CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Here’s another one that “gets” me every time I see it. Lt. Kinderman asks for an autograph from Chris. She replied, “Where’s a pen?” while looking directly at the canister of full of pens! (At least Burstyn was observant of her surroundings despite the set decorator’s boo boo!)
Click the thumbnail and you’ll be sent to the higher-resolution pic:
Hey … What Happened to Karras? Same scene that lasts about ten seconds … maybe the scene has more impact of the bed slamming up and down on the floor without Karras. But, it could have been filmed with at last his knees instead of just moving him out range of the camera!
Click for a high-resolution picture:
Big Makeup Whoops! This scene features Dietz with the vomiting rig in her mouth that attaches from both sides. It seems like someone would have noticed the blunder when the makeup ripped away. Solution: cover Dietz’s face along with the tube with her hair.
Click below for a high-resolution pic:
I can’t believe I never noticed this stuff. While I have always noticed when Eileen Dietz is playing Regan (pretty obvious) it never really took me out of anything. I am totally gonna be looking for this now. It’s all good though.
Yeah, Ghetto, I agree with you. But, it’s unusual when you see the, “Bloopers, Whoops, and What’s That???,” things because they don’t impact your viewing of the film. It’s too great of a historical American film.
Friedkin was under such pressure by WB head honchos to finish The Exorcist, that I’m sure he probably caught a lot stuff and had to let it pass once it hit the editing room.
The only oddball one (so far) that stands out to me is in the beginning of the film (which was filmed last). In the scene with Father Merrin in Northern Iraq, the young boy tells Merrin, “They found something … small pieces.” As Merrin walks to the “base of the mound” where the pieces are, you can see the workers in the background with sledgehammers and picks. If you look (and not even closely), these guys never hit dirt, rock, or anything else. It’s strange when you see it, because you wonder why these men are “play acting” as opposed to the other workers in the foreground who are rustling up the rocks. Perhaps it’s sacred ground?
Actually Friedkin had it easy compared with the amount of pressure Robert Wise was placed under when filming the first Star Trek movie. Apparently he never even had a chance to preview the final cut before it went to theatres. The result was the most popular of the Star Trek films, but a film that made no sense whatsoever. In 2001 he had a chance to do the cut he wanted and it was like watching an entirely different film!
Agreed, dsea! Good point on Wise. Can you imagine how much better these films would have been if the director’s had been given the time do make the film’s exactly like they wanted them? James Cameron paid his own money to finish his “Titanic” dream and look what happened to it!
I saw someone post in some comment about the power frame being visible in this film. Does anyone have a shot of that? If so can you post it here, or is it already posted under a different name.
Also they mentioned something about the reappearing cigarette in the Chris-Karras scene. If its the scene I am thinking of did Chris not just light a second one up? Any idea what the script said about it??
dsea, what’s a “power frame?” “Please thrill me with your acumen.” 🙂
The cigarette scene is a major continuity blunder. It happens in the park when Chris meets up with Fr. Karras. She asks him: “Do you have a cigarette, father?” He obliges with the one smoke.
After a few puffs she throws it on the ground and does a “twist-stomp” to extinguish it (we only see this from the waist up view, but know what’s clearly happening). Next shot, she starts asking questions about exorcism and the cigarette and its smoke reappears. The weed is still lit while she adjusts her sunglasses. She didn’t ask for a second one. She simply had that “bottomless barrel of popcorn” just in a cigarette form. Once you notice it, it’s something you seem to focus on and it can be annoying. [Update this on HD please, Billy Friedkin!]
I can’t recall what the script calls for (at least not in the original marked-up one that I have).
It’s just clearly a continuity issue … like the ping-pong ball that’s under the paddle, disappears, and reappears. This is in the basement scene with Regan, Chris, and the Ouija board.
According to the wikipedia article on the Exorcist some fans believe that Chris did take a second cigarette off screen.
Look at the source. Plus, “a second cigarette off screen” is just a way to resolve the fact that it didn’t happen.
Maybe they can shoot a new take of Chris taking another cig. If its a close-up of the box with just hands it would be easy to do. Do you think its necessary though? I mean you don’t think that the audience could assume it was implied?
There is so much more going on in that scene than a second cigarette… that’s why I have never noticed it all these years. It is one of my favorite scenes in the movie.
1. Karras ultimately reaching into the lower, right-hand pocket of his blue Georgetown University jacket.
2. He removes his pack of cigarettes (and cleverly covers the brand name with his fingers). This is probably because product advertisers didn’t want to be associated with The Exorcist. Can you image being a marketing manager having to ask the CEO if it’s okay to advertise in this controversial film? 🙂
3. Karras removes only one cigarette and hands it to Chris.
4. Karras pulls out a red disposable lighter from his lower, left-hand trouser pocket and lights Chris’ smoke.
5. Chris keeps the lighted cigarette in her leather-gloved right hand.
6. The cigarette in Chris’ hand is alway in view with smoke coming from it.
7. The clincher: In the same shot as Karras and Chris are walking, Chris drops the cigarette to the ground (you can actually hear it hit the walkway). Chris intentionally stops, stomps the smoke out, and looks back to make sure it’s out. (Great acting that’s natural on Burstyn’s part!). Okay, still the same scene (no cuts, no edits, no new shot), Chris lifts her leather-gloved right hand and adjusts her sunglasses. No cigarette because we know what she just did. Additionally, she puts her leather-gloved right hand into her pocket (OUCH if she put her hand in their with a cigarette!) 😉 This scene is a one-camera fully read scripted scene similar to what Polanski did a lot of in Rosemary’s Baby. It’s effective, which I might assume is why it’s one of my favorites, just like the Captain. The new camera scene is that of a closeup shot of Chris. Smoke is rising in the air and the cigarette is in her left hand as she adjusts her sunglasses again. There are no pauses or what-ifs to consider because it’s a continuity issue that the crew on the set forgot about, including Burstyn. However, we don’t really know if they shot that full “DVD chapter” in one full day, so it’s easy to forget if there was a cigarette in her hand or not. Or, perhaps it was filmed out of sequence and then edited together.Also, the next closeup scene which features Karras is really when you notice the “vanishing smoke.” The following scene is one in which Chris starts to wipe her nose and eyes with a tissue.
My hypothesis is that the “vanishing- reappearing cigarette” scene is extremely pivotal because Chris is asking exorcism. That, if any scene, was probably shot numerous times. It just so happened that it was film incorrectly with the burning cigarette.
There’s is no implication of a second cigarette. If the “stomp-out smoke” scene is removed, it would mean a cut that would ruin the long scene altogether. Unfortunately, there is really no way to fix this scene except to remove the smoke through CGI and cutting the closeup even further on the left-hand side of the “cigarette hand” of Burstyn. But, that means we don’t get part of Chris’ face and that’s not what I would do.
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