whose violent temper may be attributable to a serious brain condition. Since this was the pilot for a proposed TV series, Dr. Abelman was not permitted to "die" in as spectacular a fashion as his counterpart in the 1959 film, but instead soldier on at fadeout time with the assistance of his daughters Sarah (Lynn Carlin) and Eunice (Tracy Bogart). This version of The Last Angry Man was broadcast by ABC on April 16, 1974.