— The Exorcist —
Best Hollywood Hustle

E® [MOVIES

THE EXORCIST

Written by William Peter Blatty

Directed by William Friedkin

Starring Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee
J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jason Miller and Linda
Blair. ~

Warner Bros. production.

By Sumner Jones

I would like to tell all of you that I
have not seen ‘‘The Exorcist.’’ I'd like you
to know and be proud of the fact that
there is at least one person who remained
aloof to an Exormania so thick it could be
slapped with a crucifix. I’d like to tell you
that I had no interest in the film. It’d be
alie.

Your mind reels with fear and you
suppress a scream of terror when you
see the line of people waiting to get into
the film. It’s three blocks long and grows
before your eyes. It is difficult to imagine
why thousands of people would stand in
line for hours simply to see a movie.
When you ask some of them why they do
it, they will tell you they were attracted
by the publicity, which was carried out
with all the subtlety of a 15th century an-
nouncement of a witch burning. The ‘‘see
it if you dare” quality of the advertising
campaign and the rumors of moviegoers
vomiting and passing out had the effect of
challenging the public to thrown down
$3.50 at the box office. The movie has
grossed more than $12,000,000 nationally
since it opened two months ago. Evidently
the public is attracted to the bizarre.

_But The Exorcist is more than just
bizarre. Psycho was bizarre: it disarmed

: [798 by toliuwing one Hath ot development ;
nearly half o m. establishing a

to identify and assume. Then once youhad .

relaxed, thinking that this was, after all,
an ordinary picture, the sequence was
ripped apart, along with Janet Leigh.
Naturally you were shocked. But it was
artful in a way.

The Exorcist is about as artful as an
auto wreck. In this film your expecta-
tions are surpassed. It’s as if the film-
makers said, “‘All right folks, we know

_ you’re expecting the bizarre. But you

ain’t ready for this action.”’ And they’re
right. The screen is intentionally filled
with images which your wildest imagina-
tion wouldn’t create. But then your imag-
ination doesn’t have the benefit of the
latest cinematic and cosmetic techni-
ques to be used to intensify the experience.

The story itself really isn’t much. Pic-
ture a 12-year-old girl. Pretty, bright,
kind. The daughter of a movie star, loved
by all: her mother’s secretary, the maid,
the chauffeur. Isn’t she charming? But

then one day she finds a ouija board in the’

basement of her mother’s lavish George-
town home. Playing with it opens her up
to the supernatural. Her first contact is
with a spirit she calls Captain Howdy. She
thinks he’s nice, but she’s only develop-
ing and can’t realize that what she really
has on her hands is the ITT of the spiri-
tual world. It isn’t long before she’s taken
over completely. ;

ye, first get the idea that all is not
well with the kid when she walks into one
of her mother’s jet-set parties clad in a
night gown, tells astronaut Roy Cooper
(don’t ask me what he’s doing in the flick),
“You're going to die up there,” and urin-
ates on the carpet. The girl is changed.
From then on its all downhill for your
heroine. The demon inside her takes more
and more control. But this is probably the
least offensive part of the film, the sweet-

est smelling sectionofthedungheap.
_ The child is at first confused by what ie

PACIFIC -TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRII 12, -1974_PAGE JOP ee

ict

is happening. Once she figures it out she
fights it. But she later seems to
herself to the p ion. The acting
during this stage of the film’s develop-
ment is really quite good. You can see
the girl’s resistance waning in her posture,
her facial expression, and you hear it in
thetoneofhervoice.

(I would like to see Linda Blair, who

- plays the girl, in a really good movie.)

From that point on, however, there is
less reliance upon acting skills as upon
cheap cinematic techniques, dialogue that
sounds as though it was written by the
same collective that blesses us with the
literary gems etched on the walls of rest-

rooms in bars and bus stations throughout

the country.

- The horror of the violence in The Exor- *

cist is compounded by the fact that the
antagonist is unseen. The only indication
we have of its existence are a ghoulish
voice coming out of the child’s battered
body and periodic displays of superna-
tural power. Also the fact that there is no
apparent reason for what is happening on
the screen gives the impression that evil
is an entirely arbitrary force and is likely

to strike anywhere. At least in a picture .

like The Godfather you can identify the

antagonists and rationalize all of the vio-
lence.

The exorcism itself is the classic con-
frontation between good and evil. It is
performed by an old Catholic priest and
his young assistant. In the end the demon
kills both of the good guys but is forced to
leave the girl’s body, which makes you

_wonder where it went. Maybe it’s coming

after you.

There is absolutely nothing that recom-
mends this picture. Though some very
advanced visual techniques are employed,
the film represents a step backwards
thematically and as a whole is indicative
of the cultural decay of this society. Vio-
lent masturbation with a crucifix, need-
less profanity and all of the other gim-

micks intended to present the
with one visual shock after
not entertain, they repulse. Ay
In fact, given the quantity and
of the offenses thrown at you &
course of the film, many re
been surprised that the Rating
the Motion Picture Association
ica rated the picture R ( viewer if
must be accompanied by an adult”
than X (no one under 17 allowed):

A ccinies into the whys and
of this rating, which more thal
the movie’s potential ani
very little in the way of conc
Three phone calls to the MPAA
put on “‘hold”’ twice and hung up
Finally I was connected with 4 Ne
seemed to be in charge of the
office, but he told me to call rer
Hollywood who probably would
vacationing in Yucatan. One rep?
me that Warner’s probably Od
kind of deal with the Rating atop
might explain the reticence on th

The effects that a film like ‘ei
have upon a population already ©
ized by Watergate, the energy ©
employment, etc., can only be kt
It certainly can’t provide 4 el
add to the alienation in this cou™™
it weren’t bad enough already-

The one really identifiable
the film is to move the popUls”
farther from a materialist com
reality by lending credibility °
tic. The film assumes. of course |
istence of the supernatural a”
ages the viewer to do the ae
Brothers will make a bundle out

And so you’ve been walt ise
film does little more than capil”
the confusion rampant in ou!
that it is not at all entertaining T/|
parts of it may offend. Oh, bh ido" |
you’ll see it anyway. I did and P®, og
that I gained anything more
other peep into the trash heaP:
whiff of stagnation and decay-

_ |CENTRAL CASTING