I Like Pizzas Too, But I'm Not Going To Marry One.

Man, I remember first watching The Exorcist years ago and crapping myself. I’ve seen many horror films in my time, read many horror books, been through all that, but this film really, really terrified me. I still maintain it is one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen. (I think Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room was also one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen, but for entirely different reasons.)

The book by the same name on which the film is based is similarly scary, though in a ‘I’m-in-the-dark-and-alone-and-it’s-silent-and-it’s-all-taking-place-in-my-head’ way. William Peter Blatty wrote the novel and the screenplay, winning an Oscar for the screenplay and getting another nomination for producing the film, which was directed by Willam Friedkin.

Ellen Burstyn plays actress Chris, mother of Regan (Linda Blair), who is possibly ill, having seizures and the like in Georgetown while Chris is shooting a movie nearby. A whole range of medical tests are conducted on poor young Regan, who is scared herself of what is happening, being as it is that she appears to be possessed, though medical theories ranges from multiple personality disorder to scarring of lobes in her brain - none of which they can actually find evidence for. Eventually, on the advice of a psychologist, she seeks advice on procuring an exorcism from the Catholic Church for her daughter. The medical logic behind this is that Regan appears to believe she is possessed by the devil, and that an exorcism could almost trick her into getting better if she believes it strongly enough.

To this end, Chris approaches Father Karras (Jason Miller), a psychologist and priest working near where Chris has been shooting. He tells her that exorcisms are an old rite that is not practised, but when forced goes to the Church in an attempt to see if they can’t help, even just along the psychological, if not religious lines. The church knows of a priest who has previously performed an exorcism, and summons Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) to Gerogetown to work with Karras, despite Merrin’s old age and the enormous doubts Karras has as to the veracity of Regan’s possession - she is claiming to be inhabited by the Devil himself, rather than just your garden-variety demon as is the norm.

The pair of priests head on in to Regan’s room to begin the exorcism and are confronted by the enormous strength, both mentally and physically, of Regan and whatever it is that may or may not be possessing her (though by this point all involved do seem fairly well convinced that her protestations are reliable.) As the exorcism ends it does seem to become apparent that a demon of some sort, if not the devil himself, was residing within Regan’s young form, as it jumps from her to Karras and, in a moment of self-sacrifice to stop the spread of its evil, he throws himself from Regan’s window onto a steep flight of stairs, killing himself.

The start of the film is of Merrin in Iraq, participating in an archaeological dig, but from the moment the film kicks off back in Georgetown the horror begins, meaning that the film runs  almost all of its two hours with these terrifying possibilities forefront for the viewer. Regardless of the fact that the devil’s voice was dubbed by Mercedes McCambridge (she had to sue for credit and this is said to be largely responsible for Blair losing out on her Best Supporting Actress nomination to fellow young’un Tatum O’Neal), Blair’s performance is fairly stunning, considering what she had to do at such a tender age. I don’t think I’ll ever forget her rampaging sexuality and the violent crucifix masturbation sequence. 

Burstyn we all love, so I’m not even going to try and talk about how fabulous she is in her Oscar-nominated turn either. Miller, I think, could have been stronger - he was a fairly weak and passive presence for the most part - but von Sydow was terrifically forceful and dominant as the senior priest with all the knowledge and none of the fear.

The script is terrific, something you would hope coming from a good novel by the same writer, and Friedkin keeps the tension super-high for the duration. As much as you might laugh at the vomit or the jerkiness of the head turning or whatever, his ability to achieve so much with so little VFX is pretty terrific. Freezing the set, firing guns behind people to get startled reactions, slapping people to make them angry, breaking Burstyn’s coccyx - he did totally abuse his cast and crew, but damn they got a good movie out of it.

This would probably fit neatly in a top fifty of all time for me, maybe top thirty. I’ve never tried to think about it. Maybe I will someday. But the film has stuck with me since I first watched it, and will now stick with me with much more clarity. But next time, I’m watching it with someone whose arm I can cling to. 5 stars.

'Life Is Short.' 'Yeah, Well, So Are You.'

It's an Ellen Burstyn festival! (There's another Burstyn starrer coming up in a couple of films time, after this one. Woohoo!) She's another that can do no wrong, though that goes back to when I first saw The Exorcist, back in the day. Requiem For A Dream merely cemented it for me.


While Burstyn won her Academy Award for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, she had already been nominated twice (for support in The Last Picture Show and lead in The Exorcist), and has since been nominated three times more. In Alice she plays the Alice of the title, recently widowed from a tumultuous relationship. With no money and no pre-marriage career outside of some singing she gave up when wed, and a young son to take care of, Alice heads off from where she had been living to make her way back to Monterey, where she had last earned a living off her voice.

Stopping off in Phoenix to sing at a piano bar in order that she can make enough to money to carry on with son Tommy (Alfred Lutter III), she begins a relationship with the immature but sweet Ben (Harvey Keitel), and bites off far more than she can chew. After discovering that he is not only already married but violent to boot she flees the town, finding herself in Tucson. Unable to find work as a singer she takes up as a waitress, working with loud, flirty Flo (Diane Ladd) and the simple Audrey (Jodie Foster.) There she meets and becomes involved with David (Kris Kristofferson), who owns a ranch outside of town and seems too good to be true. A divorcee with children he doesn't really see, David quickly starts to exert his own opinions on the family, creating tension between Alice and Tommy as the deadline for Tommy to enroll in school in Monterey approaches and they are still in Tucson, not earning enough money. After a short breakup, David and Alice get back together and the option of staying in Tucson rears its head... something both Alice and Tommy ultimately find very appealing.


Martin Scorsese helms the film, fresh from the acclaim of Mean Streets, before taking up the reigns on Raging Bull, though Burstyn apparently retained full creative control due to her starring role and the phenomenal success of The Exorcist. She chose Scorsese based on his willingness to embrace learning about women for the picture, but presumably due to Burstyn's influence the film is tonally quite different from Scorsese's pictures to follow. Visually it is striking in a very distinctive Scorsese way, with the angles and the movement of the camera, almost flat to the screen, something he manages to achieve without it ever feeling empty or amateurish. But it is a lot lighter than the majority of his work - not that that is a negative note on the film. It's a fine film centred around the outstanding performance of Burstyn, who is truly pivotal to the film. Hers is the story being told, and she is in almost every scene, and she owns every scene she is in, using a great script by Robert Getchell and wringing every comic and dramatic note out of it. Her relationship with her son is beautiful and hilarious. It didn't feel real in the slightest, not on the surface (though maybe I just know nothing about the era), but underneath you could feel the emotion running deep and the lines they exchanged worked so well that it is not only forgivable, it is laudable. 


A great effort all round. I think Burstyn's performances in both The Exorcist and Requiem For A Dream were more worthy of an Oscar than this (not that she wasn't worthy - I guess I mean her other two big ones were so damn big, but ignored), but she does turn in a very solid and definite lead job. 4 stars.