Wise Blood (1979)

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Flannery O'Connor (novel)
Benedict Fitzgerald (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 February 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

An American Masterpiece!

Plot:

A Southerner--young, poor, ambitious but uneducated--determines to become something in the world. He decides that the best way to do that is to become a preacher and start up his own church.

Plot Keywords:

Playing Footsie | Black Comedy | Fanaticism | Religion | Based On Novel

Cast

Brad Dourif	...	Hazel Motes
John Huston	...	Grandfather (as Jhon Huston)
Dan Shor	...	Enoch Emory
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Asa Hawks
Amy Wright	...	Sabbath Lily
Mary Nell Santacroce	...	Landlady
Ned Beatty	...	Hoover Shoates
William Hickey	...	Preacher
J.L. Parker
Marvin Sapp
Richard Earle
Herb Kossover
Betty Lou Groover
John Tyndall
Gillaaron Houck

Also Known As:

John Huston's Wise Blood
Ketzer, Der (West Germany)
Weisheit des Blutes, Die (West Germany)
Ehdoton totuus (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Malin, Le (France) [fr]
Saggezza nel sangue, La (Italy) [it]
Sangre sabia (Spain) [es]
Wise Blood - levoton veri (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

108 min | UK:105 min

Country:

USA | West Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | UK:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Macon, Georgia, USA

Company:

Anthea

Quotes:

Hazel: 'Twas like where you're from weren't never there. Where you're going doesn't matter. And where you are ain't no good unless you can get away from it!

Son of a preacher man.

John Huston used to describe the story as that of a young man who was disappointed by Jesus.

This is one of his least accessible works,not for the mainstream,and we can put it near "reflections in a golden eye" (1967),"under the volcano" (1984) and his final apotheosis "the dead" (1987)

"Wise blood" is a the story of a long suicide.It's a hell of a thing to tell the world "I believe in nothing" .the main character is so weird,so irrational,so unconventional that only an outstanding thespian could play him:that's what Brad Dourif does ,and his performance is remarkable:in the last third of the movie,he has almost nothing to say,and he must express everything with his face and his spellbinding eyes.In this last third,the only thing to do for the character is to nullify his life.

John Huston briefly appears as his father,the preacher man,but these flashbacks last hardly three minutes.

"Wise blood" is hustonian to the core.Vanity of vanities,all is vanity,all that man will try is bound to fail:it's everywhere in every milestone of Huston's career,from "the asphalt jungle" to "treasure of the sierra madre" and from " the misfits" to "the man who would be king" But here the hero does not even try :praying Jesus or denying him does not mean more to him than shaking the hand of a gorilla.And making money with his church without a savior does not even come to his mind.Around him,everybody needs something to lean on,be it a grotesque ape,a mummy or simply a man (see the landlady).

In 1979,Huston was more "modern" than the most daring young director.