Posts Tagged ‘“The New Age Movement”’
October Creature Feature Movie Review Exorcist II The Heretic
October Creature Feature
The Retired Exorcists
Exorcist II The Heretic
by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
I doubt there is anyone on the planet, who has never heard the old saying, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” That saying is probably wise advice for movies as well when it comes to video box covers and DVD jackets.
At Robinson’s Place in Tacloban City, Republic of the Philippines, I was thumbing through the various Video Compact Disc to select American movies to buy. It had become a Friday night ritual, which meant microwave the popcorn and introduce my Filipino nieces and nephews to some of the greatest American horror movies ever made.
I picked the movie out of the VCD and looked at the cover. Linda Blair looked back at me. Richard Burton and Louise Fletcher’s photos were on the bottom of the cover. In my youth, I had watched scores of Richard Burton films.
Louise Fletcher is one of those actresses, when I see her name or photograph associated with a film I know there is about a 99 percent chance that I am going to enjoy the TV Show or movie.
I love movies. I couldn’t believe I had let a sequel to The Exorcists get by me. Then, I watched the movie.
“The Amityville Horror” Exorcists On Call
Suddenly, You are Rod Steiger in the role of Father Delany, in “The Amityville Horror” movie of 1979. The scene where Don Stroud in the role of Father Bolen, the young Vietnam vet, who returns to be a priest, has one knee on the bench and keeps a foot on the ground and kind of leans on the statuesque bench. 
Steiger as Delany just sits on the bench like a knot on a log. He looks like a statue in a priest’s uniform. I always admired the concentration that it took for Steiger to stare out in to space while Stroud in the role of the young priest was talking to him.
I imagine in that scene that It is almost like Steiger is watching a TV and ignoring the people around him. As if “Exorcist II The Heretic” is playing on the TV off screen. He stares through the movie on the TV screen, but daydreams what it would be like to face a real demonic presence.
The Steiger Shroud scene in “The Amityville Horror” movie is what I would expected to find of a “Retired Exorcist Priest.” That scene could have been used to write a whole new script for a sequel to “The Exorcist.”
The Steiger and Shroud scene could be used for an “Exorcist II” to suggests that a successful Exorcist priest comes out of retirement long enough to instruct and help him select two younger priests to become professional, motivated, determined Exorcists.
Steiger and Shroud should have been hired to play the veteran Exorcist and the young Exorcist, who are called in by her doctor to see if it was remotely possible she could be “repossessed possessed.” Then, of course, Burton as Father Lamont would have had to have flown in from the Vatican to make sure that an American exorcism would not cost any more priest’s lives.
Cast Seeks Script
The actual “Exorcist II The Heretic” movie could have been entitled “Exorcist II The Lunatic” and been the four years after Regan MacNeil, suddenly, has a relapse and is hospitalized in a sanatorium.
“Exorcist II The Heretic” proves you can have a magnificent cast of actors, but, you should not have to rely on the actors to ad lib ever scene and line of dialogue in the movie. A movie still needs a script. If you did no research on this film, you would swear it had no script.
God Bless The Screenwriters Of America !
The woman bursting into flames in an opening scene is a clear indication of where this movie goes – “up in flames.” Have a fire extinguisher close to your DVD player.
“Exorcist II The Heretic” is obviously a movie in search of a script – any script.
The date of the movie is 1977. The wardrobe definitely screams “The 1970s.”
Metaphysical Gee Whiz Moments
The movie seems to get caught up in psychiatry and “The New Age Movement” and can’t decide which to choose. Louise Fletcher in the role of Dr, Gene Tuskin shows Regan a hypnotic machine gadget.
In a later scene, Regan teases a friend by faking the famous Uri Geller “spoon bending” that had people pouring through the shelves of bookstores for books on ESP and kinetic energy in the 1970s.
Regan and Dr. Tuskin slip on headbands to connect them to the skinny strobe machine, which looks like a low-budget 1970s version of a 1950s electroshock therapy machine.
Then, Richard Burton in the role of Father Philip Lamont slips on Regan’s headband and slips into the chair. What seems to have been a hypnotic exercise goes from a mind-sharing to a soul-sharing event that might of worked with audiences in the 1970s, but, I doubt it.
