Review of Wise Blood (1979) by Kevin R — 06 Feb 2015

Directed by the great John Huston, who was able to hold his own as a director by the 1970's, even though New Hollywood was now ruling the roost. Even though he'd been able to get his pet project The Man Who Would Be King (1975) made, when he set about trying to adapt Flannery O'Connor's 1952 novel Wise Blood for the screen.

No-one wanted to know, but Huston persevered and got it made in the end. 22 year old Hazel Motes (Brad Dourif) has just left the army and is penniless, so Motes turns to preaching and he has aspirations of setting up his own church, The Church of Truth Without Christ.

It's his own creation, and he seems to have it in for anyone who tends to believe in God, but he faces competition from blind preacher Asa Hawks (Harry Dean Stanton) and Hoover Shoates (Ned Beatty).

Motes even ends up with an unlikely friend in the dim-witted Enoch Emory (Dan Shor), who takes a liking to Motes, but because of Motes and his unstable, sociopathic behaviour, he's unable to maintain any form of relationship, which eventually leads to a burn out.

Knowing how prickly most American's can be about religion on screen, Huston played with fire making this film, but he makes a brilliant character piece. It's also a brilliant showcase for Dourif, who has always been overlooked and underrated, but here, he is all guns blazing and just a massive source of energy throughout.