Almost Flawless Supernatural Thriller.

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2009)

Someone once wrote that "The Exorcist" was an advertisement for the Roman Catholic Church, and I guess it is partly. I don't see anything necessarily wrong with that. Every story is an advertisement for one or another belief system. A man must stick to his guns and do what he believes is right, even against public opposition. ("High Noon," "The Fountainhead", and God knows how many others.) Or it's wrong to push ahead in the face of public opinion. ("Citizen Kane", etc.) Some belief systems are better than others but even the obviously malignant messages can be well framed. ("Triumph of the Will.")
"The Exorcist," taken for what it is, is a well-constructed and thoroughly spooky film, better than the novel it was based on. Promoting Holy Mother Church may have been necessary in order to enlist the aid of the authorities in filming the story on the campus of Georgetown University. Some of the minor characters are played by real priests. William Friedkin, the director, tells us practically nothing of the back story in his least-informative audio commentary.
It hardly seems worthwhile to describe in any detail the narrative itself. A normal young girl (Linda Blair) is possessed by some kind of demon and after many gruesome medical tests is turned over by her terrified mother (Ellen Burstyn) to two priests (Jason Miller and Max Von Sydow) to be exorcised. The clerics get the job done but it costs them their lives.
The special effects were superb for their time. The performances are equally good, especially Lee J. Cobb as Lieutenant Kinderman, the cop who is investigating a death associated with the possession. He's been excellent before but never better than here, with his soothing, childlike, and perspicacious presence. Jason Miller is as taut as a 40-pound bow string. Even Linda Blair, who went on to do some awful trash, is thoroughly convincing.
The director steps wrong once or twice, revealing a passion not for spiritual enlightenment but commercial success. Having a candle flame flare up and then blow out in a darkened room is a cheap shot but it works. So does a shot in which Jason Miller is hunched over tensely, a ringing phone explodes the silence, and he shouts "Huh?" and jerks upward. Bob Hope could have done that. But these minor intrusions, though they remind us that what we're watching is "just a movie," don't detract from the aplomb with which the rest of the film is handled.
It really IS scary!