This psychiatry metaphysical scene is only missing the “Walk-In” idea that a soul can just walk into a body and allow the original soul to “move on.”
Max von Sydow in the role of Father Lankester Merrin and Karen Knapp in the role of Linda Blair’s double dons the Pazuzu demon makeup appear in a metaphysical overlay to suggest a memory; the technique sort of works, but, makes the screen seem crowded.
August Actors, Actresses, Flat Flick
In my opinion, Burton, Fletcher and Blair were all better than this movie, The actors and actresses in this move all earned every single cent they were paid for this movie. Burton, Fletcher and Blair all did the best they could with their characters and the characters became better than the movie.
Father Lamont gets handed a picture and suddenly the priest has this “Psychological Epiphany” that seems closer to a mental breakdown,which gets talked away by Father Lamont and Dr. Tuskin.
The Magic Grasshopper
By now, obviously, one of the writers must of figured the demon, Pazuzu would have immigration problems with US Customs and tries to smuggle him into the film using “The Magic Grasshopper” – a giant grasshopper dream film sequence.
The Father’s Mission
Paul Henreid in the role of The Cardinal gives the film the credibility it needs. He also get to explain how Father Lamont’s mission is to prove that Father Merrin of “The Exorcist” did not die as a “Heretic.”
My favorite line in the whole movie is, “I’m not here for you.”
Actress Kitty Winn in the role of Sharon Spencer is explaining to Father Lamont how the Georgetown house is full of bad memories for her. Father Lamont suggests that she talk to a priest or a psychiatrist and she grumbles back at him that he is one.
Father Lamont’s, “I’m not here for you,” response is just a basic statement of fact, but, the fact that he is dressed like a priest makes the statement seem cold-blooded.
“The Magic Grasshopper,” the big grasshopper seems to show up whenever the story needs to move along.
In Search Of “The Boy”
A young James Earl Jones is also better than the movie he appears in. He shows up on screen like a young African village medicine man, wearing a ridiculous hat that although it is suppose to be tribal looks like something at the bottom of a clearance bin of lades’ hats.
Fortunately, the quick cutaway to the growling leopard rescues your eyes quickly.
Mental Healing
Regan is suppose to be still recovering from her bout with the demon four years ago. Then, suddenly, she is a mental social worker. She talks to a little girl, who supposedly hasn’t said a word for a long time.
Of course, once Regan starts talking to the girl it becomes Mr. Spock’s “Vulcan mind meld” without the hand gesture or any special effects to show how Regan is getting into the little girl’s mind.
Suddenly, the mother arrives and “Hallelujah ! It’s A Miracle !” I kept waiting for a tent revival preacher in a sweat stained shirt to come rushing in, waving his Holy Bible and shouting for the brothers and sisters to open their hymnals and join in a song.
Father Lamont does his impression of Secretary Of State Henry Kissinger’s “Shuttle Diplomacy” and first dashes to Rome to brief the cardinal and then he is off to Africa to find “the boy.” (At this point, Father Lamont should of forgot the boy and been looking for a script.)
The Cessna And The Crucifix
Ned Beatty in the role of Edwards, the Cessna pilot, delivers a visual clue to the viewers when he gets out of the aircraft and carries this huge crucifix from the plane up the hill to the cafe where Father Lamont is waiting. (Obviously, a screenwriter found a way to tip off viewers, you have had “a cross to bear” for awhile now – hang on a little longer and the credits will roll.)
Locusts Lair
Father Lamont finds “the boy”, Kokumo, who is James Earl Jones in the guise of a village medicine man, wearing a giant grasshopper headdress The surprise is the grasshopper headdress looks more realistic that the earlier hat.
Father Lamont falls down and wakes up in a scientific research facility where James Earl Jones is now the educated scientist, Kokumo, in his dapper white lab coat, who takes pleasure explaining his research into grasshoppers.
