Story of movie Wise Blood Film : Wise Blood is a 1979 American drama film directed by John Huston and based on the 1952 novel Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor. It stars Brad Dourif, Dan Shor, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton, and Ned Beatty.
| Wise Blood | |
|---|---|
Original film poster | |
| Directed by | John Huston |
| Produced by | Kathy Fitzgerald Michael Fitzgerald |
| Written by | Flannery O'Connor (novel) Benedict Fitzgerald Michael Fitzgerald |
| Starring | Brad Dourif Dan Shor Harry Dean Stanton Amy Wright John Huston Ned Beatty |
| Music by | Alex North |
| Cinematography | Gerry Fisher |
| Edited by | Roberto Silvi |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date | October 24, 1979 |
Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,000,000 |
Wise Blood was shown out of competition at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, and was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection on May 12, 2009. As a co-production with Germany the film was titled Der Ketzer or Die Weisheit des Blutes when released in Germany, and Le Malin when released in France.
Screenplay
Wise Blood follows the troubled life of Hazel "Haze" Motes, a 22-year-old veteran of an unspecified war and a preacher of the Church of Truth Without Christ. The Church – a "religious" organization of Haze's own creation – serves to further his bitter, passion-fueled and often spiteful words against anyone or anything representing a belief in God, an afterlife, judgment, sin or evil.
Hazel Motes himself is quite "peculiar", as his unique "head-down speed walk" he demonstrates throughout the film might suggest. His attire is a crisp, black hat and sharp dark grey suit, which complements his tall, lean, lanky figure remarkably well. Various women he encounters, like the seductive Sabbath Lily Hawks, are seemingly charmed by his unusual, dark demeanor; likewise, other individuals, like the dog-like Enoch Emery, are simply drawn to him with the innocent intent of befriending Hazel. Motes is incapable, however, of maintaining any such relationships. A borderline sociopath, he is never content with either himself or anyone else he encounters and feels the unceasing stirring need to pursue the foundation of his anti-church, devoting his every waking moment to attracting followers to his organization.
Over the course of the film, his time in the crumbling, hostile Georgian city of Taulkinham, and his various encounters with the strange people within, lead him to an odd territorial war over street preaching between the faux-blind Asa Hawks and the piggish copycat Hoover Shoates, and then eventually to a violent confrontation with the destiny he has been avoiding.
- Brad Dourif as Hazel Motes
- John Huston as Grandfather
- Dan Shor as Enoch Emory
- Mary Nell Santacroce as Landlady
- Harry Dean Stanton as Asa Hawks
- Amy Wright as Sabbath Lily Hawks
- Ned Beatty as Hoover Shoates
- William Hickey as Preacher
- J.L. Parker as Karl
- Marvin Sapp as Raymond
- Betty Lou Groover as Leora Watts
Wise Blood was filmed mostly in and around Macon, Georgia, near O'Connor's home Andalusia in Baldwin County, using many local residents as extras. Though largely faithful to O'Connor's novel, Huston reframes many scenes from the book as broad comedy accompanied by a bluegrass banjo score. The original music score was composed by Alex North.
In a 1979 review, critic Vincent Canby called the movie "one of John Huston's most original, most stunning movies. It is so eccentric, so funny, so surprising, and so haunting that it is difficult to believe it is not the first film of some enfant terrible instead of the thirty-third feature by a man who is now in his seventies and whose career has had more highs and lows than a decade of weather maps." Sam Jordison of The Guardian wrote in a retrospective review; "This adaptation is wonderful. It pulls off the rare trick of seeming faithful to the spirit and voice of the book, while being a work of art in its own right."
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