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IMDbPro

Wise Blood

  • 19791979
  • PGPG
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
6K
YOUR RATING
Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton, Dan Shor, and Amy Wright in Wise Blood (1979)
Trailer for this film based on the Flannery O'Connor novel
Play trailer2:41
2 Videos
16 Photos
ComedyDrama
Fresh out of the army, Hazel Motes attempts to open the first Church Without Christ in the small town of Taulkinham.Fresh out of the army, Hazel Motes attempts to open the first Church Without Christ in the small town of Taulkinham.Fresh out of the army, Hazel Motes attempts to open the first Church Without Christ in the small town of Taulkinham.
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
6K
YOUR RATING
    • John Huston
    • Flannery O'Connor(novel)
    • Benedict Fitzgerald(screenplay)
    • Michael Fitzgerald(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Brad Dourif
    • John Huston
    • Dan Shor
    • John Huston
    • Flannery O'Connor(novel)
    • Benedict Fitzgerald(screenplay)
    • Michael Fitzgerald(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Brad Dourif
    • John Huston
    • Dan Shor
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 61User reviews
    • 52Critic reviews
    • 84Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos2

    Wise Blood
    Trailer 2:41
    Watch Wise Blood
    Sneak Previews Season 2 Episode 13
    Video 27:19
    Watch Sneak Previews Season 2 Episode 13

    Photos16

    Brad Dourif and Dan Shor in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif and Amy Wright in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif, Harry Dean Stanton, Dan Shor, and Amy Wright in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif and Ned Beatty in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)
    Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)
    Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Brad Dourif
    Brad Dourif
    • Hazel Motes
    John Huston
    John Huston
    • Grandfather
    Dan Shor
    Dan Shor
    • Enoch Emory
    Harry Dean Stanton
    Harry Dean Stanton
    • Asa Hawks
    Amy Wright
    Amy Wright
    • Sabbath Lily
    Mary Nell Santacroce
    • Landlady
    Ned Beatty
    Ned Beatty
    • Hoover Shoates
    William Hickey
    William Hickey
    • Preacher
    J.L. Parker
    • Karl
    Marvin Sapp
    • Raymond
    Richard Earle
    • Jakob Winslow
    Herb Kossover
    • Jacob Wood
    Betty Lou Groover
    • Leora Watts
    John Tyndall
    • Loki Martinson
    Gillaaron Houck
    • Stranger #1
    Philip Mixer
    • Stranger #2
    Sharon Johnson
    • Stranger #3
    Joe Dorsey
    Joe Dorsey
    • Stranger #4
      • John Huston
      • Flannery O'Connor(novel)
      • Benedict Fitzgerald(screenplay)
      • Michael Fitzgerald(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The reason why John Huston's name is incorrectly spelled as "Jhon Huston" in the credits is because the producers hired a little girl to write the titles. The producers decided to leave it the way it was because the story was very strange anyway. There is also a shot of a headstone in a cemetery that has the word angel misspelled as " angle".
    • Goofs
      Sabbath's bra strap goes from down to up between shots.
    • Quotes

      Hazel: No man with a good car needs to be justified!

    • Crazy credits
      Director John Huston is credited in all the titles as "Jhon Huston". Producer Michael Fitzgerald later explained that, wanting to have a child-like look to the credits, they had an actual child write the names. The child misspelled Huston's first name, but they liked it and kept it, as a metaphor for the artificial, off-kilter tone of the story.
    • Connections
      Featured in Sneak Previews: Something Short of Paradise/Wise Blood/In Search of Historic Jesus/Woyzeck (1979)
    • Soundtracks
      Tennessee Waltz
      (uncredited)

      Written by Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King

      Heard as a theme during the opening credits and during the film

    User reviews61

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Worth Looking Into
    This is not an easy movie to get a handle on, so I'm not surprised reviewers either love it or hate it. Now, I've neither read the O'Connor novel nor lived in the South nor read the Bible since Sunday school. As a result, I have to take the movie as just that, a movie, without benefit of outside comparison.

    I get the impression that underneath all the black humor and exaggerated characters, something profound is going on. But exactly what? Perhaps you need that outside reference to penetrate the subtext. Then again, perhaps the profound subtext is illusory, like Hazel's view of Christianity, such that the narrative amounts to little more than artfully eccentric entertainment, courtesy sly old John Huston.

    The following are what I hope are helpful interpretations, generally not emphasized by other reviewers, many of whose commentaries were, nonetheless, very helpful to me.

    Above all, Hazel has come to hate hypocrisy. His motto appears to be: If you own the Truth, then live it. For Hazel, Truth is the illusory nature of Christian metaphysics, (a disavowal that doesn't necessarily equate with atheism), and by golly he's going to live that truth in his own peculiar way. Thus, the hard-eyed obsessive stare, the refusal of commitment sex (Sabbath) but not commercial sex (an over-priced 4 dollars), and the rather heartless rejection of the pathetically friendless Enoch. In short, like his adversary, the true Christian proselytizer, Hazel is a driven man.

    The trouble is that he knows only one way of spreading his truth-- by preaching angrily on street corners. Worse, his gospel is one of pure and insistent negatives (perhaps why atheism has never been popular), for example,"when you're dead, you're dead!" -- not exactly a crowd-pleaser. Nor, for that matter, is he going to allow Preacher Sholes (Ned Beatty) to dilute that negative message with a crowd-pleasing brand of hucksterism. Hazel may be strange, but he is no hypocrite.

    Now, it's clear that the broken-down jalopy means more to Hazel than just another hunk of iron. He's always praising it, even as it coughs smoke and bleeds fluids. It's his chariot, and while it might not take him to heaven, it will take him to the next town to spread his Word. Note that he even uses it to slay the pathetic pretender who would take his place on the street corner. Moreover, it's not until Hazel loses that chariot (hilariously) that he takes on the role of the martyred prophet. After all, rejection now means he has no other place he can get to.

    For me, the most revealing part of the film is Enoch's (Dan Shor) pathetic efforts at establishing contact with another human being. Huston, of course, doesn't play up the sentiment, but it's there anyway. Also, this may constitute the most damaging perspective on the dominant Christian culture of the movie-- even more damaging than Hazel's centerpiece non-belief. After all, if Jesus' message is unconditional love, why is Enoch alone and abandoned in an empty world of nominal Jesus followers. Nor, for that matter, is Hazel's brand of soulless non-belief any help either.

    Then too, just count the number of happy smiles in the film-- practically none, except when the kids are reaching out to the fake human, Gongo the gorilla. Poor Enoch thinks that by donning Gongo's costume, people will finally reach out to him. But there's no such contact in this atomized world of social rejects. In fact, a dominant theme appears to be just that, rejection-- Hazel rejects Jesus, Sabbath, his landlady, Enoch, Preacher Sholes, while even the cop rejects Hazel's jalopy, at the same time, the whole seedy community rejects Enoch. Quite a commentary on an environment where Jesus is advertised on every big rock and sold on every street corner as a friend to the friendless.

    Now, I don't know if there is any particular moral to the foregoing, but if there is, I suspect it's not a comforting one. Anyway, the movie is full of colorful characters, offbeat situations, and is never, never predictable. So, like the film or not, I expect that it's one you're not likely to forget.
    helpful•51
    6
    • dougdoepke
    • Oct 27, 2008

    Details

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    • Release date
      • February 17, 1980 (United States)
      • United States
      • Official site
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Poplar Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Macon, Georgia, USA
    • Production companies
      • Anthea Film
      • Ithaca
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 46 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

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