The Ninth Configuration (Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane) Photos

View All Photos (7)

Cast

Stacy Keach
as Col. Kane

Scott Wilson
as Capt. Cutshaw

Jason Miller
as Reno

Ed Flanders
as Fell

Neville Brand
as Groper

George DiCenzo
as Fairbanks

Moses Gunn
as Nummack

Robert Loggia
as Bennish

Joe Spinell
as Spinell

Alejandro Rey
as Lt. Gomez

Tom Atkins
as Sgt. Krebs

Steve Sandor
as First Cyclist

Richard Lynch
as Second Cyclist

William Lucking
as Highway Patrolman

David Healy
as 1st General

Tom Shaw
as Priest

Bruce Boa
as Sergeant in Combat Shack

Bobby Bass
as Driver

View All

Critic Reviews for The Ninth Configuration (Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane)

Audience Reviews for The Ninth Configuration (Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane)

• Dec 01, 2010

  30 years before the disappointing Shutter Island took viewers to a remote mental asylum with a world-turned-upside-down storyline, William Peter Blatty gave us this supremely fucked-up account of a Marine Corp Colonel (played rather brilliantly by the passive Stacy Keach) that is assigned to take over an asylum housing insane soldiers. Col. Kane is especially tuned to the story of a USMC Captain that went nuts right before NASA was supposed to send him to the moon. Throughout all this, Kane recounts how his brother was a sadistic mass-murderer in Vietnam and the backstory only comes to him (and us) in dreams. If you've seen Shutter Island, then you know where this one is going. After halfway through this movie, I hypothesized that this movie was either too fucking brilliant to be understood or too simple to enjoy. Towards the end, I knew it was the former one. VERY quotable, but not for everyone. My wife hated it. I loved it.
  Derek D Super Reviewer
• Jun 21, 2009

  It's a considerable struggle to sit through this movie and the rewards don't really justify the trip, but for some reason I enjoyed it in all its tedium. This is probably to the credit of the magnificent Stacy Keach, who turns in an incredible performance here, and the fascinating premise. William Peter Blatty's unsure direction is a little bit threatening, as he can't really anchor the movie into realism (and despite its surreality it requires a presence in the normal world). The initial mystery stays compelling even when the movie itself doesn't and has just enough life to push you through. If you enjoy a good psychological twist but find them too overdone nowadays, The Ninth Configuration should satisfy.
  Drew S Super Reviewer
• Nov 07, 2008

  The satirical first half is funny in a tremendously weird and surreal way. I loved all the stuff with Jason Miller (who gives the films best performance) attempting to adapt Shakespeare for dogs. But as the film progresses, the theological ideas that William Peter Blatty puts forth are no doubt interesting, but they are handled all wrong. Blatty should have kept to writing the screenplay, a better director would have made the final act less predictable and boring.
  

  Alec B Super Reviewer
• Jul 12, 2007

  A Marx Brothers movie, with theology.
  Pierluigi P Super Reviewer

The Ninth Configuration (Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane) Quotes

Movie & TV guides