Amazing Achievement and Probably the Most Under-Rated Movie of All Time

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2000)

"The Exorcist" was a smash hit both critically and financially in 1973, but many complain that its effect is not as potent today as it was nearly 30 years ago. I disagree with this opinion and feel that the film gets better and more complicated with age. The film deals with a young girl (Linda Blair in an Oscar-nominated performance) who is possessed by someone or something unholy. Enter young priest Jason Miller (also Oscar-nominated) who tries to convince Blair's mother (Ellen Burstyn also Oscar-nominated) that her problems are merely psychological and not supernatural. However, Miller slowly begins to realize that there is something wrong with Blair that cannot be explained with psychology. A key sub-plot is Miller's own inner-demons. He is a man who has lost his faith and due to this fact is slowly descending into an abyss of emptiness. The mysterious exorcist, played by Max Von Sydow is the only known individual who can free Blair from her personal prison. Needless to say "The Exorcist" appears to be an example of a "sure-thing" at the box office. The film was directed by William Friedkin who was the equivalent of Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese at the time of this film's release because of his work on "The French Connection" just two years earlier in 1971. Of course the film was a sure thing financially, even though it appeared that the movie would sit in a Warner Bros. vault due to its questionable material. The film is still a shocker that has never lost its luster to me. Many of the images shown in this film would have trouble being approved today by the Motion Picture Association of America. William Peter Blatty's screenplay, based on his equally potent novel, is one of the most impressive in the history of film. Friedkin's direction is flawless and Jason Miller gives one of the most complicated performances the cinema has ever experienced. This is a film which is much deeper than it appears on the surface, the questions and concerns that it raises make it one of the best films of the 1970s and probably the most under-rated film of all time. 5 stars out of 5.