The Rewatchables - ‘The Exorcist’ With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan

Episode Date: October 29, 2020

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan are compelled by the power of Christ after being repossessed by the 1973 classic ‘The Exorcist,’ starring Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, and Max von Sydow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're looking for the entire rewatchables archive, it is available on Spotify. We've done, I think, 155 movies at this point. All the new podcast from the last 60 days or so will be available on all platforms, but the entire archives are on Spotify. That's where you find them. This episode is brought to you by Adobe Firefly, the all-in-one creative studio with AI-powered image and video generation. Build for today's creative process, Firefly helps you generate, edit,

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We can find the big picture with Sean Fantasy and the watch with Chris Ryan. They're coming up on this podcast. Coming up! Your mother sucks cox in hell! The Exorcist is next. Life had been good to Chris McNeil. She was a successful actress.

Her daughter Reagan was a happy, healthy 12-year-old. Until that night at the party, when a terrible force entered their lives. And strange things began to happen. Nobody expected it. Nobody believed it. And nothing could stop it. That thing upstairs isn't my daughter.

You tell me you know for a fact that an exorcism wouldn't do any good. You tell me that. The one hope. The only hope. The exorcist. Rated R. Mother, what's wrong with me?

Sean and Chris are here. This is the first modern scary movie of all time. It's the exorcist. It was a massive success. It is massively influential. It had pop cultural ramifications that lasted for decades and creeped into columns and everyday language. It made William Friedkin, one of the biggest stars, star directors in the world. It made Linda Blair one of the most iconic child actors in the world.

That didn't turn out so great for her. And it led to 50 years of supernatural devil, somebody's being possessed. What do we do? something's wrong with the house. It basically all starts here. Chris Ryan. Does this movie hold up? It's 47 years old.

It definitely does as a movie. I think if you're going into this looking at it to be specifically a horror film and you've not seen it before, it's going to take some time to adjust to it. But for me, it still very much holds up. Sean?

I think it's the scariest movie ever made. And the reason for that is because it's the only horror movie in the pantheon of, you know, great classic horror films that takes itself 1,000% seriously and is 1,000% attempting to be based in reality. And that is always going to be scarier to me than something that, you know, it seems thrilling and terrifying, what you know is fake. And this movie wants to be real. It's something that's totally unbelievable, made totally believable. That's what's terrifying about this movie. And actually influenced the first wave of horror movies that came after. Like even Halloween, they spend 40 minutes trying to establish this everyday life in high school.

So it becomes even crazier when Michael Myers shows up. For me, I look at this movie almost like Dr. Jay in the NBA, where if you watch the Dr. Jay highlights now. It's not that amazing because it's like, yeah, I've been watching guys do this for 45 years. But if you were there for Dr. Jay, it was the most groundbreaking, crazy thing you've ever seen. There's a reason that when this movie came out, people were feigning in the theaters. People needed medical help. They were actually doing studies on why did this movie affect people the way it did. It resonated with all kinds of audiences, including there's all this stuff being written about post this movie long time after about how this

movie completely changed what Hollywood felt about black audiences. Black audiences had been pigeonholed with like, oh, we'll make shaft and those kind of movies for them, but we can never really cross over with them. And then the exorcist are like, holy shit. There's it just, the word ground burying can't be said strongly enough for all the different things. But really, really, most importantly, it creates horror movies. And I know they're sensitive about whether this is a horror movie or not, but I coincidentally watched Rosemary's Baby recently because it was on it.

I hadn't seen it probably since I was a teenager. That movie's really dated. It feels like it came out in 1968. There's nothing moderner about it at all. It's inventive. It's cool. This movie's pretty modern, the Exorcist. Like, yeah, some of the special effects are a lot.

little dicey. There's parts that are slow. I'm not sure the first 10 minutes needed to start the way it did. But ultimately, there's all the recipe is here, right, Sean? Like, I don't know what else you would change. Yeah, I think it's because of that desire to make something that seems real. Like, I think it's because there's not, like the, what the sort of psychedelic, psychological filmmaking that Polansky was after in Rosemary's baby, that was very, that was very contemporary at the time, you know, that style of filmmaking, that kind of like that haze

that he puts around the movie that now feels like the 60s to us. It feels like the end of a filmmaking era in a lot of ways. The Exorcist is from a guy who got his start making documentaries. And William Friedkin shoots his movies, his genre movies,

especially the ones in the 70s, like their documentaries. And if you watch the French connection, you watch The Exorcist, you watch Sorcerer. These are movies that while they have these, like, fantastical elements to them, they look like they're real.

And so if you're attempting to make, it's the same thing if you watch, give me shelter right now. You know, the Rolling Stones are dressed like it's the 1970s, but that's an eminently real experience. That movie can't date because everything that's there really happened.

So the murders, the deaths, the horror, like it's never going to expire, which is just a brilliant trick, and it's surprising because so few horror movies actually employ this. Like the filmmakers don't trust audiences enough to try to fuck with them.

this aggressively. And it's, it's interesting. I mean, I think the movie is still a little bit slow, as you say, because the way that we watch movies has evolved a lot over the last 50 years, you know, we're not as, we're not as patient. And so we're not as willing to accept that first 10 minutes. We should talk about the first 10 minutes a little bit. But in general, I think the reason that it's probably never going to expire as a movie is because it's not, it's not trying to be a movie. It's trying to be, it's trying to make something real that isn't real. Yeah, and the performances in it, I think, it's not that the movie became dated. It's almost that movies became more fake. And we just got used to that. Like, when you think about the performances and the naturalism and the way that Ellen

Burstead and Max von Seow and Jason Miller perform in this movie versus the way they are in the conjuring, you know, to take a movie, a modern horror movie at random. Like, that's the fake thing. Exorcist is real. And when you watch Exorcist, like, there's no question that that's Georgetown. There's no question that Jason Miller is visiting his mother in New York City at that time period. Like that's not Vancouver. That's not Atlanta. That's not Toronto subbing in as something. It's not a clean set. It's got verticality and depth and a textural sort of realness that makes it feel like you're watching, like Sean said, a documentary. So I mean, the thing that's most exciting for me also to talk to you guys about with this movie is that I really do think it's Jaws before Jaws.

I don't want to step on that if that's something you wanted to talk about. Yeah, that was my next thing because I was looking at this 1972 to 77 period. And it's basically all modern movies are created in those six years because in 72, you have the godfather. In 73, you have the Exorcist American Graffiti. 74, you have Godfather 2 in Chinatown. 75, you have Jaws in Nashville. 76, you have Rocky and you have network. In 77, you have Star Wars.

Saturday Night Fever, Annie Hall, close encounters. So if you just look at those six years, we basically created the modern horror movie, the modern sports movie, the modern sprawling, awesome mafia type of movies that we love, like heat, things like that. Saturday Night Fever, the ultimate pop culture movie. Annie Hall, the first, you know, the prototype for what rom-coms would end up being. Close- Encounter aliens. network still that big sweeping, awesome, relevant movie that's trying to say something bigger

and has big stars in it. Chinatown, the Autor movie. And you could probably throw in taxi driver there, but I feel like Chinatown is probably sooner. And then American Graffiti, the giant ensemble that says something about that generation and then goes forward, which is also what Nashville was to some degree too. But those six years, that's it. From those six years on, we've created all the prototypes that then every, every person,

just rips off for the next 43 years and counting, right? Yeah, there's nothing new until John Wick, basically. Sean, did I leave anything out for those iconic movies? Because I feel like those were the most influential. I have one, two, three, five, seven, nine, 13 movies that basically shape everything after. It's always interesting to look at the movies that were most successful in a given year and the movies that were most influential.

And the thing about the 1970s is, for the most part, the most influential movies were also the most successful. And you just can't say that really about any other decade. You could make the case that in the 1940s that that was the height of American filmmaking. I think I've always thought it was in 1970s for the exact reason that you just outlined. That it's everything that happens there is not just popular in the current imagination, but it basically informs what every generation is going to do after that. And it's part of the reason why, like, I'm a little bit melancholy about movies is because I know we can never go back to that. We can never go back to a time where, you know, the Exorcist and American Graffiti and Paper Moon are among the three highest grossing movies of the year.

