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Television Debate On Exorcism (1974)

gattino

gattino

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
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Just stumbled on this little gem.. a british audience discussion program following the release of the exorcist.

It's fascinating in multiple ways.

It gives some credence to the popular belief that the movie strongly upset cinema goers at the time.

Just hearing awfully awfully british voices of a kind no longer heard on TV discussing their personal experiences of being possessed or performing exorcisms. And the the fact that an acceptance of religious notions was the default position, with only a lone panel member being the now dominant voice of irritated debunking. There's no laughter or cat calling from the audience...something else that's hard to imagine now.

David Dimbleby casually giving away the ending of the movie.

And the very Monty Python like name tagging of the psychiatrist as "A psychiatrist".

 
I enjoyed that.

There's actually a fair range of accents on display, but the more refined ones you refer to are still found 'in the wild'; the fact that they aren't heard on BBC TV is a product of the fact that a 45 minute discussion on a non-trivial topic, one in which a variety of voices are heard, largely uninterrupted by host or audience members, is simply intolerable to today's producers--somebody might say something wrong! Further, this whole debate assumes some knowledge on the part of the audience at home; every broadcast today has to be--in theory--accessible to everybody and is pitched at that layman's level. If by some miracle this were broadcast today, Dimbleby would speak after every member of the panel to clarify and summarise his opinion--he'd also interject to check we all know what 'planchette', 'macrocosm' or 'liturgy' means. And the priests would be harried about paedophilia, homosexuality and female clergy, which would mean that a third of their speaking time would be wasted.

The closest you'll get is Radio 4 on a good day.
 
I think you're getting mixed up with The Wright Stuff on Channel 5. Or The Jezza Stuff, or whatever it's called now.
 
Slightly off topic but BBC iPlayer is showing the 25 year old Mark Kermode documentary on the making of the exorcist. “The Fear of God” was made 25 years ago and is still worth a watch.
I actually have it on Blue-Ray as an extra to one of the versions of the film that I bought many years ago.
That film remains my favourite film of all time and I still recall the headlines of the day, including people so frightened they committed suicide.
Has any film since had such an impact?
 
From personal experience, I have to say I laughed at the head spinning scene as earlier, I’d watched an old Laurel and Hardy movie where Ollie got his head stuck through a floor and Stan ‘helped’ to create more or less the same effect.

I was also that bloke watching Jaws in the cinema as a girl made her way through the standing aisle back to her boyfriend and just as she was passing me, the head popped out of the boat and she flinched and screamed while grabbing MY gonads.
 
Tempest63 said:
Slightly off topic but BBC iPlayer is showing the 25 year old Mark Kermode documentary on the making of the exorcist. “The Fear of God” was made 25 years ago and is still worth a watch.
I actually have it on Blue-Ray as an extra to one of the versions of the film that I bought many years ago.
That film remains my favourite film of all time and I still recall the headlines of the day, including people so frightened they committed suicide.
Has any film since had such an impact?
Click to expand...
There were reports of St.John’s Ambulance staff on hand to deal with distressed casualties but I don’t believe this was a thing I saw or that was needed. Book was better.
 
Tempest63 said:
Slightly off topic but BBC iPlayer is showing the 25 year old Mark Kermode documentary on the making of the exorcist. “The Fear of God” was made 25 years ago and is still worth a watch.
I actually have it on Blue-Ray as an extra to one of the versions of the film that I bought many years ago.
Click to expand...
The iPlayer version is longer. I think the Mercedes McCambridge was reinstated.
 
Analogue Boy said:
There were reports of St.John’s Ambulance staff on hand to deal with distressed casualties but I don’t believe this was a thing I saw or that was needed. Book was better.
Click to expand...

This was a publicity trick recycled by the distributors. It had been employed just a few years before to encourage patrons to get carried out of Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. The scenes in which Rosemary goes into labour to deliver the Devil's own child were said to be especially upsetting to women, who identified with her. I should have thought that having a Devil in the seat next to you might have upstaged any exit one could make . . .

Anyhow, it was a cheap gimmick: just send a few complementaries to the St. John's staff and announce that they may be in attendance! :omg:
 
Analogue Boy said:
From personal experience, I have to say I laughed at the head spinning scene as earlier, I’d watched an old Laurel and Hardy movie where Ollie got his head stuck through a floor and Stan ‘helped’ to create more or less the same effect.

I was also that bloke watching Jaws in the cinema as a girl made her way through the standing aisle back to her boyfriend and just as she was passing me, the head popped out of the boat and she flinched and screamed while grabbing MY gonads.
Click to expand...
I thought the head spinning and some of the noises harkened back to some Three Stooges bits. Not scary.
 
