CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
ReganMacNeilfan said:
Well isn't Pazuzu suppose to have lion traits?
Yep. Head of a lion or dog.
Father B
Oh, well. Would have been nice to have really read this without me filling in the words on my own. 🙂
Father B
GhettoExorcist said:
Maybe its just the quality of the pic or its just a weird angle but doesn't it look like Captain Howdy was supposed to have a lion-like mane?
Now that you mention it, it does look that way. Maybe it was one of Dick Smith's lost Captain Howdy looks.
Father B
Does anybody else have a skewed screen on this particular post? Mine is cut off on the right-hand side. Bummer.
Father B
Justin, thanks for reading this and giving us a fine review and pics! I'm actually glad to hear that the write up for the book went overboard on the description (which indeed it did and leads to the wrong impression considering what you have posted above from the actual biography).
Many of my own interpretations of Dietz's work in The Exorcist come directly from Dietz's own interviews. On that note, I find that Dietz often overzealously (and sometimes inaccurately) elaborates on her 12 seconds of screen time. However, I am sure it took a vast amount of hours to prepare both mentally and physically for her part which she never received screen credit.
Father B
PS: It's good to know that Dietz did the ball grabbing on the shrink! 🙂
Everyone's entitled to their opinion, of course! I was simply stating that to me, “The Exorcist” is synonymous with the picture of the light shining on the priest. For almost 40 years, that's been the cover art for the film. I'm a purist when it comes to cover art. That means I simply don't care for when studios change movie covers for the sake of making a buck. Some people see a different cover and are enticed to buy the movie if they like the film just because “there's something new.” I think we can have an amazing transfer on the new Blu ray with all the special features included, and still have our original cover. Now that we've had to endure that Linda Blair cover for some time now, perhaps they will return to the art most people associate with the film. For an “Anniversary” edition, it would only seem fitting.
Couldn't agree more! I hope WB justs adds a gold banner on the top stating it's the 40th Anniversary and stop tooling with the cover artwork. However, I would venture to say it will be messed with again after Blatty released his updated version of the novel. If anything, maybe they can go 3D with the iconic shadow of Merrin in Regan's bedroom light with a twist to one side exposing … dare I say … Captain Howdy? (I say this tongue in cheek as Eileen Dietz will have a field day with that because as her “biography” claims, “In THE EXORCIST, Eileen performed parts of the controversial scenes such as masturbating, vomiting, levitating, and climatically dying at the end.”
It just makes sense to leave the classics alone.
Father B
JSM said:
I do absolutely agree, Captain Howdy. It's highly doubtful they would release a 40th anniversary Blu ray without a separate, new dvd release. As far as Blu ray has come, many still don't have the players, hence (for example) “Cloud Atlas” came out yesterday with a Blu ray/dvd combo for sale, or you can simply buy it on dvd for about ten bucks cheaper. It's all about money, in the end, and they're going to try and make as much as possible off this 40th anniversary train. The Blu ray will probably (or actually, most-assuredly) have more special features, but the dvd will (I'm betting) be there for your basic consumer as well, with maybe a commentary or preview attached. Nothing like what will be on the Blu ray, though.
I still hope they keep the cover art the same: The one with the priest and the light. I agree with Justin that there are so many stills they could use, but it's just not “The Exorcist” to me without the signature “poster”/cover art. Maybe they will release it with some sort of 3D effect (the way they did the special edition dvd of “The Silence of the Lambs” or something). I could deal with that, but I'm hoping it's not too different. I'm sure many people here noticed that the United Kingdom Blu ray version out right now of “The Exorcist” is the EDC cover with the green-colored Linda Blair, just like the U.S. version of the EDC dvd. I love me some Linda Blair, but that cover's got to go! 🙂
Oh, it's definitely about the moolah. I'll bet WB would have never thought that 40 years later, this film would be raking in the dough but that's what the film industry is about.
The cover did suck with Blair on the cover. The film is known for it's iconic poster.
Father B
Captain Howdy said:
That blurb would work on a casual consumer, but not fans on this board who can spot the glaring mistakes.
I am interested in reading it, of course. I would love to review it.
Yep. Please review it for us, Cap. If the preview blurbs are so inaccurate, you might find some real gems in the “biography.” Who knows, Eileen may have done the entire role that Linda Blair performed.
Also, wasn't Dietz just hired randomly for the Dick Smith makeup screen tests? Didn't Dietz do the screen tests in New York? I don't believe, “After director William Friedkin brought her to California …” WTH?