You know, that's, it's just never going to be that way again. And it's great that we have it. But I lament it's end in a lot of ways. I left out two things with the influence of those movies. Father 2. It's a sequel. It's like they're making a sequel? The fuck is that?

Think about now the last 45 plus years of sequels that just now that's become a go-to thing. And then Star Wars, which is, you know, outer space, all that stuff combined with close encounters that led to 20 plus years later, Will Smith studying the highest grossing movies ever and being like, I've got to make some alien movies. But Star Wars also figured out the whole. lunchbox, toys. Merchandising.

Yeah, it's not just a movie. It's a universe you're creating that people want to participate and be a part of. So you go through all those movies and they all became the prototype blueprint. You could even throw in Halloween in 1978 if you want to for like the cheap horror movie. But Halloween is basically taking it from the Exorcist. But I think with The Exorcist, I think people were most surprised that it was successful. I think they knew it was going to be a pretty big movie just because of it was this bestselling book by William Blatty in 1971. We're hitting this point in Hollywood where Robert Evans had laid the groundwork for, hey, IP is more important than anything else.

You want to buy books. You want to buy scripts. Pay more for that. And then you put the actors, directors around. They didn't expect this movie to become a fucking phenomenon. There's no way. You have a scene in this movie where a 12-year-old girl is. is fucking herself with the crucifix.

Like, that's not a movie that's going to become one of the biggest grossing movies of 1974. And yet it happened. Chris, why did it happen? What was it about this movie that drew audiences and made them come back more than once? I was watching this documentary

about the making of the film that's called Fear of God that a guy who's a writer for the Guardian Mark Komode did. And William Peter Blatty says, he talks about how horrifying the movie is. And they talk about the Reagan crucifix scene. And he's like, the thing is, is that I'm paraphrasing, no matter how horrifying it is, when you see this movie for two hours, you feel alive.

And that is the only thing that movies have to do is to make people feel alive. And I think people were chasing a high. Like, this was also a time period where like pornography was in movie theaters. You know what I mean? Like there was an edge to popular culture back then that I think has maybe been filed down or pushed onto the internet. But now, at that point in time, provoking people was something that Hollywood actively did. And testing how far you could push an audience was something that Hollywood was like, maybe there's money in that. Let's check it out. Let's see what freaking wants to do. And in some ways, it's not that much different than what he did with French Connection, which was pushing a cop drama to the farthest reaches of like,

when you watch the car chase in French Connection, I defy you to come out of that with like, any nerve endings left. Like, you're just completely exhausted. And that's exactly how you feel when you're watching the last 30 minutes of exercise. Yeah, I was watching it in my bedroom with my wife. And about two-thirds of the way through, I wanted a glass of water and I went downstairs. And none of the lights were on.

I don't get scared by anything. And I went down. I was just unsettled. And I turned the light on. and got a water and then I turned the light off and there was this two seconds before I hit the stairs

where there was this noise and it was the ice machine or the refrigerator going and when the noise happened I kind of jumped and I was like I haven't felt that in a while and it's not like the exorcist

is like a tree it's just so unsettling and Reagan, the little girl she spirals so out of control so fast or it's like there's one day she's talking to what does she call

her little imaginary friend? Captain Howdy. Captain Howdy, it's like, yeah, I'm talking to Captain Howdy. And the next day, she's just all of a sudden, it looks like she's been through hell and the bed shaking. And you're like, oh, my God. And ultimately, why horror movies work is you're putting yourself in the position of the characters. What would I do? Could this happen to me?

And this would be all of our worst fears, right? You buy the wrong house. You're renting the wrong house. The wrong evil spirit just passes through. And then all of a sudden, it's like, what do I do? people don't believe me. The bed was shaking. No, it's your little girl.

It was her fault. We've got to run these tests on her. It's like, no, it's not the little girl. There's a fucking evil spirit in the house. And it hits all the checkpoints. It's really smart. I was asking my mom about if she remembered seeing this in the 70s. And she's like, I don't really remember being scared of the Reagan stuff as much as

the scariest scene in this movie is when Ellen Bursting comes back under her house and the lights are flickering. and the phone is ringing. And she was like, because that sticks with you every time the lights flicker or every time you think you hear rats in the attic or every time something weird goes on with your house or with your kid,

it's just that little voice in the back of your head saying, but what if? What if it was the most unbelievable, the most terrifying answer to the question? What if it is the Sumerian demon Pizzou? Yeah. To my home in Georgetown. It turns out it's just,

are just shaking the bed a little bit, but you never know. Chris, did you ever pull the exorcist routine? Did you ever try to stay home from school one day? Yeah, just like a tube of pea soup and just spray it everywhere. Pizzou, man, he could, you know, he could do it in the Middle East. He could travel to America. Yeah. Really, didn't get enough credit for being such a mobile evil spirit. Killer on so many continents. His home away splits were incredible. I have written down incredibly influential from a pop culture standpoint. And here's what I mean by that. Not just that Linda Blair was incredibly famous for somebody who never really did anything again,

but was a household name. We'll get into her later. There were split pea soup jokes that I still use in 2020. Anybody who's had a baby when the kid throws up, it's like, oh, my God, that was like an exorcist puke. This is doing this with my kids 40 plus years after the movie. The head's doing a 360. You say, that person's crazy.

Her head's doing 360s like Linda Blair. The SNL sketch with Richard Pryor. So the first great SNL episode was the seventh episode in 1975. The recipe had been laid. The show is actually gaining momentum. And then they get Richard Pryor to host. And he's in three absolutely iconic sketches. samurai sketch, the word association sketch.

And then it's an exorcist parody where it's him and another black priest. And they go to visit, you know, to basically do the exorcism of the Linda Blair character played by Lorraine Newman. So she starts insulting them. They get Richard Pryor takes it personally. He starts strangling her. The other priest brings her, pulls her away. Then she says something to him.

He starts strangling her. And between that, those three things. The power of Christ compels you. It was a funny one to pull out at a party at three in the morning just to freak people out. I knew a guy who would in high school would taunt people in basketball games. Like if he stole the ball from a guy and then there was that moment where you were going to D somebody up when they were checking the ball from out of bounds, he would get up in their face and he would say, the power of Christ compels you in the middle of a basketball game.

And also your mother sucks cox in hell is just like doing those. Doing the exercise voice of the little girl, people imitated that. And this went all the way through when I was in college into the 2000s. I think it probably died down this decade because I think if you're under 30, I don't know if this was as rewatchable as maybe as it was. But this was just an iconic movie that was on all the time that did really well in the Oscars. Got nominated for an Oscar, first horror movie ever. And I'm trying to think, what else?

Did I miss anything? Really cool Oscar here. Oh, yeah. We'll get to that. Did I miss any other pop culture stuff with it, though? I mean, I would just say that the making of the movie actually also becomes like one of those iconic 70s, you know, essentially like it was like a, it seemed to be a haunted production in and of itself. Right. We'll get to all that.

How true do you think that stuff is versus urban legend? They really tell those stories like it's true. And the cool thing about it is just that, I mean, I said it was like Jaws before Jaws. But it had all the makings of one of those classic 70s movies where you have a best-selling author, best-selling book, with a pretty big persona author. You have a red-hot up-and-coming director. Then you have a kind of public casting call where there's a lot of awareness of who's up for the role and who might do it.