There's more to come

Universal Spends $400 Million on New ‘Exorcist’ Trilogy Starring Ellen Burstyn, Leslie Odom Jr.​



Universal is shelling out an eye-popping $400 million to buy a new “Exorcist” trilogy with plans to screen some of the films on Peacock, its new streaming service. In a coup, Ellen Burstyn, the Oscar-winning actress who first did battle with the devil in the 1973 original, will reprise her role as Chris MacNeil.
Click to expand...
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/universal-exorcist-trilogy-1235027500/
 
Have to admit that all I took away from the book and fillum was the exciting new insult 'cocksucker', which I used at every opportunity. :chuckle:
 
escargot said:
Have to admit that all I took away from the book and fillum was the exciting new insult 'cocksucker', which I used at every opportunity. :chuckle:
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Good word, but must be said a la Mr Wu from Deadwood.

 
A late-night showing of "The Exorcist" was my first date with the In House GP back in 1990. Some might say it was an unusual choice, but since we've been together over 30 years now, he still argues that it was a GREAT move!

And yes, after about ten minutes I was holding his hand so tightly I'm surprised he had any blood left in his fingers...
 
bugmum said:
A late-night showing of "The Exorcist" was my first date with the In House GP back in 1990. Some might say it was an unusual choice, but since we've been together over 30 years now, he still argues that it was a GREAT move!

And yes, after about ten minutes I was holding his hand so tightly I'm surprised he had any blood left in his fingers...
Click to expand...
One of my first dates with a girlfriend was to see Carrie. I'd seen it before and knew what to expect at the end so during a certain point at the film's climax I touched her wrist with an ice-lolly. That relationship didn't last long.
 
Bigphoot2 said:
One of my first dates with a girlfriend was to see Carrie. I'd seen it before and knew what to expect at the end so during a certain point at the film's climax I touched her wrist with an ice-lolly. That relationship didn't last long.
Click to expand...
A friend of mine sneaked in to see Carrie without paying, arriving during the previous showing at that scene. He said he found a seat, jumped out of his skin, sat through all the adverts, watched t'fillum all the way through and then nearly soiled himself once more at the end. :chuckle:

SUPERB value for money there. :wink2:
 
i saw it when i was about 15 in 1980 or so. Ioved it, saw it 2 nights in a row! First night was alone, the next day i was on the phone to friends: "wow! i just saw The Exorcist at the Classic! I'm going again tonight! You have to see it!"
the fact that i was already an ex-catholic may have contributed to my enthusiasm.
here i am at a halloween do in the 2010s:
 

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I had a mate who was a projectionist at a cinema in Lancaster when The Excorcist came out. He got someone to change some of the lights for green bulbs. He said that when they got an ice cream they really didn't want it anymore.

I say had as he passed away a few years ago.
 
Mouldy13 said:
Well it scared me daft!!! I didn't sleep properly for at least a fortnight after seeing it.
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Lived in Glasgow at the time, would have been 15 then and went to see the film with some mates (we passed for being 18!).

It was revolutionary, with some of the scenes being unprecedented, to say the least!

Slept with bedroom light on for the next week.

Some years ago, I watched a documentary about the extraordinary lengths which occurred during filming, to make the acting believable.

Just managed to find it there and is an absolute, 'must see':

The Fear of God:The Making of The Exorcist

 
Were people really 'so scared they committed suicide?' Or was this drummed up by the marketing department (very similar to the St John's Ambulance incident)? Or, was it the case of some poor disturbed soul seeing the film and co-incidentally killing themselves shortly afterwards?
 
catseye said:
Were people really 'so scared they committed suicide?' Or was this drummed up by the marketing department (very similar to the St John's Ambulance incident)? Or, was it the case of some poor disturbed soul seeing the film and co-incidentally killing themselves shortly afterwards?
Click to expand...
I remember the first run and this was old-fashioned PR, at least in the US. Much more emphasis here on the special effects and was the poor girl traumatized by playing the part (no -she says she had a great time.) Can't speak to the reality of someone with a previous mental condition being triggered. The fact is that the effects and tone of the film were well surpassed by previous horror films - this one was just presented as a grade A name-cast movie. And then of course Ms. McCambridge complained loudly and with good reason about not receiving acting credit, creating another PR eruption. They did some smart things in trying to create a "documentary " feel, including casting bona fide Jesuits in real life bit roles like as I remember a teacher. Unnecessary but impressive. Exorcist and Jaws were I think the first two modern "behemoth PR" films, very good movies but blown way up. The marginal traditional Catholic practice of exorcism and the character of great white sharks have never really recovered.
 
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