Travel Telepathy
Regan and Father Lamont do the “mind sync” in the movie, so that while she is in the States and he is in Africa they are in “sync”, but, the movie was done before computers were built and could do the “sync” routine. I
“Exorcist II The Heretic” is not a sci-fi movie like any of the “Star Trek” movies, so the “Borg collective one community mind” idea doesn’t come off in the movie. There are no special effects to suggests that they are in sync at any time. “The Mind Sync” idea might be a metaphysical or supernatural or New Age concept that I missed in my years of research, but, I doubt it.
My guess is the Father Lamont and Regan “mind sync” is a shot at “telepathy” and no one really could figure out how to show it on screen.
Father Lamont and Regan get on a train. Dr. Tuskin and Sharon Spencer catch a flight to Georgetown. Everyone seems to be heading for the house in Georgetown, where Father Merrin did his exorcism. The Magic Grasshopper is finally replaced by swarms of grasshoppers,
Paranormal Pursuit
When everyone finally arrives at Georgetown, it seems the movie finally realizes it is suppose to be a horror flick and a supernatural thriller.
The final scenes are what you expect of a horror flick. The kind of surprises that if the final scenes would have been moved up toward the beginning or worked as an opening would have people in the theater snuggling down in their seats clutching their large bucket of popcorn and gripping their sodas and whispering, “Exorcist II The Heretic. Bring it on !”
Two Stars
I was tempted to give this movie One Star, but, the truth is all the actors and actresses in this movie worked too hard to try get this movie up and running.
Thus, the First Star has to go to all the actors, actresses and everyone on the movie, but, the director. I just don’t think the director understood he was actually suppose to film a “horror flick” and a “supernatural thriller.”
The second star is for the final minutes and final scenes of the story, which survived to prove at least a portion of a script made it on to film.
I award “The Exorcist II Heretic” Two Stars. The outstanding cast of stars in this movie makes it worth watching. I do not remember watching “The Exorcist III.” I should have because it is a George C. Scott movie,
Sam
Salute To A
Great American Actor
George C. Scott
And
A Great American General
George S. Patton Jr.
George C. Scott is one of those great American actors that I admire and respect. Born in Wise, Virginia, October 18, 1927, he was definitely “A Force Of The Universe.” He came at Life head on.
He was a smiling man, whose brash, vivacious approach to Life could best be described as a United States Navy battleship or aircraft carrier rushing through the oceans of the world and brushing aside any boats naive enough to get too caught up his wake.
I have never seen a movie, where George C. Scott took on the role of a wimp. He was too independent and determined in life to ever portray a powerless victim scared of his own shadow.
The wimp roles of life are better suited to politicians not successful actors, directors and producers.
George C. Scott before he ever became an actor served his nation. In 1945, he raised his right hand and became a member of the United States Marine Corps.
On active duty at 8th and I Barracks in Washington D.C,,he served in uniform until 1949, when he returned to civilian life and went to the University of Missouri. He graduated with a degree in Journalism.
His choice in life to become an actor, put him on stage at Broadway and in front of film cameras around the world. George C. Scott’s hard work and devotion to his profession always brought his characters to life on film.
Americans and other people will remember George C. Scott for a variety of roles. I remember George C. Scott in the role of United States Army General George S. Patton Jr.
Scott’s Marine Corps service made him a natural to play the role of a military commander. Scott’s “I live Life on my own terns attitude”, made him the only man in America or the world, who could of slipped on the United States Army low quarters of “The General” and brought him “Back To Life” on film.
American and International newspapers around the world published the articles about General Patton’s “hard charging approach to life.” Patton, a Scorpio, born November 11, 1885, wasn’t scared of God or Satan. General Patton would stand toe-to-toe with God or Satan and look them square in the eye.
United States Army Signal Corps Photo of Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr., 1943. (pictured before his promotion to full General).
General Patton’s courage in peace and war always made him a hero to his troops and a “discomfort” for the military and civilian leaders in the Chain Of Command above General Patton.
I did not use the term “superiors” because sometimes in Life there are people, who have no “superiors” because they stand too tall and proud in Life that anyone who stands near them are simply ignored or forgotten.
General Patton became Alexander The Great with the American flag genetically engineered into his soul. General Patton put on his US Army “Ike” jacket and strapped on his twin pearl handled pistols to show the world, “When God wants Justice he sends George S. Patton Jr., and his troops to get the job done right the first time.”