And I think that the American public has opinions on that because they've read the book. It's got a really up and down troubled production. And then it becomes a pop culture phenomenon that transcends. movies and becomes like what you're saying, Bill, where it starts showing up in TV shows years later and people are making jokes on basketball courts. So yeah, it's just got the total package in that way. It's the Titanic of its day. You know, it's a movie that was, that the trades were following that, like Chris, that a lot of people had opinions about that people weren't so sure was going to make it, despite the fact that, you know, Friedkin had already

had so much success with French connection. And, you know, it's, it overcame those doubts. And it became, I think kind of the ultimate word of mouth movie. It's the ultimate you got to go see this movie. And that's why it became so powerful. And that's something that, you know, genre movies have been trying to do ever since. Yeah, it is an era I'm nostalgic for it because it went all the way through the 80s and even the 90s where because we had less going on, when a movie like this happened, you felt like you were left out unless you saw it. If you were basically from age 13 on, you had to see it because you're left out of these conversations because there weren't as many conversations. Now I think it would be harder for this to crack through. The other thing,

you alluded to it, Sean, the rating stuff with this pushing, or Chris, you alluded to this, pushing the envelope. This was right as they're trying to figure out rating stuff and what's the difference between an R and an X. And should this have been an R? People were protesting. And when people protest about the content of a movie, it only adds to people's desire to see the movie. But this led to within a year, the guy who was in charge of the rating system, he stepped down. And a battle that they kept fighting and fighting basically for the next 20 plus years until they came up with NC17, which seems like it's solved. Yeah, I think that I think that guy blew the call on the Reagan crucifix scene. Like, I don't know if he was stepping outside for a cigarette or something.

thing. But when you think of that, that would not be in a movie today, would it? No, that alone should be a rated X. I actually had forgotten how graphic and shocking that was. I kind of can't believe that that was in the movie. Friedkin's just going for it. I mean, that scene is in the book, right? And it's worse in the book. It's essential to the story. I mean, it shows that this is, you know, this is the not fucking around crew. You know, this is like, this is the movie that is taking it there. This is the movie that is fearless and what it's trying. And like, you know, the devil is fearless. The devil is going to take it there.

And so in order to believe that, you need something like this that's going to shock people. It all seems very intentional. There are a lot of theories that Warner Brothers essentially bribed the ratings board to get the R. Because, you know, there's not like Midnight Cowboy five years earlier was best picture of the year, but it was rated X. And whatever is in Midnight Cowboy is nothing compared to what's in the X. It's a bizarre. That's one of the most bizarre rating decisions. I think we've ever had.

I don't even think it's ever been fully explained. I think it was because there was like an anti-gay sentiment. There was like a fear of gay culture in part. So they like they put the X on it to sort of like indicate that that was somehow an illicit lifestyle or something. But the exorcist is it's probably the most, it's probably the most provocative mainstream hit movie. So for as we said, first horror movie to be nominated for an Oscar. 10 Oscar nominations, one for best adapted screenplay, best sound. and the highest grossing R-rated horror film for 35 years.

That's unbelievable. Not even adjusted, just highest grossing. It made $441 million on a $12 billion budget. It would be $1.8 billion today. Crazy. So from an Oscar standpoint, weird Oscar year. The Sting ends up winning. George Royale wins as best director.

The other nominees were American Graffiti, Cries and Whisper, which was a Bergman movie, The Exorcist, and A Touch of Class, which I don't even, I can't be honest, I don't even know what a touch of class is. Best actress, Ellen Burstyn was nominated, did not win. Glenda Jackson won for a touch of class. And then Best Supporting Actress, Tatum O'Neill won, another child actress. Linda Blair was nominated. There was some controversy because it came out after that people didn't realize she didn't do the devil voice that that was another actress they'd hire. The weirdest one to me is best actor. Jack Lemmon wins for Save the Tiger, but you also have Brando, Nicholson, Pacino, and Redford.

Yeah. That's your best actor category. Nicholson not winning for last detail is amazing. Oof. So pretty fun Oscar year. And then Friedkin did get nominated. He's in a category. George Royal Hill wins with.

George Lucas, Bergman, Friedkin, Bertilucci. This is an insane year. I mean, this doesn't even account for the fact that this is the year

that Badlands, mean streets, the long goodbye, you know, all the Serpico, like, so many movies came out that were recognized.

And it is so funny to look back at like the touch of classes or, what's the John Houseman movie, the paper chase?

Like, there's a handful of movies that are in that more. traditional kind of Oscar-y, this hasn't aged that well-bent that just meant it overlooked so many other things.

Same thing here, Jack Lemon getting his second Oscar for Save the Tiger, a movie that is not, you know, most people don't talk about nowadays over, you know, arguably the most stacked best Oscar race

in the history of the category. Yeah. It's unbelievable. Tough beat for Brando. I assume Brando didn't win only because he didn't show up for the Oscars the year before. Yeah.

And probably heard his case. I mean, do people consider his performance in Last Tango to be, like, good Brando? I think, I mean, it's, it's pretty, it's a pretty crazy performance. Speaking of provocative movies that push boundaries, yeah. Yeah, that one's a pretty bonkers. Pachino and Serpico, that's like the all-time method performance. I mean, that's one of his, like, that movie has not aged that well for me just in terms of watchability. But what he's doing in it, his commitment in it is insane.

I mean, this is just an, also, the other thing, too, the Sting, which wins best picture and George Roy Hill, wins and like kind of the makeup Oscar for not being able to win for Butch Cassidy a few years earlier. This thing came out one day before The Exorcist. Imagine that movie weekend. Christmas weekend, 1973, you get to go see the Sting and the Exorcist on a double bill. That's unbelievable. Yeah, that's like for like five bucks. Another fun thing about this movie, mixed reviews. So our guy Raj, Roger Eber.

You're starting to add a little French Canadian to the way you're pronouncing. Rush. Raj and his buddy Gene Sisko, both four stars loved it. Pauline Kale legendarily hated this movie and absolutely eviscerated it in her review. And it was probably one of like the 8 to 10 most famous reviews that she wrote, right, Sean? She just absolutely despised this movie and everything about it. Yeah. And it's a little, it's kind of surprising that she didn't like it because she loves extremity, you know, and she loves people pushing it to the limit. But I think she was famous for calling people out for being phonies.

She had that J.D. Sallinger thing in her. And she just thought this was a totally phony pursuit of like a crisis of faith. I read the review. It's very well written. All the stuff she wrote was fantastic from a writing standpoint. Her whole case was like, you never got me to care about the girl. And then this is just neatly solved at the end. And it's like, well, wait a second.

I'm not invested in this person, which is an okay point, but I'm not sure that was the point of the movie. I also don't, I think it's one of the most ambiguous movies ever made. I think that that's like a complete misreading of the end of the movie. Like you could make the case that we don't, there's no clarity on what happened to the demon, on if the demon was even real. Like there's so much, was this all happening in Karras's mind? Was it all happening in Marin's mind? Like there's so, we could probably talk about this in unanswerable questions. But to me, the movie being like neatly wrapped up And then the family goes on its way is like, that's not the point of the movie. If you think that that's what the ending of the movie is, then I think you misunderstood it.

Well, and she was a murderer. Yeah. She murdered Burke. She threw that director out the window. Poor Burke. Yeah. Burke went from, yeah, being the babysitter to take a little trip. The most rewatchable scene segment of today's episode, The Rewatchables is brought to you by Pizza Hut.

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price higher at some locations, limited time offer, availability of contactless curbside and delivery areas charges and minimums vary. Delivery charge, not tip. All right, most rewatchable scene. This is a tough one. It's tough to be like,

this was so rewatchable. when the little girl came downstairs told the astronaut you're going to die up there and then peas in the carpet in front of an entire party and yet that's an awesome scene. It rules. That scene is incredible. It's also just like they do this whole thing

to set up that astronaut and you're just like, is this guy in the movie? And it's just like, no, it's just to prove how out there Reagan is. You're going to die up there. I love that scene. It's, I'm trying, it's so funny. We moved to L.A.

In 2003, we had a double date with Sal and his wife. And we had a golden retriever, the dues, who at that point was probably like seven, eight months of years old. We went out today and we came back. We're hanging out in the living room having like wine or something. And the dues walked in the living room and just peed in front of all of us. And we were like, this is like the fucking exorcist. What just happened?

Why did our golden retriever do this public pee right in front of us? And that was 30 years after this movie. And it was like, that was where your mind went to, the Exorcist P. So, yeah, so I got that. What's up with that party, though? Why is there like a priest and an astronaut? And like, what's up with Chris McNeil's friends? I think it's just supposed to be one of those, like, famous people, like, Washington's

Society parties that, like, it seems like some other person has, like, put together the guest list for it. Yeah. And it's just like, let's bring luminaries from all across Washington life into this gorgeous townhouse. Sean, you should start doing this post-pandemic. Just weird random parties with astronauts and actors. I love to invite over 10 priests to sing at a piano. It's one of my hobbies.

