I was thinking about this lately, girls, as I found myself viewing random clippings of the film on YouTube, and I could not help wanting to burst out into laughter.
When the novel hit the best-seller list in 1971, I managed to get my hands on a copy and read it voraciously. I took it seriously, realistically, and I expected any movie to do the same.
The movie opened late in 1973, meaning I saw it in New York, during Christmas vacation, from my freshman year in college. I had just turned 19. A very young 19. Two of my friends went with me, and we were so blown away, we sat through it twice! And the lines to get in--everything recorded about that time regarding this film is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, with time and age, I wonder. The last time I saw the film all the way through, more than a decade ago, on a recent re-release, I thought Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller were what held the whole film together, grounding it in reality. Max Von Sydow, too, though his part is smaller. But all the Linda Blair-Regan scenes, in full possession, just did not seem right. From the start, I thought the pea soup bile she vomited forth, was inaccurate, and the dubbing and mixing of Mercedes McCambridge's voice as the Demon, made it sound like a Warner Bros, cartoon character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For example--
"Keep Away! The sow is mine! Fuck me! Fuck me!
In 1973, this seemed shocking. Now, if Ellen Burstyn were not in the scene, I think it would be all out comedy!
Now, the photo here gives only a hint! But, watch this scene on YouTube, and try and tell me you could not resist the temptation to laugh out loud
"Let Jesus Fuck You!"--The words, and the child's actions make this the most shocking of all! But a touch of an ominous, male, Anton LaVey, demon type, would have fared better than the cartoon antics of Mercedes McCambridge!!!!!!!!!!! The scene is repugnant, but the humor dilates the repugnancy, so it is not as much that as it ought to be!
The Scrotum Grabbing Scene--The doctor in the forefront is the one who gets his scrotum grabbed, by the demonized Regan! You almost want to root for Regan; with the cartoon voice, the scene is so hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it is shot the way Hitchcock shot Martin Balsam's murderous fall down the stairs in "Psycho!" Really camp, here, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But, of course, the outstanding performance in the film was delivered by Vasiliki Maliaros, as Mrs. Mary Karras, mother of Father Damien Karras, played by Jason Miller. In her only screen performance, she transcended camp; her poignant delivery of "Dimmy...why you do this to me, Dimmy? You leave me all alone to DIE!" was a battle cry for the aged and camp for the youngsters who thought it funny, as they could not perceive age, Well, who is laughing now!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Do You Know What She Did? Your Cunting Daughter?"--Even back in 1973, this emitted laughs, because everyone knew the head was not Linda Blair's, but some kind of puppet, and the voice, now that of actor Jack MacGowan, who gave a wonderful performance as film director Burke Dennings. But, here, even he succumbs to camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And, of course, The Spider Walk Scene--The first time one watches it, it is really disturbing. But when Regan begins sticking out her lizard tongue, and then they wrassle her, it degenerates to camp.
And here is Linda Blair/Regan in the final scene. One critic, at the time said of her, "How does one describe such a performance? One wonders how she survives barely unscathed." That is because in all the pre-possession scenes, Linda was a marvelous actress, but when she went all cartoony and freaky, she could not help being campy, as the filmmakers really did not understand the subject. Had the transition of Regan been more literal--realistic looking vomit, physical emaciation through unnatural weight loss--and had the film been shot in black and white, "The Exorcist" might have become the screen masterpiece it so wanted to be, rather than the half baked job it was at the time, and the level of camp it has descended to, now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And that's it for me, for today, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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