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Wise Blood

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I watched Wise Blood the other night.  I haven't read the book, which I plan to soon remedy, but here is an essay on the film as it related to Flannery O'Connor's novel.  It seemed John Huston took a less "grotesque" approach, although many of the symbolic references remained.  He updated the setting to the 70s.  Of course, not much had changed since the 50s except the cars in this Southern city.  Hazel chooses a 1950s behemoth to drive around in.  Huston took Hazel Motes' personal quest for salvation seriously, even if he appeared to lampoon it by the odd assortment of characters around him.  I thought Brad Dourif and the supporting cast, which included Harry Dean Stanton and Ned Beatty, were excellent.
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  1. avrdsJuly 25, 2011 at 5:18 PM

    And at the other extreme, I watched the Ox Bow Incident last night. I had read the book -- I once was a big fan of Walter Van Tilburg Clark -- but I don't think I'd ever seen the movie.

    I just checked on the dates, because I was sure it had to have been a 1950s film because of the storyline. But it was made right after the book came out in the early 1940s. Seems like false accusations and mob justice were just out there waiting for a McCarthy to come forth.

    And this was yet another western featuring the Confederate officer after the Civil War. I guess I should look up the movie in Gunfighter Nation because I always find the South's appearance in these movies fascinating -- fighting another lost cause?

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  2. AnonymousJuly 26, 2011 at 8:50 AM

    Oddly enough TCM had The Ox Bow Incident on just about a week ago so I was surprised to see it again there last night.Very dark film.The LA PBS station KCET now that they have given up first run PBS programming to another local PBS oulet in Orange County now has movies on Sunday night so I watched the original version of The Razors Edge with Tyrone Power instead.bosox

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  3. James FergusonJuly 26, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    I'm going with the Flannery O'Connor "omnibus" from Library of America,

    http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=105

    ReplyDelete
  4. James FergusonJuly 29, 2011 at 9:05 AM

    Stumbled across another odd evangelical movie, The Apostle, with Robert Duvall. Very well done.

    ReplyDelete

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