This wasn't a recurring theme of late 60s, 70s movies. They would have these random party scenes with just all of these people and you're just watching going, how did all these people get here? All right, so I have that one. For most rewatchable, I'm just going to guess, Sean and I haven't talked about this. I'm assuming you love the first 10 minutes? Well, okay. The Iraq stuff?

There's Chris mentioned Fear of God, which is this documentary about the movie. There's a new movie coming out on Shudder, the horror streaming service in November called Leap of Faith. William Friedkin on The Exorcist. It's a 100-minute interview movie. with Friedkin talking about this movie. You're the audience of this. This is like made for Sean. Yeah, it is porn for me.

I mean, I love Friedkin. I worship Friedkin. I think he's just an absolute genius. But in this movie, he talks a lot about people saying, you don't need the first 10 minutes of this movie. You know, famously Bernard Herman, the composer, who he asked to do music for the movie, he said, take that out.

The studio executives wanted him to take it out. Everybody wanted him to take it out. And he was like, no, this is the, this is the movie. There is no story without this. William Peter Blattie, who wrote the script, didn't put this in the first version of the script. And he said, this is the prologue of your book. You have to put this in the movie because we have to understand that Marin is on this quest that all men of faith go on where they are all challenged by the forces of evil. And you have to see that there is this lifespan in this battle with evil. And if you don't see it, the movie doesn't work.

Now, I think you could debate whether or not the movie would work without it. I don't think it's necessarily fundamental to the story, but it puts you in a place in time. It shows you that, like, this stuff runs across continents. Pizzou can, you know, he's home and away, as Chris said. I personally like it. It's just a different movie. I think that's what's weird about it. It's so abrupt when we go from Iraq to Georgetown.

But at the same time, it's really creepy. Like, I like when he finds that one, that little, the little statue and he's wiping the dirt off. And then his face kind of goes blank. And he's like, oh, fuck. Yeah. And almost every single thing in that, with the exception of like, some of the longer zoom shots of archaeological digs,

you need to know that he has a heart problem. You need to know that he has been, that he is an expert. You know what I mean? That when they call him in, it's not just like, who's this guy wandering in the woods? And I think a lesser film would just be like,

it's fine if the first time we see Marin is in the woods. Or they would have just had Karas do the exorcism himself, you know? I like it. I didn't have it for most rewatchable, but I'd like it. It's not most rewatchable, but it's just a great table setter. More movies could use a table setter, in my opinion. It's a prologue.

Next rewatchable scene, the first time Reagan flips out, and really goes into the devil voice and she's doing the fuck me, fuck me. And just you're just like, oh my God, the wheels have come off. What happened to this little girl? It's really effective because to watch, she's the perfect age, right? If she's a year older or a year younger, it's weird. But at that age, like, it's so startling to see a little girl swear like that and be that angry,

where you're like, oh, my God, what's, what happened to this person? it's a really scary scene it goes back to the the word unsettling then we have to mention the crucifix head 180 scene that is such a harrowing crazy scene

it's it's the biggest scare scene in the movie do you know what she did your can't think daughter because you're just like first you think she's going to kill her mother yeah all of it is just

you're like, oh my God, I can't even imagine being in the theater when that scene is over and you're just kind of like, you almost like need a cigarette and a break. Yeah, when the, when the armwar starts moving towards her and then she's, her head turns around. That's when you know, this is real. Like this movie is, this is happening. Like there is no paranoia here. Like, the evil has arrived. Yeah. Next one is when the mom meets, meets the priest. It's incredible. scene. Just an amazing scene. It's also just like they just did stuff like that way better in 1973 than they do now where it's just two amazing actors like Jason Miller and Ellen Burstyn just doing this, her kind of guiding him to the moment where he's going to realize what she's actually saying, the big sunglasses and her bruised face. And I love like her asking him for the cigarette and she's like kind of got shaky hands. It's just incredible Georgetown stuff.

How do you go about getting an exorcism? I beg your pardon? If a person is, you know, possessed by a demon or something. How did they get an exorcism? Well, the first thing I'd have to get them into a time machine and get them back to the 16th century. I didn't get you. Well, it just doesn't happen anymore, Miss McNeil.

Oh, yes, since when? Well, since we learned about mental illness, paranoia, schizophrenia, schizophrenia. All those things they taught me at Harvard. Mr. McNeil since the day I joined the Jesuits. I've never met one priest who was performed an exorcism, not one. Yeah, well, somebody very close to me is probably. Love that scene.

And then the exorcism, I guess, would be the other read, though. The entire exorcism, I think. Crazyest final 20 minutes of a movie. It's the best final half hour of a movie, I think, possibly ever made. It's the power of Christ that compels you. The power of Christ that's me. That the power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you.

Yeah, it's like it's got its hands around your neck for so long. Can I add one more nomination? Please. I think one of the most compelling moments in the movie is when Lee J. Cobb, the detective, comes to, well, frankly, both of his big scenes, the one with Jason Miller where they go for a walk and they talk about the case,

but specifically when he sits down with Ellen Burstyn in her house, and he has to very subtly indicate to this woman that her 13-year-old daughter has thrown her friend and director out of a window and possibly turned his head around completely with her power. The way that the scene is shot, It's just over both of their shoulders.

And the camera very slowly moves in on the director or in on the detective and then away from the detective very slowly in on Ellen Burson and away from Ellen Burson. And it's so unnerving. Like it's like you're spying on this incredibly fragile moment. And this woman is having to cope with the idea that maybe her daughter is a possessed murderer. It's really, really gripping. And then the movie kind of like tilts on its axis after that scene too.

That's really when the exorcism stuff really. begins. My opinion, he was killed by a very powerful man, point one, and the fracturing of his skull, point two, plus the various other things we mentioned, would make it very probable, probable, not certain, that the deceased was killed and then pushed from your daughter's window, but nobody was in the room. accept your daughter so how can this be that's a great call because the thing i love about that is she turns her back to him and you could see she's breaking down trying to keep it together that's that's her best thing in the movie and then she turns back and she's trying to

keep it together the whole thing uh all right what's age the best unbelievable title sometimes we praise the titles what's a better title than the exorcist i love a movie where you have to wait for the moment and for the character. You know, like the movie is named it for Merrin. You know, he is the exorcist. Yeah. And we don't really get to experience him in the setting of the story until there's 25 minutes left. It's an amazing choice. When Reagan's going under all those tests, you're like, that's not what this is. And you feel so bad for her because you know she's getting a spinal tap. You're like, it's not, it's not a lesion. It's not, it is a possession. I would say, Bill, just as far as the title,

everything about the presentation of this movie is unbelievable. So, like, the title of the movie. Poster. Yeah, ITC symbol, standard bold, the font that they use for the title sequence, and the poster, the Magritte homage to,

and Max Valentino, getting out of the car and the light streaming down is just one of the great posters we've ever had. I had that for what stage the best as well, when the poster actually comes to life in that scene when he arrives at the house.

Gets dropped off at a cab, comes out, and you're like, oh, that's the poster. And it's just so cool, the lighting of that and how they do that and just his, the way his body is and the hat. And he shows up and you can't even see his face. He's like this grim reaper has arrived to figure out what's going on the house. Really, really good. It's how you know you're like in the hands of masters though, right? Like every choice is extremely intentional. Everything that they did was extremely intentional.

Like, he's inspired by a painting. Many filmmakers are inspired by a painting. But the way that they shoot the shaft of light onto the lantern outside, the light, the lamp post is, that's hard. They said it took two days. Two days. Two days. I mean, that's really like, that's a commitment to getting the image that's in your

head on screen. That's amazing. Well, this is why how many versions of the DVD and Blu-ray and Laser disc came out of this movie. And every time they transferred it, all the film nerds like, Sean would have a big party because it was like, oh, the lights even. Sean would get all his late transfer. His astronauts would come over. Yeah. We'd gather around the piano and we'd sing tubular bells to each other. And then Sean P's on the carpet and they're like, it's time to watch Exorcist. The new digital transfer.

