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Set in the Deep South during the postwar era, Wise Blood stars Brad Dourif as an aimless veteran, who decides to become a Bible-thumping preacher (for a questionable concern called "The Church Wihout Christ") principally because he hasn't anything better lined up. Dourif links up with a veteran of the hellfire-and-brimstone circuit, who for business purposes pretends to be blind. The older man persuades Dourif to blind himself for real so that he can truly "see the light" (yes, the movie is that weird). BONUS FEATURES: Interviews with actors Brad Dourif & Amy Wright and screenplay writers Michael & Benedict Fitzgerald.
Review
Tragically Desperately Funny --Time Out
American south gothic MASTERPIECE... UNMISSABLE --Channel4.com
American south gothic MASTERPIECE... UNMISSABLE --Channel4.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This version of the film is slightly shorter than one that I owned before. The scenes that have been cut are all at the start of the film, perhaps upto five minutes of Brad Dourif visiting the abandoned farm of his childhood before he gets the train to town.
The dialogue in this film is plain and simply wonderful.
The dialogue in this film is plain and simply wonderful.
Format:DVD
I loved this John Houston film. Brad Dourif is a riot as a would be preacher in this black comedy. The film is full of quirky characters. You never quite know what is going to happen. HILARIOUS IN PLACES.
hIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
hIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
You can smell the sin from your VCR
5 Jan 2000
Directed by John Huston and starring Brad Dourif in a rare leading role, this eccentric film should really have gained more popularity than it has. Set in the deep south, the film tracks the exploits of a young soldier - Hazel Moats(Dourif), who has just returned from a war. From which particular war he is returning is not made clear, so the time period is a little hazy, however the clothes look 70's. He returns to his home in the sticks to find it deserted, he promptly sets about getting some civies( a black suit and hat) and looking like someone off the set of 'Witness', he heads to the city to 'do some things he ain't never done before'. Upon arrival he sets about getting himself a whore and en route he is alarmed that the cab driver thinks he's a preacher. Later on he comes across a blind preacher(Harry Dean Stanton) and his daughter begging. While being pestered by a young nerd, he follows the preacher and is outraged by his outspoken religous beliefs. From this point onwards he sets about forming his own church - 'The church of truth without Jesus'. The rest of the film is made up of a series of bizarre encounters with the afformentioned characters interspersed with flashbacks from his fire and brimstone preachers upbringing. John Huston appears in these reveries as his father - a preacher. Hazel tries to deny this past by rejecting Jesus, but ultimatly becomes more obsessive and deranged as his quest to purge his fanatical instincts ultimatly works against him. The film was shot on a low budget and this is reflected in it's simple offbeat style. This serves to highlight the exellent performances of all involved, even though Brad Dourif admitted to being scared throughout the shoot. At times the film wanders into territory one would normally associate with David Lynch, and indeed Lynch has gone on to use two of the principal actors (Stanton & Douriff) repeatedly in subsuquent films. One can never say that John Huston exhibits a pattern in his filmmaking and Wise Blood is no exception
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
very good interpretation of the novel
27 May 1999
This movie was perfectly cast. Every actor brings life to the novel's characters. I personally thought that Huston's The Dead was drawn out, adding little to Joyce's story. In Wise Blood however he manages to keep the viewer entertained while sticking close to the original. And best of all, none of the book's humor is lost.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Where is the DVD??
10 April 2007
This great, unjustly forgotten John Huston film has fallen by the wayside, and that's a real shame. A striking cinematic adaptation of the Flannery O'Connor novel, Wise Blood boasts Brad Dourif in the lead role, Hazel Motes, and Dourif nails it. When you see the film, you realize it would be really tough to imagine anyone else alive at the time being able to carry off the role. Harry Dean Stanton, as usual, adds his terrific skills as the "blind" preacher Asa Hawkes, and Ned Beatty is also along for the ride as singing preacher Hoover Shoates.
Motes, Hawkes, and Shoates--all preachers. This is O'Connor country, and Huston himself shows up as another preacher, Hazel Motes' grandfather, who spews fire and brimstone, inculcating his grandson in the fierce and vengeful ways of the Lord. And so Hazel grows up to preach the Church Without Christ.
It could be that this has not made it to DVD yet (if ever??) because of a ferociously downbeat ending and even, possibly, for fear of lack of political correctness. The setting is rural Georgia, about 1950 or so--give or take--and there is use of the "N" word. O'Connor, as did Huston in this marvelous film adaptation, captured the reality of life in that time and place.
You should not overlook this film based on what could be perceived as non-PC issues. It is a terrific powerful piece of work and definitely deserves to be on DVD.
Motes, Hawkes, and Shoates--all preachers. This is O'Connor country, and Huston himself shows up as another preacher, Hazel Motes' grandfather, who spews fire and brimstone, inculcating his grandson in the fierce and vengeful ways of the Lord. And so Hazel grows up to preach the Church Without Christ.
It could be that this has not made it to DVD yet (if ever??) because of a ferociously downbeat ending and even, possibly, for fear of lack of political correctness. The setting is rural Georgia, about 1950 or so--give or take--and there is use of the "N" word. O'Connor, as did Huston in this marvelous film adaptation, captured the reality of life in that time and place.
You should not overlook this film based on what could be perceived as non-PC issues. It is a terrific powerful piece of work and definitely deserves to be on DVD.
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