Only a United States Marine, like George C. Scott, would of understood, General Patton’s “Devotion To Duty, Honor And Country,” only a Marine like George C. Scott would of understood that General Patton would move mountains and cross oceans to achieve a military objective and to free people from an enemy.
During World War II, the United States of America and the Allies had three magnificent US Army “Weapons Of Mass Destruction” General Dwight David Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur and General George S. Patton Jr.
The Allies had scores of brilliant and brave men and women in uniform, who always succeeded. But, three American generals knew World War II would change the lives of people around the globe.
Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur were aware that while military leaders must press forward to overcome the enemy, General Eisenhower and General MacArthur understood the need to keep civilian leaders informed and to outline the importance of the actions to the International News Media.
General Patton understood the enemy had to be defeated at all costs.
General Patton would leave the government politics to General Eisenhower, General MacArthur and the other Allies military generals, admirals and commanders.
General Patton would pay attention to the International News Media only if they were writing stories and shooting film to tell of the exploits of himself and his troops in defeating the enemy.
When you look at the determination and life of General George S. Patton Jr., there was only one man in America or the world, who could of become “The General” in front of a cinematic camera and would of demonstrated the courage, devotion and conviction of being single-minded enough to “Fight Your Way To Freedom.”
Actor George C. Scott is the only man, who could of brought General Patton to life on film for future generations of global citizens to understand.
Scott, a Libra, who could be considered born on the Cusp of Scorpio, knew how to “Balance” his approach to life to get things done. George C. Scott always seemed to smile in public. His public persona of being able to laugh and still move ahead in a determined manner to achieve something must of kept people around him in awe.
Like General Patton, George C. Scott always seemed in news reels, film and photos to be one of those people in life, whose presence overwhelms the people around them and keeps someone like General George S. Patton Jr., and George C. Scott in the center of the spotlight, regardless where they went in the world.
George C. Scott knew how to translate his natural charisma into a subtle energy life force that always had to be acknowledged and respected because it could not be ignored. He had a “radioactive presence” that always came across in his films and television shows.
In addition to his role as General George S. Patton Jr., George C. Scott, played John Rainbird in the movie “Firestarter.”
The Stephen King novel became a movie. Drew Barrymore in the role of Charlie McGee is a little girl, who can use her mind to cause people and objects to burst into flame.
Naturally, a secret government organization wants to keep the little girl under their control where they can perform tests and study her. The insidious mythical organization turns to John Rainbird to try to get close to the child. Of course, the character Rainbird is an Evil man.
In the role of Rainbird, George C. Scott creates a determined villain, with a sense of humor and a laugh that makes the character seem the least threatening of all the bad guys in the movie;
When an actor has the charisma, charm and stage presence to create a bad guy character that you want to admire, then, you have an actor, actress or person who really can reach out to people in their minds.
In the movie, Rainbird is a bad guy; but the way George C. Scott plays the villain; it is difficult not to respect the bad guy.
Since George C. Scott is one of my favorite actors, I seldom overlook any of his TV shows or movies. He is one of the stars in “The Exorcist III.” I do not remember ever watching the movie, so I can’t review it at this point in time.
Sam
“The Exorcist” October Creature Feature
OCTOBER CREATURE FEATURE
THE EXORCIST
The film that transformed an obscure Church ritual into a sought after global profession
by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
In my lifetime from October 1955 through mid-December 1973,in the United States, if you needed an “Exorcist”, you would have few real options.
You could buy a plane ticket to go to the Vatican and try to convince a priest or the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.
You could try and find someone who knew a root worker or conjurer in New Orleans, Louisiana, who might be willing to help you.
You could try and contact someone who had a friend, who lived out in San Francisco, California and was into “The New Age Movement.”
If you seriously needed an “Exorcist” before 1973, in the United States, you really had to look under every stone to find one and hope you could find someone who had an understanding priest in the Roman Catholic Church, who would take you seriously enough to actually look for an “exorcist.”
The Real Deal Exorcists
William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel, “The Exorcist,” had aspects that were inspired by the actual Exorcism of Roland Doe in Maryland in 1949. Jesuit Priest, Father William S. Bowdern and Father Walter Halloran were the real exorcists.