Morewood's stage the best. The theme music's good. If somebody plays that in the piano in your house, you're like, all right, don't stop doing that. I don't like that. Not enjoying this. I'll file that away. Another one stage is the best for me personally, and this goes for any horror movie like this, I love when shit might be going on in the attic. And the character, you have to have that moment.

The lights never work in. There's never lights in the attic. It's always a flashlight or a candle. Somebody's got to go up there. They're never scared enough. Nobody ever goes to the attic. Like when I go to the attic, I'm fucking terrified and just telling my wife, like, come with me. Come with me.

I'm not going up there alone. And they go up and then there's that noise. And then there's a big scare that you know is coming. Always works. The makeup, I couldn't believe this because I'm watching this. And I'm like, our guy Max looks older than he did in victory. How did they do that? And I did the research as I'm watching.

He was 44 when he made this movie. Because in victory, when he plays the good Nazi, he's seven years later, he's the good Nazi. He was the one Nazi that was kind of on the side of the allies. And he's 51 at that point or 52. In this movie, he really does look 74 and it almost looks like it's Max's dad, but it's him. And there's makeup stuff that just should not have worked in 1973. I know Chris Ryan has to have an opinion on this. You love makeup and weird shit.

I'm a big makeup guy. The big thing for Reagan's makeup is that Freakin was really insistent because he's a fucking sicko, that the cuts on her face looked like she made them with the crucifix. And to Sean's point about the attention to detail and everything being so considered, I mean, even down to these makeup choices. And this guy, I mean, like, when you watch these documentaries about the making of the movie, the makeup artist had to consider like a pretty, it's pretty horrifying to like take Linda Blair and be like, I'm going to turn this person into a demon by like fattening her lower lip

and making her nose like more almost like a pigs and all of like the mucus, the giant mucus strand they have like for one of those scenes. All the wounds needed to be infected. I mean, like that's like that's pretty unappetizing to consider. But the effect, even if you're like, I can see that that's makeup or I can see that that split piece soup, you're just like, you're still completely buying into it. Maximine C down. he's burned into our memory as 73 years old. You know, I mean, for the rest of time, you can only see him in The Exorcist,

and it's so strange that for many, like most filmmakers who are not watching Amar Bergman films, this is the first time they saw him. Maybe they saw him in the greatest story ever told is Jesus Christ, but for the most part, this is his most iconic role. But he goes on to be in every kind of a movie. He was a fucking Jedi in the Star Wars movies. You know, he really is like,

he touched every phase of American culture in a lot of ways in American movie culture. But he's a 73 year, he's been a 73 year old man for 50 years. I think the first time I saw him was in Strange Brew. Oh, yeah. I was going to say, I knew him as Strange Brew victory. Yeah. He was like, come on, stand up for that Pelea bicycle kick.

It was fucking great. Just stand up. And then he finally stands up. Yeah. One other would's age the best. Well, I got two more. And I read this in the research that Friedkin said, on the director's commentary. He always

tried to have Father Karas rising up in different scenes of walking upstairs, walking up hills. Motifs of ascension, all the staircases in this movie, they're all over the place. It's crazy. Every character is either going up or going down. It's heaven and hell. So smart.

He's very open about talking about how brilliant he was to do that. And then I got to say the dirty language in this movie just kills me. Like my watching with my wife, who had already seen it, We're just laughing at some of the, some of her Rigged's devil insults. And it's just the devil voice, it's scary, but there's also like an unintentional comedy factor

to it that I enjoy. And I think is one of the reasons this movie is so rewatchable. What else is age the best for you guys? Anything? I would say the sound design is probably age the best. This movie, I watched this movie with headphones on last night with like connected to my, TV and I was like I was really blown away by how especially even in the first 10 minutes it starts where they just mix it so that there's always a noise that's kind of getting under your skin.

Like if you if you watch it like there's in that opening Iraq sequence, there's those dogs fighting. The sound of the dog fight is turned up really high in the mix and you're just like, why why am I scratching? Like why am I uncomfortable? And it's always this like some noise. some ambient noise is being pumped a little higher than it should be in a traditional mix to just make you uncomfortable. The sounds of the machines that are doing the tests on Reagan sound industrial, like really invasive.

And I just think they did such amazing work with this. Well, I read in the research, when her head turns around, it has this crackling sound. And they couldn't get the crackling sound right. And the sound guy who was obviously brilliant took out his wallet. and his wallet had whatever in it and he crunched the wallet and he liked how that sounded and he was like

maybe that's what the sound is so he turned the volume up on that and that's the sound is this dude's wallet because he was like that's kind of what that should sound like Sean do you think we should give CR a category where he just

rates sound design, makeup and lighting? Yeah. Just going forward because those are the three things that really turn him on. That's right. The Pizzuzu.

The Pizzu of crafts. Yeah. Also, what a great call to ask Jason Miller to be carous in this movie. I mean, what age better than that? This guy was not an actor. He was a playwright. Yeah. And, you know, if you can seize this play and it's obviously got these ideas of lapsed Catholicism

and the play of that championship season. And he asks this guy to be in this major mainstream American movie. Over some huge names. And they already had somebody booked for it. And he's perfect. Perfect. He is the absolute right person for the movie. And you almost can't imagine anybody else.

It would be too distracting for a famous person to have been in this movie. It was so smart. Yeah. What stage is the worst? I mentioned the slow start. I still like those 10 minutes, but it is a weird way to start the movie, especially if you're watching it for the first time and you're kind of like, where are the George downstairs with Linda Blair?

What's happening right now? The special effects, just it's 1973. They would do some of that stuff better. I think the movies like The Conjuring have figured that out. Exorcist 2, the heretic, directed by John Borman, the deliverance director. Just a legendary bomb in 1977. He tried to do a zag. He didn't zig.

He zagged. He's like, people are going to expect, like, we're going to dial up the exorcism stuff. We're going the other way. It's one of those. Legendary bomb. It's fun to go read up, actually, do the research on Exorcist 2. People just hated it. It was the most reviled movie that year.

Can we talk about three, though? CR loves three. That's what I was just going to say. Three is amazing. I saw three in the movie theater, and that was the famous scene is the most scared I've ever seen a group of people in a movie theater.

Yeah, I rewatch three last night. Because there's a lot, if you're interested, there is a lot of Kara stuff in three, obviously. So there's a lot of Xeroyish. The weirdest exorcist movie is four, is Dominion, the prequel, which is half directed by Paul Schrader and half directed by Rennie Harlan.

It's one of the weirdest movie's ever made. Like Rennie Harlan replaced Paul Schrader, basically, during the movie. And those two guys have nothing in common. No, they do not. Of Moore's Age the worst, Linda Blair's post-exercist career, which we'll go into an half-ass internet research,

but there were some dark moments in there, and we'll cover it later. And then I didn't realize this until I was doing the research. Toyota, Toyota, the car company, released a Toyota Pizzou, 1975. They didn't sell it all. It totally buying it. They're trying to capitalize from the movie, but it turned out people didn't want to buy the Toyota to Pizzou.

Hard to believe. Any other would stage the worst for you guys? It's a gremlin in that engine. I want to say just shout out too, but you really don't see these anymore, is just the full gray sweatsuit that Karas jogs in. You don't really see a guy wearing just like gray sweats with a towel tucked in to the sweatshirt. But I always appreciate that look. And I would also say some of the motivational tools that William Friedkin used on the set are probably no longer in style and fashion. We'll get to that probably in half-ass.

No, we can do that now. Two of the actresses were injured during the movie. They were the two best actresses of the movie. Both of them being flung around in the bedroom or flung around the bed. They both got legitimately injured. Yeah. Ellen Burson hurt her tailbone when the armoor scene. and yeah, Linda Blair was like literally thrown around the bed

by the contraption that they were used. And he shot off a gun near Jason Miller to like make him nervous. And Jason Miller was like, don't ever do that to me again. You know, I don't need stimulation. And the guy who plays Father Dyer at the end when he goes up to Karas to give him last right, it's right before that scene freaking just slapped him in the face to get him in the way of minds. Punched him. Punched him.

