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Wise Blood (1979)

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Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1

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Release Date: Oct 24, 1979 Wide

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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 1,490

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Movie Info

Set in the Deep South during the postwar era, Wise Blood stars Brad Dourif as an aimless veteran, who decides to become a Bible-thumping preacher (for a questionable concern called "The Church Wihout Christ") principally because he hasn't anything better lined up. Dourif links up with a veteran of the hellfire-and-brimstone circuit, who for business purposes pretends to be blind. The older man persuades Dourif to blind himself for real so that he can truly "see the light" (yes, the movie is that

PG, 1 hr. 46 min.

Drama, Comedy

Directed By: John Huston

Written By: Benedict Fitzgerald

In Theaters: Oct 24, 1979 Wide

On DVD: May 12, 2009

Criterion Collection

Cast

Brad Dourif
Hazel Motes
Ned Beatty
Hoover Shoates
Harry Dean Stanton
Asa Hawks
Dan Shor
Enoch Emory
Amy Wright
Sabbath Lily Hawks
Mary Nell Santacroce
Landlady
John Huston
Grandfather
Dan Albright
Joe Dorsey
William Hickey
Preacher
Gladys Hill
Jerry Rushing
Stratton Leopold

Critic Reviews for Wise Blood

All Critics (14) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (2) | DVD (7)

I dont have to run away from anything cause I dont believe in anything!

July 28, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

Christopher Long

Movie Metropolis

strange, sub-Coen Brothers caricature that, especially when underscored with Alex North's deliberately hammy hillbilly music, never amounts to much more than a condescending tragicomic satire of spiritual emptiness

June 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Huston stays true to the novel's events but draws from the story all the black comedy he can find. We are in strange territory.

June 25, 2009 Full Review Source: Film Threat

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Matthew Sorrento

Film Threat

Any film that features both Harry Dean Stanton and Ned Beatty as scam artists and its tale about religious hypocrisy borders on madness, is one not to be missed.

May 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

perhaps the most ballistic of Huston's late-period films

May 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

| Comment

Chris Cabin

Filmcritic.com

A low-budget success in capturing the flesh, and some of the soul, of O'Connor's twisted salvation fable.

May 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Bill Weber

Slant Magazine

Huston's Wise Blood is a sharp, busy canvas that, like a man with a good car, doesn't need to be justified.

May 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Bill Weber

Slant Magazine

Wise Blood is one of the best realized religious drama in many a moon.

January 27, 2004 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice

| Comment

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality and Practice

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Wise Blood

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Decidely more tragicomic and surrealist than ever before. Another show about the love that John Huston always professed to losers.

February 18, 2012

Pierluigi Puccini

Super Reviewer

A very strange and thoughtful 70s drama with dark and comedic twists. Directed by John Huston and starring Brad Dourif, the film tackles a lot of themes and adapts to a variety of tones throughout, making for an experience both ambitious and scattershot. The final fourth of the film is particularly difficult to grasp.

August 8, 2010