My Personal Best: The Exorcist (1973)

The Exorcist ««««
R, 122m. 1973

Cast & Credits: Ellen Burstyn (Chris MacNeil), Max Von Sydow (Father Merrin), Lee J. Cobb (Lt. Kinderman), Kitty Winn (Sharon), Jack MacGowran (Burke Dennings), Jason Miller (Father Karras), Linda Blair (Regan). Screenplay by William Peter Blatty. Directed by William Friedkin.

1974 Academy Award
Nominations

Best Picture

Best Director
William Friedkin

Best Actress in a Leading 
Role - Ellen Burstyn

Best Actor in a Supporting
Role - Jason Miller

Best Actress in a a Supporting
Role - Linda Blair

Best Art-Set Decoration

Best Cinematography

Best Film Editing

Best Sound - Winner

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on
Material from Another Medium
William Peter Blatty - Winner

I don’t recall exactly why I didn’t like "The Exorcist" the first time I saw it more than ten years ago on cable other than I found the film incredibly depressing.

Where is the joy in watching a devil-possessed twelve-year-old girl, whose head not only does a 90 degree turn and looks like a scarred rotting blueberry, spew out green vomit and obscenities so shocking, but no editor in their right mind would also let me print them here unless it is to generate letters from upset readers and stir up controversy?

According to author Susan Sackett’s The Hollywood Reporter Book of Box Office Hits, some audience members who saw "The Exorcist" two days after the film opened the day after Christmas on Dec. 26, 1973, experienced symptoms of sympathetic vomiting, fainting, miscarriages, and heart attacks.

If nothing else, "The Exorcist" can be called anything but entertaining. The movie’s scares and suspense earn it a place alongside such disturbingly frightening pictures as Psycho (1960), "Jaws" (1976), "Silence of the Lambs" (1991) and "Seven" (1995). This is the kind of film one might want to experience seeing only once, if at all.

Seeing "The Exorcist" again, I finally realized why I wasn’t impressed with the film the first time around. The reason has to do with the characters we meet. They are all ordinary people like you and me who are trying to make a living.

They are the kinds of individuals one might be able to relate to from Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow), an elderly priest conducting archeological digs in Northern Iraq to Father Karras (Jason Miller), a burned-out Jesuit priest and psychologist who questions his faith and can no longer say the required words during mass without sounding like a robot.

Perhaps people can relate to the concern actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) has for her young daughter, Regan (Linda Blair), who has been hearing voices lately from someone named “Captain Howdy” and having a hard time sleeping at night.

As the first hour drew to a close, the movie suddenly got my attention. I remember all the obscenities Blair’s demonic character said back when I saw the film the first time but for some reason, seeing the picture the second time around, I was actually offended, especially by one scene in particular with what she does with a crucifix.

I couldn’t believe the colorful language coming from this sweet young girl as doctors try giving her shots to control her outbursts, which only get more bizarre as the film progresses.

I was convinced the girl tied to the bedposts in her cold, dark bedroom on the second floor of that expensive Georgetown, Maryland home was not Regan but a perverted demon (which it was) with a voice similar to Marlon Brando’s (the demonic voice was reportedly dubbed by actress Mercedes McCambridge according to Sackett’s book).

That’s what makes "The Exorcist" shocking, if not appalling. Concerned parents after viewing it would probably say the film is garbage or call it downright sacrilegious.

This is not just an unsettling horror movie with lots of sound, makeup, and visual effects (animal type noises, furniture moving on its own, and the earth shaking) and a number of startling, unforgettably haunting images (the macabre looking statue in Iraq overshadowing the sun, for example), but a psychological murder mystery. It’s also a film about having faith in God and the notion that although evil does exist in the world, good always triumphs. It’s about despair, but it’s also about hope.

The film made me forget about how Hollywood attempted to cash in the picture’s success with two dismal follow-ups ("Exorcist II: The Heretic" (1977) with Richard Burton and "The Exorcist III" (1991) with George C. Scott), both of which failed to make the combined box office total of the 1973 original ($89 million).

By the time movie was over, I felt I had been through the same exhausting, emotional roller coaster ride Chris MacNeil was on as she met with doctors and psychologists who, instead of offering definitive solutions to resolve Regan’s madness, suggested more drugs and examinations.

I hated seeing Regan go through all those painful medical procedures, which to a twelve-year-old girl (Linda Blair was 14 at the time the film was shot) would likely be frightening.

Watching her being possessed by something not of this world, I wasn’t so much happy when the demon was finally purged from her body as I was relieved to know both the movie and her horrifying ordeal was finally over.

©3/15/23