There have been television shows that talked about the original exorcism and one fact all seemed to agree on is the family basically had to beg the church for an exorcism. The practice of exorcisms had become essentially a ritual that had been left in the past.
The “resurrected” ritual of exorcism did much not only for The Church, but for all churches. William Friedkin’s film, “The Exorcist” based on Blatty’s novel put God back up on the marquee that got people going back to all kinds of churches, temples, synagogues and mosque because Satan was real again.
“Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Omen” were child demonic films of the late 1960s and early 1970s that also got people’s attention.
What always got me about “The Exorcist” was how such a “normal” little girl could be possessed ?
Effective Evil Effects
There were no Hollywood Computer Generated Images for movies in the 1970s, production and special effects people had to do create the effects the old fashioned way ‘– “They had to be creative.” Now, people smile at the “pea soup” that gets shot out of Regan’s mouth in the movie, but, it was one of those “Wow” moments in theaters in the 1970s.
The fashion sense, or lack there of, of the 1970s does much to make a film look dated, but, the story, the actors, actresses and effects did such a magnificent job Regan MacNeil, the possessed girl, is one of those Halloween characters in the shadow between vampires, mummies, Frankenstein and zombies that no one wants to think about because she just might be “The Real Deal after all.”
Face it, no one wants to have to tell their father or mother, “We won’t be coming home for Christmas because your granddaughter is possessed by Satan.”
The real fear of The Exorcist movie is that maybe, just maybe, your child could be possessed by Evil. The movie really does turn that parental fear into the worst case scenario by the use of suspense and the creative use of effects. It is little wonder why this movie has become an American Cult Classic.
You factor in the notion that you have a veteran priest, who has dealt with and faced Evil at various times and is ready for the battle. Then, you add the young doubting priest to the mix, who believes he is more “a man of science” than “a man of the cloth.” Basically, he let the Church pay for his education, so he could become a successful psychiatrist. Stepping into the ring, Satan has the upper hand and the odds are all in His favor.
Temptation Of Teenagers ?
Ellen Burstyn, who plays the actress mother, wants the best for her daughter. Linda Blair, who plays Regan Mac Neil, the daughter, is the average All-American Girl for the 1970s.
I grew up on a hog farm in the conservative Midwest of the United States of America, known as the Ozarks, right smack dab in “The Bible Belt.” My family, friends and neighbors went to the Baptists and Pentecostal churches. Some crossed the line into Taney County to go to Branson or into Greene County to go to Catholic churches, Lutheran, Methodists and Presbyterians.
The preachers and pastors of Stone County, Missouri took their “hellfire and damnation” lessons to heart and knew they were the First Line Of Defense against Satan and His Demonic Legions.
Thus, in the Ozarks and the Midwest, you never expected to see Satan walking down the highway or shopping for groceries in the local supermarket. But, in the 1960s or 1970s, if you are writing a story, script or play – how would you get Satan or any of his demons to realistically appear in the literary work ?
Demon Dare
As decadent and liberal minded as New York City was suppose to be in the 1960s and 1970s; there had to be a way to get Evil into the script and the movie. The All-American Fall Guy – the Ouija Board.
In the US, in the 1960s and 1970s, it seemed there were only two real ways for Evil to show up. Teenagers had to figure out some way to do “Satanic Rituals” or go to the store and pretend to be nave enough to buy and use a Ouija Board.
In this film, the Ouija Board is the culprit that is “The Three Mile Island” incident that starts demonic radiation leaking into the MacNeil home and poor Regan glows with it.
Use of the Ouija Board, helps explain how an East African demon gets through US Customs without a passport and visa. Then, again The Department Of Homeland Security is a story that doesn’t happen until the beginning of the 21st Century.
Max von Sydow, who stars in the role of Father Lankester Merrin really does come across as the devout veteran priest, who is ready to stare the demon in the eye and send it back to Hell.
Jason Miller as Father Damien Karras does an excellent job as the young priest, who really believes he is a long lost psychiatrist in his soul. One of the story twist is suppose to have the young priest broken up about his mother’s death. I didn’t get the message in 1973 and I haven’t gotten it since.
