The Exorcist (1973)

When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.

Director:

William Friedkin

Writers:

William Peter Blatty (written for the screen by), William Peter Blatty (novel)

Stars:

Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair

Top Rated Movies #246 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ellen Burstyn	...	Chris MacNeil
Max von Sydow	...	Father Merrin
Lee J. Cobb	...	Lt. William Kinderman
Kitty Winn	...	Sharon
Jack MacGowran	...	Burke Dennings
Jason Miller	...	Father Karras
Linda Blair	...	Regan
William O'Malley	...	Father Dyer (as Reverend William O'Malley S.J.)
Barton Heyman	...	Dr. Klein
Peter Masterson	...	Dr. Barringer - Clinic Director (as Pete Masterson)
Rudolf Schündler	...	Karl
Gina Petrushka	...	Willi
Robert Symonds	...	Dr. Taney
Arthur Storch	...	Psychiatrist
Thomas Bermingham	...	Tom - President of University (as Reverend Thomas Bermingham S.J.)

Storyline

A visiting actress in Washington, D.C., notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behavior and physical make-up of her 12-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, a young priest at nearby Georgetown University begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother's terminal sickness. And, book-ending the story, a frail, elderly priest recognizes the necessity for a show-down with an old demonic enemy.

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Plot Keywords:

exorcist | exorcism | demonic possession | demonic force | priest | 

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Taglines:

The Devil Inside

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Warner Brothers

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin Greek French German Arabic Kurdish

Release Date:

26 December 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist

Filming Locations:

3600 Prospect Street, Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Hoya Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min 132 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (1979 re-release) DTS-ES (director's cut) Dolby Digital EX (director's cut) Mono (original release) SDDS (director's cut)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A running gag in this movie involves Kinderman asking several people (including Father Dyer) if they would see some movie with him, but they tell him they have already seen the movie. This is somewhat continued in The Exorcist III (1990), as it is revealed that Kinderman and Father Dyer have struck up a friendship, and regularly go to watch It's a Wonderful Life (1946) together.

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Goofs

When Karras first leaves the McNeil household we see Kindermann from his car looking at a person behind the curtains which is implied to be Regan despite the fact she was strapped to her bed. That's the point of the scene: That Kinderman sees what should not be possible: Regan moving freely about despite being ill and strapped to the bed.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Boy: [in Arabic] They've found something... small pieces.

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits after the title. Although it is commonplace now, it was unheard of in 1973.

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Alternate Versions

The Special Edition DVD also includes a 75-minutes documentary titled "The Fear of God" on the making of the Exorcist. The documentary includes screen tests and additional deleted scenes, including:

• Chris MacNeil and Regan going sight-seeing in Washington;
• after Chris hears about Burke's death, Regan crawls down the stairs upside down on her arms and legs like a spider and then chases Chris and Sharon around the room;
• Karras and Merrin sit on the stairs during a pause of the exorcism and exchange some words about what's happening to the girl.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978)

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Soundtracks

Fantasia for Strings
Written by Hans Werner Henze
Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon

User Reviews

One Genre Renewal movie: The Exorcist - Horror with no Crime, instead Horror with Spirits

Two terrible sequels and one irrelevant remake were never replaced with the original, the 1973 version of The Exorcist; and no other version will never be any more. Written for the screen and produced by William Peter Blatty, both The Exorcist movie and the novel are incident driven basis of the actual happenings from 1949.

Looking at the most remarkable movies of 1973, there are 3 other important ones that the history of cinema will remember: -- A slow and touching movie from Ingmar Bergman "Cries and Whispers" -- Bernardo Bertolucci's depressive movie, a study of love "Last Tango in Paris" -- A crime story with Redford and Newman "The Sting". Among all and all the other movies that are produced in this year, The Exorcist stands one step further than the rest for its uniqueness on genre renewal. It's not the first movie that features the Demon in its content, yet in the Exorcist the Demon is introduced in the human level. The idea of being possessed by a spirit is used for the first time ever on the silver-screen. Horror genre featuring spirits didn't need to refer to Crime any more like it used to be in Hitchcock ages. Thus crime became a separate genre, and mostly acted conjointly with thrillers from now on.

This uniqueness profits from its sound mixing, great lighting techniques and of course a perfect screenplay. Director William Friedkin was lucky to find his producer Blatty, being also the novel-writer and the idea creator. The plot and the story development goes very smoothly: From Father Merrin's encountering with the Demon Pazuzu in Iraq; to Ellen Burstyn looking for the cure for her daughter's disease, going for visits to every type of doctor... From the noises in the attic, to Regan's peeing on the rug... From decoding the Demon's speech of speaking English in reverse, to the arriving of Merrin... Both the editing and directing gave high qualities to this film.

The 25th Anniversary edition DVD is in my movie collections. It's a must to have for horror fans. Either you have this version of DVD or the year 2000 version; you should check out the special features that reveals the real-life 1949 incident, the missing and the deleted scenes including the Spider-walk scene, sound mixing and sound effects tests show how they created the demon's voice and the BBC documentary: The Fear of God, all in the special features.