And that guy's a real priest. So that's where Freakinshead was at. And the last, the last What's Age the worst, I think, would be Burke as a party guest. I just think I personally kind of miss the days when just parties in general, but that kind of guy who would show up at a bar or a party who was like, I'm here to get drunk. And when that's over, I'm definitely getting in a fight. Like, that guy had that energy.

But him and Carl were just oil and water. So, you know, I just really enjoyed that. Casting what ifs. There's a lot. Studio one of Marlon Brando for Marin. Friedkin vetoed it. Said it would become a Brando movie if that happened. He was right.

Jack Nicholson allegedly up for the part of Caris. Stacey Keach, hired by Bladdy to be Caris. Friedkin said Paul Newman also wanted to be Caris. but then Blatty and Freakin were like, we need lesser known actors. And they basically paid off Stacey Kich, brought in Jason Miller. It's a bad beat for Keech.

He would have been good. It's tough. That would have been his biggest movie. What was his biggest movie? What was the TV show he was on in the 80s? He was in Long Riders is what I was thinking. Yeah, maybe what's the John Houston boxing movie that he was in? Oh, Fat City.

Yeah. Never totally happened. For the mom. They approached, Friedkin said he approached Audrey Hepburn first. And she said she would only do it if they filmed it in Rome because she had just moved to Italy. What if they were like, cool, no thanks. Anne Bancroft went to her. She just got pregnant, couldn't do it.

Go to Jane Fonda. Hey, Jane, any interest? She turned the film off and the quote was, it's a piece of capitalist rip-off bullshit. She was in a permanent heat check at that point of her. And then Shirley McLean said, no thanks. And has talked about how she really regrets it. And they finally ended up settling on Ellen Burstyn. And then the director, Arthur Penn, said no.

Stanley Kubrick, Kubrick, Kubrick, I'll never get that right. Intrigued, said no. Mike Nichols thought about it. turned it down, said, quote, you'll never find a 12-year-old girl to carry the picture. And they hired Mark Riddell, one of Sean's guys. Sean's always enjoyed him. I don't know. And then Bladdy said, fuck that and push for Friedkin.

He loved the energy of the French connection. And the rest was history. So, yeah, it all ended up at the right place, I got to say. But it could have gone in a lot of weird directions. Except for the nine people associated with the production of the film who died and all of the people who acted who were beaten by their own filmmaker. The toll here is pretty high. Well, you forgot the set catching on fire. That was another one.

The set like caught on fire. And they still don't know why. Yeah, they don't know what happened. Weird. Pizzuzzi, man. He's strong. I hope he doesn't get mad at me for the Toyota Pizzou joke. Best that guy, the Joey Pants Award.

So this is tough. This was almost 50 years ago. But I went through the IMDB trying to figure out who qualified. I settled on Barton Heyman, aka Dr. Klein, just because he also played Dr. Riskin and cruising. Hmm. It was Freedkin's go-to doctor. Go-to doctor. Sean claims he loves Friedkin. He's Freedkin's biggest fan.

And yet openly mocks us for the cruising pod we're about to do, probably in the next five months. I don't know if that's accurate. That has nothing to do with whether cruising is a quality film or not. It's about preserving the rewatchables as a pillar of the Ringer podcast network, which I think we have to protect. And most people have not seen cruising. That's what's informing that. They'll see it when we do it for the 200th rewatchables episode.

The Vincent Hanna, give me all you got a word. I don't even know. You guys, does anyone even qualify for this? Maybe Burke? Burke for being drunk in that one scene? I don't know. Burke is up there. I mean,

Burson has some, she really goes for it moments. Man. I feel like everyone is properly going for it. Yeah, I mean, they're dealing with a demon. It's hard to be like,

yeah, it's hard, it's hard because it's not like they're overreacting to like a stock trade or something like that. They're, they got.

I think the funniest moment, though, like out of context, just watch the scene where the demon goes into Carus at the end. Just watch that scene alone with nothing else surrounding it. It is ridiculous.

It is completely, it is the most going forward an actor has ever gone forward. I mean, he is convulsing, his eyes are rolling back, he's shaking, it's ridiculous. Yeah, that's a good one. The Deanne Waiters Award goes to Mercedes MacCambridge. She was the voice of the devil in Linda Blair's body.

So some background on her performance, this is all true. provided the voice of the demon by insisting on swallowing raw eggs in chain smoking to alter her vocalizations. She also was a recovering alcoholic who decided if she drank whiskey, it would distort her voice even more. So she asked for Friedkin's position permission to get sauced and help her out if anything went badly so she could be crazed. Freakken was like, cool. Not only are we going to do that. I'm going to tie you to a chair

with pieces of a torn sheet on your neck, arms, wrists, legs, and feet so you'll be restrained and then do the voice because it'll sound like the demon is being restrained. So let's do that. So they are really a perfect match.

And she's an easy Dian Waders Award winner. Anything to add on that? The voice from hell. I mean, it's like one of the all-time great vocal performances. That decision aged the best too, to not use Linda Blair saying those lines because they shot the movie

and she said all those lines. I mean, she's saying all that stuff. You can see some clips online of her reading the dialogue without the Mercedes-McCambridge voice. And it's weird. I mean, it doesn't really work the way as well as it does in the movie.

How would you get, would you guys power rank the various demons or the various voices inside of Linda Blair? I mean, where would Damien's mother be, where would be like the British guy who shows up briefly? You know,

I should have had that as category. I think Karris' mother is the freakest one. That's the one that gets you. But what about the homeless guy? Oh, yeah. For an altar boy? Yeah. Father, can you spare?

Oh, my God. That one is a chilling moment when he turns his back on her and he hears the homeless guy's voice. That's rough. They should have thrown in some sort of athlete, too. You could have talked to me into like three more voices from the past. You know, Big Exorcist 3 cameo from Patrick Ewing. Right.

Recasting couch. For the record, I would not recast any part of this movie except for maybe Burke. But did have to ask, does Jane Fonda make this a better movie? I really like Birsten. I think it's too meta, because she's playing an actress. Yeah. I guess that was a famous actress. Yeah, I guess that that would have.

have been the interesting piece of it if it was kind of meta, where she's a famous actress is a famous actress. The other one, I do think we should talk about it. I heard all your points on Jason Miller. I agree. He was the exorcist guy. But I do think they kicked around Pacino a tiny bit here. And if you had Pacino in this part, really Pacino before he turned into the Pacino that we always joke about on this podcast, but it's Godfather one Serpico era. Pacino as the priest. Yeah. It's a pretty fascinating

performance. You be Pacino doing this part and I'll be I'll be Carus' mom. Oh, we want to do though. Did I wrap your leg too tight? Demi.

Why are you doing this to me? I like, I'm more into the idea of Pacino doing Take me. Come into me. God damn you. Take me. the power of Christ

compels you yeah he would have loved that he would have banged out 20 bucks got a great ass Chris the next step for your Pacino impersonation is to do the early 1973 Pacino like I think that's what Kevin Pollock did right yeah I don't think I get ever

graduated to the 70s Pacino which was the higher degree of difficulty yeah you got to go back and do Panic and Needle Park Pacino it's like a little bit above my pay grade. Yeah. Well, Pacino in that role, it's a different movie.

It would have been a fascinating Pacino performance. He never, I don't think was in a horror movie until the 21st century weirdo stage of his career when he made all kinds of movies. But there you go.

Halfass internet research. So Jason Miller, later in his career, was offered the lead role and taxi driver and turned it down to make Robert Mulligan's the nickel ride. I have no idea what that movie. Sean. It's a bad beat. I haven't seen it.

Really bad beat. Wow. Jason Miller is also Jason Patrick's father. Yes. Yes. For the crucifix scene, they use Linda Blair's voice as we discussed, then re-recorded it in a slowed down

mode to achieve a very low bass. Back to Chris's love of sound design in this movie. We mentioned about the actors repeatedly getting hurt. and Friedkin firing blanks next to Jason Miller to freak him out. He also told Miller that the P-Soup would hit him in the chest.