On screen the first time you see the aging, invalid mother, the film mom is sort of already a citizen of “The Twilight Zone” looking to move into “The Outer Limits.” Without more details or a back story to show the mother and son relationship, that story line to me wastes film. I’m a Momma’s Boy, so I’m critical.
Actor Titos Vandis, in the role of the young priest’s uncle works with Miller to pull off the story line, but, that is an area where I believe the movie falters and probably gets forgotten about in the overall bouts with the demon. In this movie, the mom character was dead before she was written into the script and she seems just as dead up on the screen.
Exorcist Era Excitement
This is the movie that “Really Did Start It All.” The obscure term, “exorcist” smoldering in the Vatican archives, “purified” the way for an American religious revival in Catholic and Protestant Churches and created battalions of televangelists and legions of lay (and lame) exorcists throughout the globe.
Satanic Seventies ?
The ongoing, relentless, never-ending Vietnam War had made young Americans jaded, cynical and skeptical. Grandparents and parents looked at the grandchildren and children and wondered if maybe “alien astronauts” had abducted” and switched their kids because “The Generation Gap” was the real deal.
Generations of Americans spoke English to one another in their homes and yet the message was like “A Day At The United Nations Without Translators “ – No one understood ‘nuthin’.
America’s politicians in the 1960s were the kind of leaders that people rushed to build statues to. By the 1970s, Americans politicians seemed to be like “used car dealers that you couldn’t get rid of.”
The Godfathers
America had the traditional movie and sports celebrities of their generation in the early 1970s, but, the “Godfather” movies did “the kinder, gentler dance” for Organized Crime. J. Edgar Hoover had gotten long in the tooth and the organized crime bosses of America had their own brash, public style that had to be the envy of America’s “stale bread politicians of the early 1970s.”
While American underworld figures weren’t holding their daily press conferences at their mansions, they were out and about and people couldn’t get enough of their exploits in the streets of America. The irony is the Crime Rate in America was pushing people to believe “Vigilante Justice” might not be such a bad solution as long as you don’t get caught. “Dirty Harry” had become the ideal lawman of America.
Nix on Nixon
Nixon had no use for the American news media and the American news media had no use for Nixon, other than the political cartoonists, who thrived on daily demonizing his facial features.
After Watergate, nothing Nixon said really mattered. The press didn’t seem to believe a word he said and his approval rating with the American public dropped faster than a bad day in the stock market.
Then, of course, Men in America actually got to wear something other than white shirts and black ties. Unfortunately, the Men’s Fashion Scene of the 1970s “overdosed” America’s fashion sense – too much, too soon. Wide ties, wide lapels, bright colors for men’s suits, white belts, white shoes, hounds tooth sport coats thrown into the mix with polyester and wide collars on mien’s shirts. Plus, there was the jogging suits to wear, even if you never intended to go jogging. And denim flared jeans and denim flared bell bottoms were still on the drawing board for the seventies fashion scene.
The early 1970s had America’s scurrying like mice on an exercise wheel – they just weren’t sure where they were suppose to be running to.
Demonic Days
If you look back at 1973, you wonder if someone on Satan’s staff had decided to literally “set the stage” leading up to the release of “The Exorcist.”
January 22, 1973 – US Supreme Court rules on Roe versus Wade and overturns states’ bans on abortion.
The Vietnam War “Officially Ends” January 27, 1973 with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. Nixon tries to take credit for the peace agreement. The American news media and many Americans actually see Dr. Henry Kissinger, America’s First Jewish Secretary Of State as the man who got the deal.
November 5, 1973, the term, “Shuttle Diplomacy” entered the American culture and described the efforts that Secretary of State Kissinger made in the Middle East at the end of the Yom Kippur War to help keep the region stable.
Despite Secretary Kissinger’s hard work to keep the Arab states and Israel living in a somewhat peaceful existence – some religious critics started shouting that Secretary Kissinger could be, “The Anti-Christ.”
March 29, 1973, the last United States soldier leaves Vietnam.
May 17, 1973, I wear the cap and gown and graduate from Galena High School, Galena, Missouri. It should have been a proud moment for God and Satan. It was a proud moment for me. By June, I was in college at the School Of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Missouri.,
The US bombing of Cambodia ends June 1.
