CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Just picked up the BR for the 50th Anniversary of Psycho. Naturally, I went to the shower scene … best picture ever and best newly created 5.1 audio. Bernard Herrmann would shit his pants if he hear baby.
Father Bowdern
Welcome Cheetah!
Ah, we're just “diddling” on the masturbation topic.
  I don't see it as a “creepy thing” at all … I'll leave that to the Delaware Senate candidate, Christine O'Donnell.If it wasn't for a scene like this being filmed and shown to audiences, motions pictures would have stagnated. It was a bold move on Jack Valenti’s part to allow this film with that scene to receive an R versus an X rating (now known as NC-17). In fact, knowing that Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Last Tango in Paris (1972) both received an X rating meant that The Exorcist was the real turning point in U.S. rating’s cinematic history.
Father Bowdern
The genius Academy Award members and voters for who gets the golden Oscar were too afraid of changing history with The Exorcist, just as they are in today's times with superior films like Brokeback Mountain. Give me a break, The Sting and Crash are great features, but they had nothing on either of those runner-ups and the way in which they challenged societies to think and to thank differently outside of the box.
Father BowdernÂ
Indeed, CH. I was thrilled to see how sound of mind Blair was and the ways in which she handled herself on an unusual film set.
All of which makes me think about the masturbation scene in the “Roizman Tapes.” At age 13, I can't imagine that Blair was totally naive especially since we both grew up in the same neighborhood setting. You couldn't board public transportation in certain parts of the city without seeing the foulest language spray painted on every surface while “that weird dude in the corner” was wanking off with a smile that ended with a grimaced look of pleasure upon climax. If you didn't ask what this or that meant, or your parents didn't tell you (almost always the case), one of your siblings or friends would surely offer up the meaning of the word masturbation along with the other urban dictionary synonyms.
Inquisitive 13-year-old children, regardless of how sheltered they are, would ask, “Why am I slamming this cross where my privates are located while I’m screaming, “Let Jesus Fuck you?†Blair often claims she could never tell her mother what she just for the audition. Come on, Linda, your mamma bear was right there in the background protecting her most valuable commodity.
Father Bowdern
Captain Howdy said:
FB, I wouldn't say The Exorcist ruined Linda Blair's career. If anything, she had a career because of the film… or is that being too obvious?
Are you smoking reefer again, FB? Â
^^ CH, read my commentary above. I should have written this as a “sustainable, enduring, and profitable” career. Example: Sally Field was a punchline of all jokes regarding her portral as Sybil, yet she overcame the odds by proving her acting talents could take her further … all the way from an Emmy to two Academy Awards (because you like me, you really like me.)
Father Bowdern
Nope, unfortunately, I am reefer free. What I meant was the pigeonholing process that Hollywood does to certain actors after playing a role that was as sensationalized as the character, Regan MacNeil. Linda Blair could never recover entirely from the tour-de-force demonic portrayal. This is much akin to the parts child actors play on hour-half or one-hour television series. Unfortunately, these child actors will always have an association with that particular character in almost every instance. You can probably think of many children and adult actors who fall under this category; i.e., Daniel Radcliffe will have a very hard time breaking free from his Harry Potter image, if ever (and it doesn’t matter how many times he runs around naked on stage in the play Equus).
As far as Blair, the performance and scenes she participated in caused some pandemonium upon the film’s release. She needed bodyguards for several months and received vile hate mail, death threats, etc.
On this information, I base my opinion of how an actor’s career can go to pot (pun intended with the mention of reefer above). Again, I don’t find Blair’s performances in any feature or television spot to have the same credibility that Friedkin coaxed out of her when he was directing Blair in the film, The Exorcist; e.,g. which goes back to my comment about Friedkin and his editor knowing exactly which scenes to cut for the sake of credibility.
Father Bowdern
I should have added that when you see Karras's mother on the bed, the newer version has sound clip playing in the background of the mental institution patients … the same place his uncle put her in because “Dimmy” was not there to “save her.”
Father Bowdern
Reading and visualizing something from a great novel doesn't always translate well on screen. To me, both spiderwalk versions did not work effectively. Instead of a shock-value transition into the film's following hypnosis scene, the quick upset retreats from the intended spiraling momentum of tension and unease via a cheap, unnecessary, and senseless thrill akin to the slasher films that came after The Exorcist yet before TVYNS/EDC release in 2000.
Further, Chris's anguish over Burke’s death, then fading to black created a more thought-provoking ending that heightens the crescendo into the more sensible introduction to the malevolent entity inside of Regan during the hypnosis scene. Instead, viewers go from the laughable snake-like tongue version to the more moronic blood-gushing version of the spiderwalk; neither of which fleshes out anything except absurdity. By virtue of that one bloody-variant spiderwalk scene, institutionalizing Regan would be most appropriate from both a medical and parental stance.
Friedkin knew he and his editor did the best job in 1973 by removing scenes that just did not work and slowed or dramatically altered the pacing of the film. I especially dislike Blatty’s need for a “all is right in Heaven†ending in TVYNS/EDC between Dyer and Kinderman that only disjoints the more eloquent, no-words-necessary ending of Dyer looking up to Regan’s window and looking down the Hitchcock Steps. The original ending conjures up thoughts of what Friedkin intended and that is for audiences to take away their intimate thoughts from the film based on their own thoughts, religious beliefs, and being afraid of unseen forces that envelopes individuals long after their exit from the movie theater. A light-hearted comedic ending works for Blatty's comedies, but is unnecessary for a film of this nature. Dyer’s somber face and look of puzzlement at the end of the original film leaves us with questions about varying degrees of medical/mental prognoses, differing religious viewpoints, and the mystery of faith.
Father Bowdern
I'm sure they had a blast filming while Friedkin cursed everyone out and shot off the guns to get startled reactions. I also think the Regan/Dummy is funny and had to weird Blair out.
Father Bowdern
Sof,
That's scares me! Is that the Walton's kid? I would still loved to have seen Jodi Foster in the role despite the fact she would have been two to three years younger than role albeit it would have ruined her career like it did Blair's.
Father Bowdern
What they should have done, if they did in fact use CGI on the scene, is put the blood all over her face instead of pouring out her mouth.
That's a good reflection, but I never did associate Regan with Burke's death via the stupid spiderwalk whether she was hemorrhaging from her mouth or snake-tonguing her way down the steps. It does make sense though.
Father Bowdern
I think in this case it's more like the Mona Lisa originally had lipstick but then da Vinci decided that shade didn't suit her.
Ha … good one, Justin!
Father Bowdern
Can't agree more with you. Being a whole lot older than some on this site, I've always believed that WB prodded Friedkin along to make a more current version of his horror film for younger audiences by adding the ridiculous flashes of Captain Howdy and Pazuzu. That didn't work for audiences in 2000 and at least two of blunderous flashes are now removed from Regan's bedroom door and wall. Like you said, “That's crazy!”
Additionally, morphing Regan's face into that of Captain Howdy during the hypnosis scene sustains my belief that the bloody variant spiderwalk scene was tinkered with as well through CGI. In other words, they are both hedging toward comedy rather than suspense or frights. They are both silly. Just as silly as Regan in the doctor's office humming while plastered to door and then doing a wobbly plop in the floor. It was bad acting and it still gets laughs in theaters as I can attest to during the September 30th screening. In those instances, it has nothing to do with hiding behind laughter to cover up your fear as Friedkin proclaims.
Father Bowdern