Father B
From 24-7 Press Release:
“BEHIND THE STORY: Although having grown up in a rather dysfunctional family caused mostly by her twin sisters' illness, Eileen was able to break into the entertainment business despite her father's strong misgivings. Soon she was attending Summer Stock only to be rejected by the Head of her Syracuse University Drama Dept. Finally, after several false starts, she arrived in New York City to become an actress. Almost immediately she was starring in the popular drive-in attraction TEENAGE GANG DEBS. Soon after came the award-winning DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY, and then the starring role in Pulitzer Prize winner Joyce Carol Oates' play 'Ontological Proof Of My Existence.' This led directly to a screen test for THE EXORCIST, in which she was cast as the demon that possessed Regan which led to the immensely popular icon, the black and white figure known at The Face Of Death, aka Captain Howdy.
“In THE EXORCIST, Eileen performed parts of the controversial scenes such as masturbating, vomiting, levitating, and climatically dying at the end. After director William Friedkin brought her to California, Eileen made a break in
television including THE PLANET OF THE APES, the Emmy-winning HELTER SKELTER, KORG 70,000 BC, and the daytime drama GENERAL HOSPITAL.”Is it me or do I see glaring flaws in this “preview” already?
Father B
Sofia said:
“I now recall that Blair's statement did indeed come from one of the other girls who auditioned. I don't remember exactly where I heard/read/viewed this,”
Peter Travers book, The Story Behind The Exorcist (1974)
Hi Sof!
I hope your days are going well! Yep. This was the little who said that thanks to Peter Travers!
Love,
Father B
JSM said:
What about the EDC version? It's all over the place for $5. Do you guys think they'll pull that, too, when the anniversary Blu ray edition is released? What's your take on that?
Yep. WB likes to yank them all off the shelf to encourage/entice buyers.
Father B
I am literally laughing so hard from Father Paranoia's reply that I'm crying! Really. That was quite a clever and funny response to something taken so unintentionally wrong.
Anyway, our Cap is right on target as well re: never knowing because it's more than likely an uncredited stock recording just like the voices of the children playing in the background noises with one child repeatedly yelling, “I'm gonna get you!” That was used in both The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror and some other films because it's such an unnoticed psychologically scripted sentence that we often take away without our conscious mind even having to work at it.
As an aside, Ellen Burstyn (like many actors) went intentionally uncredited for playing the voice of Grandma Dolarhyd in Red Dragon and her brutal scream went she's backhanded by Regan has been in Rob Zombie films.
Anyway, thanks for the laughs. Really.
Father B
PS: I love this well-written sentence from the Cap: “”Father Paranoia” conjured those motions as if from nowhere.” Nice. Very nice.
Sofia said:
“So I said, “Linda, do you know anything about The Exorcist?” “I read the book,” she said. So I asked, “Well, what is it about?” and she said, “It's about a little girl who gets possessed by a devil and does bad things.” “What sort of bad things?” I asked. And she says, “Well, she hits her mother across the face, and she pushes a man out of her bedroom window, and she masturbates with a crucifix.” I looked over at her mother, and her mother was smiling. I said, “Do you know what that means?” and she said, “Yeah, it's jerking off, isn't it?” and I said, “Have you ever done that?” and she said, “Sure, haven't you?” And that was it.”
But… this is inaccurate information. Linda has said she didn't even know what masturbation was at that age.
Hi Sof! <3
Thank you! granville just made this point on my post about “Who's Zoomin' Who?” You actually clarified it even more from the Traver's book which I could not recall. Friedkin's memory of things seems to be Stage 3 Dementia! 🙂
Oh, and read granville's reply about what Fonda may have really said according to Blatty; not Friedkin.
Father B
granville, thank you. I now recall that Blair's statement did indeed come from one of the other girls who auditioned. I don't remember exactly where I heard/read/viewed this, but it's more clear now.
Thank you for posting Blatty's viewpoint on Fonda's “capitalist ripoff bullshit” statement. Blatty is much more palatable than Friedkin in terms of how I would anticipate Fonda actually responding.
To me, Friedkin tastelessly continues to promote Fonda's unpopular political stance re: the Vietnam War in which she was dubbed “Hanoi Jane.” It probably wont' make sense to a lot of people today, gran. However, I think we're both old enough to remember those days. Deep down, I often wonder if Friedkin might have his own political axe to grind with Fonda and it has nothing to do with turning down the role of Chris MacNeil.
Father B