July 12, 1973 – The National Archives Fire – The entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis Missouri is destroyed by a fire. Countless US Navy and US Army records are lost, which will affect World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War military people and their families for generations to come in the area of honorable discharges, military retirement pay and documentation of earned and awarded military decorations.
Egyptian and Syrian military forces attack Israel, September 11, 1973, to start the “Yom Kippur War,” in the Sinai Pennisula and the Golan Heights. I am working at KSOZ-FM, to work my way through college. I look through the large plastic window at the huge gray Associated Press teletype thrusting down the keys to announce the start of the War. I’m excited about the story.
I rip off the yellow sheet of news copy and hand it to someone in the newsroom. They nod and comment, “Another War in the Middle East.”
I understand now, why no one rushed to get it “on air” as breaking news. It was the 1970s, and there was always bad news coming out of the Middle East.
I saw the War as a possible start to “Armageddon.” Everyone else in the newsroom just saw it as more bad news from the Middle East to be read after the day’s latest Watergate story.
The Yom Kippur War ends October 26, 1973.
October 10, 1973, “The Saturday Night Massacre,” Richard Milhouse “Tricky Dick” Nixon fires Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus.
No matter What Nixon did – The Watergate Break-In June 17, 1972 – would not go away and each day’s newspaper brought a new “Watergate” headline in the continuing scandal.
By December 23, 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, had doubled the price of crude oil at the pumps – just in time for “Christmas.”
American theaters flip the switch and Warner Brothers “The Exorcist “ flickers on to movie screens December 26, 1973.
By November 1979, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini labeled “America, The Great Satan: in a speech. Khomeini was the 1970s version of Al Quaeda’s Osama bin Laden.
In the early 1960s, Khomeini used his criticism of the Shah of Iran Pahlavi to rise to power among his Muslim followers. The Shah exiled him and he spent more than 14 years in exile between Paris, Turkey and Iraq. Khomeini did not like that the United States Government had close relations with Iran and that the Shah had moved to modernize Iran.
When you look back at 1973, it seems like God had gotten dropped off for church bingo and Americans weren’t sure if they were going to pick Him up or hand Him His “Pink Slip.”
Satan At The Box Office
The film brought in $66.3 million from theaters in the United States and Canada. It currently stands as “The Top Grossing R Rated Film Of All Time.”
“The Exorcist” movie proved to be the “shakeup” that got God back in His penthouse and kept Him on as the CEO Of Heaven. “The Exorcist” woke up and scared Americans.
Before the movie appeared in theaters, many Americans were like Actor Lee J. Cobb in the role of New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, something is wrong and you just can’t put your finger on it.
The approach worked for Cobb’s detective’s role in the movie and outside the theater in the streets of America, “something was wrong and no one knew how to put a finger on it.”
The Medical Men
Arthur Storch, in the role of the psychiatrist and Barton Haymen as Dr. Samuel Klein are the classic American “Medical Men” of the 1970s, “Of course, Science has an answer for it.” But, when Regan’s condition doesn’t respond to medical treatment, one of the doctors blurts out something about an “exorcist.”
The time devoted to the “Science” and “Medicine”approach in the movie is smart because by the 1970s doctors and scientists had taken to their academic pulpits and “preached” to anyone who would listen that science and medicine would find the cure for all the ills of humanity.
America’s New Prophets
America’s Psychiatrist were on a roll. Sigmund Freud had got them out into the limelight. People seemed hungry for the latest development from the psychiatric world. Hollywood didn’t let the fad pass by; they cranked out movies as fast as they could about doctors and psychiatrist saving the day.
Psychiatrists were America’s New Prophets. It did seem doctors, scientists and psychiatrist had an answer for everything.
“The Supernatural” remained the chink in the psychiatrist’s armor. The responses of : “superstition”, “imagination”, and “all in your mind” worked until something happened before your eyes.
Find An Exorcist In The Yellow Pages
Before the movie, your best bet to find an “exorcist” would be to seek permission to search the Vatican archives for a vague reference to an “exorcist.”