And when the P-Soup hit him, it's just like all over him. And so when Miller's kind of disgusted, it's because he was like, what the fuck you told me I was going to get it in the chest. The Exorcist steps, real steps, a tourist attraction now, which is weird, located in Georgetown. I've been there. I'm sure you guys, if you've been in D.C., might have gone by there. It's on the intersection of M Street, Northwest, Canal Road, Northwest,

and Whitehurst Freeway Northwest, if you're ever walking around. And a fun fact about that was when they shot the stuntman falling down the steps. There were Georgetown kids charging people five bucks to come up onto the roofs of buildings around it to watch. To watch it, yeah. How about that stunt man, by the way? Great job by him. Unbelievable. Yeah.

They cover the steps in rubber. But yeah. This is the first time we're double-dipping half-fast internet research because we did this on the San Elmo's fire episode. But Joel Schumacher

wanted to film at Georgetown, tried to get permission from a priest who was running the school, was rejected. He complained to the faculty. You let Bill Freed can film the Exorcist here in 73. One of the characters in that movie

says, your mother sucks Cox in hell. And one of the priests answered, yeah, but the devil didn't win in their movie. Tough beat for St. Otmos Fire. Just some quick Linda Blair stuff. She becomes incredibly famous for this movie.

You're talking about like one-third of the country probably saw this movie. And then now she's a teenager. Moving into the late 70s, she's 18, 19, the disco cocaine era. I don't know if it turned out great for her. but at age 15, she started dating Rick Springfield of Jesse's Girls fame, who she met at a concert at Whiskey Agogo.

She's 15, the same age as my daughter. Now, that's creepy. She also dated Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes. Then from 79 to 81, she dated sticks guitarist Tommy Shaw, traded him in for Rick James. Dated Rick James for two years because he really liked her topless people. Pictorial in Wee magazine. Linda Blair said in that interview, and for Wee Magazine that accompanied the photos,

she found Rick James very sexy. Rick said, cool, let's get together. And they dated forever. And he even wrote the hit song, Cold-blooded about her. And they did their whole thing. And then later on, they did Wings-Hauser for two years.

Yeah, father of Colehouser. I'm just dying to get a reaction from Chris. I might start making up people that she dated. Chris, Chris, go get that issue of Wii magazine. I know you have it at the crib. Can you just go grab that? It's in the shed.

Yeah. None of those face, Chris. None of those names. I thought the sticks guitarist might get you. No. Chris is just a blank slate. Who Linda James dated and what age she was when she was dating them. Linda Blair?

Linda Blair, yeah. Do you think less of Rick Springfield for dating 15-year-old Linda Blair after meeting at the Whiskey Go-Go concert? Yes, I do. Tough beat for Rick. We're going to take a break and grit Chris some water. We'll be right back.

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Can't imagine he had more power than this. Sean? it's indisputably his Apex Mountain. He goes on to make a lot of other cool movies. I'm a huge sorcerer guy personally. I know. Yeah. Yeah, me as well.

I just, like I said before, this movie made today's version of $2 billion. This movie was like Avengers Endgame. Like, it's a huge, huge movie. You can't get more power than after this. Well, this is my favorite Apex Mountain we've ever had an Apex Mountain. We've done like 155 episodes. It doesn't get any better than this. Jason Miller, the Exorcist comes out in 1973.

It's the same year that he wins the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for his play of that championship season and then gets nominated for Best Supporting Actor a couple of months later. So he rips off a Pulitzer, a Tony Award, and a Best Supporting Actor nomination all in the span of eight months. incredible Apex Mountain, maybe an all-timer. Loses best supporting actor to John Hasman and the Paper Chase, which... I mean, the paper chase...

Paper Chase was a thing. Like, the movie did well, and they turned it into a TV show, which was one of the first artsy-fartsy TV shows, really, and people liked it. So I'm not 100% against it, but tough. Washington, D.C. movies. So there's this. president's men. Like two years later.

We're in some sort of, and then you have the parallax view and you have, we're in a nice little Washington, D.C. run right here. I like a few good men for some of its D.C. stuff. This is, it's this or presidents, though. All right. Gosh, this is a tough one. Max Van Sato? Sido or Cito.

Cito. Max Van Cito, yeah. Is this his apex mountain? It's a little hard. analyze someone. I mean, he was in the seventh seal, you know, like, this guy was, he's been in, like, some of the most important films. When Max von Cito came out of seven seal, all his fucking parties were just priest and astronauts. Like, you couldn't get into a Max Fon Cito party. Yeah. He was in the Virgin Spring, you know, he was, he played Jesus Christ. Like, he's done it all. Linda Blair, yes. Chris feeling awkward about talking about Linda Blair's ex-boyfriend, yes. Why do you think I was feeling more awkward than Sean? I feel good about it. Georgetown, I'm going to say no. I still think the 85 title, 84 title, whatever year they won with Ewing, John Thompson.

I'm going to give that because that was the same year San Elmo's fire came out. It was just great run, great Georgetown run. That Iverson season, too, tremendous stuff. Ellen Burstyn. Yeah, I mean, I guess Alice doesn't live here anymore. This is so much bigger than that, though, right? Yeah. Yeah.

You could argue that Alice is because she's exorcist than that. And now she's established as an A-plus-less actress there for a couple years. Her role is Barb Weaver in Draft Day. I got to say I saw her in a movie that's coming out this year called Pieces of a Woman a couple of weeks ago. Still crushing it. I mean, she's been acting in movies for 50 years. She's still great.

Yeah, she feels like long-term she market corrected Fay Dunaway. It took a while. Faye Dunaway was killing her in the 70s, but it circled back. And last 15 years, I feel like she's. taking fade down away to school. Apex Mountain, split piece soup. Yes. Yeah.

Great call. I was thinking maybe Dave Jacoby doing an entire podcast on split piece soup once. I don't know. Speaking English in reverse, it's either this or what was the Led Zeppelin song that people played backwards and claimed they could hear stuff in? It's a Beatles song, right? Or Revolution Number nine. Paul is dead.

Pizzou the demon. I mean, where else do you think? What are some other Pizzuzzi's great moments? I feel a little like him, Pizzou and Linda Blair. I feel like they peaked in this movie and just never were able to... Pizzu is such a scary name. Talking about Pizzuzzi's dating history. Why don't you turn about his fair play?

Who did Pizzuzzi date? I couldn't find that research. Pizzuzu dated Morris Day and the Times bass player. I think it's reasonable to assume that Rick James also had a fling with Pizzu based on everything that's having a Rick James. Yeah, I think that was a fling with cocaine. Pizzuzu feels like untapped Hollywood territory, right? Because it's a scary name.

Like, as I've gone through the document, I've deleted Pizzou after I talked about it because I didn't even want it on my iPad. There's something just scary about Pizzou, the two Zs, the way it looks in print. And it feels like conjuring for Pizzou would just be a movie that would in the way. that we scare me, no, nothing?

Do you guys know, like, we haven't remarked upon what Pizzou looks like? Like, do you know how this demon is represented? It's like half animal, half human, right? Like different parts all screwed up. The body of a man, the head of a lion or a dog, the talons of an eagle, two pairs of wings, a scorpion's tail, and a serpentine penis. I don't even like talking about this. Pizzuzzi freaks me out.

That's fucked up. Pizzuzza's ability to go from Iraq to Washington, D.C. is just so underrated. I know. The Bo Jackson of his time. Jesus. What did he fly on the Concord? How did he get there?

No, it was a long walk. So you guys, I mean, like, does she just conjure him from the Ouija board? This is a good answer the question. I had that in unanswerable questions why Pizzou became so interested. I assume maybe he was hanging out in that house because they're renting it. They show up. I think Bladdy and the filmmakers say that. he was targeting

Carras. That this was a way to draw Carras who was having a crisis of faith. This was a way to draw him out and to show people that God is weak, right? That if you can reveal that like a priest loses his faith in the face of evil, that the devil is more powerful.

