Browse all reviews by letter     A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 - 9

aka - John Huston's Wise Blood
USA 1979
Directed by
John Huston
106 minutes
Rated M

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
3 stars

Wise Blood

John Huston's Wise Blood is an adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's first novel (her only other one was 'The Violent Bear It Away', 1960) a writer who (to cite Wikipedia) favoured "the Southern Gothic style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters...(and)... frequently examined questions of morality and ethics".

I'm not sure that she would be that fond of Huston’s rendition of her work. Shot in wintry Macon, Georgia it certainly has the grotesque characters and some Gothic qualities but it also has a Altmanesque tongue-in-cheek quality.  In fact, for a good portion of the time it comes across as a black comedy that is having fun with the usual assortment of ignorant Southern hicks, complete with the accompaniment of hillbilly banjo music. Thus when a much darker turn occurs in the latter stage of the narrative it jars badly and leaves one quite discomfited.

Brad Dourif plays Hazel Motes, a relatively simple but intense young man who returns from Army service to an abandoned family farm in the Deep South. Motes has been so mentally affected by his unnamed wartime experience for which he received the Purple Heart that he makes it his vocation to preach against the kind of fundamentalism practiced by his grandfather (John Huston). He starts preaching his 'Church Without Christ' credo and meets a motley crew of indigents including even more simple-minded zoo worker (Daniel Shor) a crooked preacher (Ned Beatty), a phony blind beggar, Asa Hawks (Harry Dean Stanton) and the latter's slatternly daughter (Amy Wright). Faced with the dishonesty and immorality of the world Motes rapidly becomes more extreme in his views and finally flips out in an act of self-loathing desperation.

Dourif was an actor whose star was in the ascendant at this time but this film, which, unsurprisingly, failed at the box office, turned out to be as good as it got for him, for although working regularly ever since, his name has slowly slipped down the credit list (his next most well-known appearance is probably as the voice of Chucky in the Child's Play horror franchise). He is very good in this as are the rest of the cast with a small but stand-out performance by Ned Beatty (and let's not forget another small role for William Hickey as Beatty's assistant).

Wise Blood
reflects the cynicism about mankind that characterizes much of Huston’s worldview. Everyone is lost and desperately seeking meaning in a heartless world that is full of grifters and charlatans. He tends to treat it with a kind of Grand Guignol humour but that last act is just a little too sudden and extreme to sit well with the knowing irony that has gone before. Had this been played as a more realistic drama it would have been devastating, as it is, it is simply gruesome and creepy. It is not one of Huston's best works but it is a worthy addition to the category of "Southern Gothic" films.

DVD Extras: Theatrical trailer

Available from: Shock Entertainment

 

 

back

Want something different?

random vintage best worst