Chapter three -Selecting a Cast and Crew –

Very considerate of you, granville. Thanks Sofi 🙂

Thanks lunuso and Blizzi. I remember loving the book, having read the Bantam paperback in (I think)1971 or ’72, and waiting breathlessly for the movie to come out.

Living as I was in a backwater, imagine my frustration… the movie opened in December 1973, but it didn’t come to my town until August 1974! (In ’75, Jaws opened – I think it was in June – but didn’t get to my town until mid-October).

In the meantime I bought the “Exorcist screenplay to screen” paperback which had the original Blatty screenplay, an explanation of the re-writes, followed by the film screenplay. With a middle section of B&W stills from the film. Needless to say, I devoured it.

Then, when the movie finally came to town, I saw it probably three or four times before it left. The theater was small, with excruciatingly bad sound, but the film’s impact was powerful nonetheless… anyway, I did see it in ’74 – although several months later than optimal.

I am unworthy! But am flattered nonetheless.

It’s hard to describe the utterly unprecedented nature of the film and its impact. Possession and exorcism had never before been seriously and extensively treated in mainstream cinema. The public realized that something special was in the air – a horror film that expanded the genre into considerations of our daily lives and into ultimate questions.

The expectation was high, sometimes bordering on hysteria: “No, they can’t make a movie of that book!” They could never film THAT scene!”, etc., etc.

I recall that the film fed into fundamentalist insecurities. TV Pastor George Vandeman (sp) decried the film because it showed Satan as ugly, whereas Satan tempts us with his beauty. Apparently the good pastor didn’t think to be grateful that Blatty/Friedkin exposed Satan’s true colors.

Billy Graham came out with his own share of brain-dead sentiments. One was a reply to a questioner asking his opinion of the film: “I haven’t seen it! I’m scared to see it!” Then, after having seen it, he suggested that a demon actually dwells in the film’s celluloid. Then – still not having grasped the basics – he said that “demons are actually driven out by faith, not by a ritual, as in the film”.

As every attentive viewer realizes, the filmic ritual was _not_ driving out the demon (although it seemed at times to aggravate Pazuzu). Eventually only Karras’s self-sacrifice got rid of the demon – and this was not a “driving out”, but an invitation to “come into me (and I’ll take you out the window)”.

Secondly, neither the Catholic church nor the ritual itself claims to be able to drive out demons. Indeed, it is “the power of _Christ_ that compels” the demon – another point that flew over the head of the rather meagerly-gifted Dr. Graham. One senses a trace of the old Reformationist cavil in Graham’s remarks – he seemed to think that the Catholic ritual was one of those nasty Papist “works” – as opposed to the “pure” Reformationist ideal of “faith alone”.

Anyway, I’m happy to share any relevant Exorcist memories that ooze up from the murk of my senescent brain…

Thanks you guys for your cordial invitations… Frankly, I’m really not competent to review the novel page by page! A far better person would be someone like Ryan who has a profound literary grasp of all Blatty texts (I’m not trying to volunteer Ryan, just saying that someone with his expertise would be better at such a task)…

I do have a vague memory of the ’74 Oscars. I seem to recall Blatty thanking his parents “who came to this country on a cattle boat”. I also have a memory – though it may not be from the same awards ceremony – of Linda Blair saying something “bad” (don’t recall what it was) and then quipping, “I guess the Devil made me say that”. Someone told me she later appeared on SNL in a mock-Oscar ceremony and as ahe accepted the “Oscar”, a demonic voice started growling, “LICK IT, LINDA!” and so forth.

The “screenplay to screen” is the same book as Novel to Film – I just couldn’t remember its precise title.