Hearne: Cut; Legendary Local Movie Critic Dr. Doug Checks Out

This just in, esteemed longtime local movie critic Doug Moore – aka Dr. Doug – has passed away...

“He passed away last night at the hospice,” says KCC movie man Jack Poessiger. “But he was still going strong – attending movie screenings – up until four or five months ago. He’d been at the hospice maybe a month.”

While the Internet renders movie critics pretty much a dime-a-dozen these days, Dr. Doug held something approaching Godfather status for decades, when the only way to halfway matter meant having a major media affiliation.

“Yeah, he and Dr. Loutzenhiser, who started the Kansas City Film Critics Circle were the two,” Poessiger says.

“Channel 4 was Dr. Doug’s claim to fame – that’s where everybody knows him from,” Poessiger says. “He was on there for years prior to Shawn Edwards. And he was on the Mike Murphy Show.”

Affable as Moore was, he had an edgy side…

“He was criticized for having views too far to the right,” Poessiger says. “He was super conservative. For example, if there was a homosexual scene in a movie he would criticize the director and the studio for making it. He got in trouble (with viewers) several times for that.”

Any funny Dr. Doug stories to share?

“Yes, he lived for frequent flyer mileage,” says Poessiger who doubles as a travel agent with Shelton Travel.