After the movie, “Exorcists In America were thicker than hairs on a dog’s back.” At the current rate of growth in a few years America will probably be turning out as many exorcists as we do lawyers and doctors.
No doubt, none of the televangelists of the 1970s and 1980s will ever give “The Exorcist,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Omen,” or any of the other religious horror TV or movie spin-offs an honorable mention, but without “The Hounding Hell Horror Of The Satanic Silver Screen,” some of those preachers would of stayed on cable TV and still be going through the Ozarks trying to arrange “Brush Arbor Revivals” and church pie suppers.
A 21st Century Exorcist ?
Hollywood is silly if they don’t already have plans to do an updated version to compliment, but not compete with the original movie.
A new version could not compete because Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil character had her unique unspoken, “I’m not going away. . .ever” look, near the end of the movie.
The silly 1970s wardrobe makes “The Exorcist” dated, but, hey, even in the 1970s, “We had to wear clothes.”
Casting Directors – Stellan Skarsgard has earned the right to be Father Merrin in an updated version. In Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist,” Mr. Skarsgard became the role. In “Exorcist:The Beginning”, he became Father Lankester Merrin, Roman Catholic Archaeologist Priest.
Now, if the Department of Motor Vehicles could just get Mr. Skarsgard ‘s name on his new license right and the Vatican would quit sending him offers for another exorcism overseas.
“Darling Demonologists”
In another more contemporary version, it would be nice if the screenwriter could write in a way to bring in a senior ranking demon with more established credentials in religious history, which would allow for even more suspense, special effects and (probably) a bigger budget.
And, since the “Name Of The Game Is Horror”, a senior ranking demon could up the on screen body count to stress the possibility that today’s dog walker shouldn’t count on being tomorrow’s “Darling Demonologist.”
Exorcist 2013 Script Session
Quick, get Warner Brothers on the phone. I’ve got it.
Camera Fade In: Regan’s granddaughter graduates from Oxford and returns to the US to visit “granny.” They are doing the girl, “shoot the breeze” conversation routine. Suddenly, Regan’s youngest granddaughter comes up out of the basement with something in her hands.
You guessed it, America!
Sometimes the old literary devices are the best. All together now, “Ouija Board !”
They chuckle. Of course, granny has had a wonderful life and completely forgot about the initial possession (and probably The Exorcist” spin-off movies after the original).
They open the box, take out the board and begin to play.
Too late “Granny” remembers.
The granddaughter is now “possessed.”
Granny whips out her cell phone hoping that she still has an exorcist priest on speed dial.
The granddaughter does her contortions routine, while the youngest granddaughter jumps up and down screaming.
From here on out. . .it is up to the Hollywood screen writers. You guys and gals run with it. But, go for a demon, who usually gets top billing, with “name recognition.”
St. Peter’s Basilica from Castel Sant’Angelo showing the dome rising behind Maderno’s facade. Public Domain Photograph
Exorcists Resurrection
The Vatican is now admitting, “Exorcists exist” and is training them. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, a group of British school girls seem to be blurring the line between Fact,Faith, Fantasy and Fiction.
Based on the “Darling Demonologists” ages, someone should hand them an old mystic text and point to the section on teenagers,hormones and, “Oh, Look ! Puberty and Poltergeist ?”
Five Star Rating
“The Exorcist” is an American Cult Classic, as it should be. Hands down I give it a Five Star Rating and remind viewers it carries an R rating.
For your Halloween viewing this is definitely a movie to watch on All Hollow’s Eve or the night before.
Incidentally, when you swing by Wal-Mart to pick up your Twizler’s and Junior Mints, you might want to make a quick stop at the church to make sure you have a crucifix and rosary beads handy. May, as well pick up a little Holy Water. . .to be safe.
Sam
Exorcist Information Links
Exorcism of Roland Doe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism_of_Roland_Doe
Father Walter Halloran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Halloran
The Story of a Modern-Day Exorcist
By Gilbert Cruz Monday, Mar. 16, 2009
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1885372,00.html
British School Girls Exorcists
‘We’re not like normal teenagers’: Meet the exorcist schoolgirls who spend their time casting out DEMONS around the world
samwarren55