Picket's the Christians got upset about Karris getting possessed briefly at the end of the movie because they said no demon or the devil can dwell where the Holy Spirit is, aka God. So in this case, if the priest is a saved child of God and he had the Holy Spirit within him and in him, how does Pizzuzuzu get in there? They're basically like, that door's locked. Pizzuzzi's not getting in. So they were upset about that. Yeah, with all due respect, we have a lot of evidence that priests are

fallible. Yeah. Well, this is, as I forgot to mention earlier, it's Priest Month here in the rewatchables. I don't know what we do next. Doubt? What are we doing the doubt rewatchables? That is a one, one time watchable and that's it. Another picking it.

So Reagan, the makeup, and she's got crucifix scars on her face, all that stuff. And then the Pizzou finally goes, wherever he goes, looks totally fine. just a couple small marks when she's saying goodbye at the end when they're leaving. It feels like, why wouldn't she have been disfigured? I couldn't figure that part out. I think, well, I don't know how long, how much time is supposed to have passed, but I think that the whole thing with possession is that, like, once you get rid of the demon, like, you know. You just spring back to normal.

Yeah. Good to know. Could Reagan have been charged with murder? Yes. but I think that the detective is like this is one that we're going to let go because it's about a bigger fight than the one we have here.

That would have been a good apex mountain. Detectives letting obvious murders go between this and Death Wish 1 where the guy's like, cool, hey, how about you just move and we'll call this a wash for the 11 people you murdered? It's because Burke was such an asshole

that no one was seeking justice for him. Like if Burke had more friends and picked fewer fights at parties, perhaps someone would come to his aid and try to get Reagan locked up. Well, in the book, I think it's more than insinuated that there might have been some molesting stuff with Burke and Reagan. And apparently they hint at it in the movie, but I didn't really catch it. Well, it's like, what's he doing in her room? Right. So Burke's getting what's coming to him. Any other nitpicks for you guys?

Yeah, I'm kind of curious. what's the deal? Does Sharon have like a binding contract? Like what at what point as a babysitter are you kind of like, this is above and beyond my pay grade? We're going to have to renegotiate terms if I have to babysit at Pizzou and make sure that Pizzou is properly bound to a bed. And because Chris McNeil is still like going out. While her daughter is either possessed or very ill, Chris McNeil is like, oh, I was still, I guess she's still shooting crash course or whatever the movie is. that they make within the film.

But I was just like, I was always like, is Sharon related to them somehow? Because it really goes pretty far with like, if I was Sharon, I probably would be looking for a different house to live in. Yeah, Chris is late to the set one day. Sorry, my daughter's possessed by an evil spirit. And she was just wreaking havoc in her bedroom. So sorry. Sorry, I'm late, everybody.

Could we speed up the filming? I got to get back because, again, my daughter's possessed by an evil spirit. I'm pretty sure I would cancel the movie at that point. What happened to Crash Course? Did that movie open big? Did they ever finish the production of that movie? Burke got thrown out of a fucking window. Yeah, I mean, the star of the film's daughter killed the director.

So I don't know. That would have been a good unanswerable question. I didn't even think of that. I'm not even sure if Crash Course seemed like a good movie. like the big parade scene where they're all protesting just seemed like a bad movie. Agree. Not a movie that would work. All right.

Best quote, I mean, obviously, your mother sucks cox in hell is just the best. Your mother sucks cox and hell. Your mother sucks and hell. The faithless slime. It's just great. There's so much unintentional comedy. It's funny when they would run it on regular TV

and they would have to sanitize it. But Reagan gets off some good evil lines of this. Could this be remade as a 10-episode Netflix show? I'd be kind of into this. The Exorcist as a TV show, but calling it The Exorcist and basically doing the same premise but blowing it out,

I think would be a cool one. They did it. What do you mean? There was an Exorcist TV show. Oh, the one with Gina Davis? Four years ago. On Fox. Yeah, with Gina Davis.

It was okay. Yeah. You can watch it on Netflix. It was not great. It's literally the reason why you should not make remake movies like this into TV shows. We don't need it. Maybe do it with Linda Blair now. She's back with Rick James. Probably in answerable questions. Was Carl actually a Nazi? That's my big part. Probably I'm asking. That's ambiguous. He's like, I'm Swiss. It's not very convincing when he's like, no, I'm Swiss. Yeah, that was weird. Do you think Carl brought Pizzuzzi from Iraq to the McClure? Neil household. Think about that. Like, Pizzou jumped in his suitcase?

It's possible. Could you say Linda Blair's real life probably married what happened to Reagan's real life after the exorcism? What do Reagan's next five years look like? They're moving back to L.A. She's bouncing back from being possessed by an evil spirit and murdering a guy.

Probably not an easy transition. I'm going to guess. Chris, get the, get the Wii and we'll consult that interview, just to kind of check. Another in answerable question for me. Is this movie the greatest example of dads can be important in a horror movie? Because I feel like there could have been a really good dad scene where it's like,

hey, I know this movie's important, but our fucking daughters. And then he dies like a scene later. Kind of needed like a dad or a boyfriend type. So is that, is Ellen, is Chris on the phone with the dad when she's just like, I'm just really tired. Reagan hasn't been feeling well and she's like, no, you can't do. Yeah, I was curious whether or not that's supposed to be him

finally. Doesn't seem like a really good dad. I think that's part of the point of the movie, right? One of the metaphors is like what a young girl is going through like menstruation. That's obviously a big theme. And the other theme is like, it's a divorce movie. It's like what happens to a family

when it breaks up and how does it affect the kids? Like that's totally a point of the movie. So you could say this is the second most emotionally scarring divorce movie behind Kramer versus Kramer. Make that case. Slightly less violent. Do they ever rent this house again?

Oh. Like to other people? Because I don't know if they have disclosure things in D.C. No way. Yeah. No way. They're like, hey, can't believe this house is available. I know.

Isn't it great? Stairs are right there. What's that chalk outline on the bottom of stairs? Nothing. They did not have Redfin. They did not have CarMax. Like, you would just get a car and it might be Christine, you know? They should put like a brass plate outside that said Pizzou stayed here.

The Pazoooozee's sweet. What was Pazuzu's next move? Another in answerable question. Good question. Where's he go next? See, like, that's cool. I killed Maren. I finally got him.

Almost got him in Iraq. Had to fall him to D.C. Do you want me to say, should we say what happens in Exorcist 3? Yeah. So in Exorcist 3. Because we're almost done with the movie. anyway. So we could do spoiler alert. What happens at X-St. 3? Pizzuzu is inside of Karras's body, and then they swap it basically for a version of the Zodiac killer, which is the Gemini

killer. And the Gemini killer is electrocuted and takes over the body of Karris. And you never see it, but he basically resurrects Karris and gets picked up in D.C. as like an amnesiac homeless guy and is put in like an institution. And then George C. Scott plays kinderman and Exorcist 3 and, you know, hilarity ensues. Super realistic movie. One of the most realistic films of that time. You're being sarcastic?

Yes, Sam. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't meet Exorcist on the level of realism, yes, but it is pretty creepy in its own right. When are we doing hardcore with George C. Scott? We should do... Oh, no. Should we do hardcore an 8mm for Valentine's Day 21?

You laugh, but I was looking at the rest of the 2020 schedule trying to figure out where we... Once Van said he loved 8mmeter, it's on. It's gonna happen. It's Christmas morning. It's Christmas morning. I think there's way more 8mm. My friend Mike, then you guys were interrogating me about why my friend Mike

loved 8mm. What's his deal? was he in jail? You were like, my buddy Mike just texted me to say. Yeah, my buddy Mike Minnelson was listening to the rewatchables where we talked about how we loved eight millimeter. He's like, do it. I'm ready.

Bang it out. I mean, he needs 15 minutes on Gandalfini alone in that movie. You literally make it sound like he treats the rewatchables like a snuff film. You know, he's like, do it. I need it. The film is real. Who won the movie? It's a good one.

Can't say Pizzou. I think Freakin. I had Friedkin as well. I was tempted to go Miller, but I think Freedkin. I think you could make the case that it doesn't actually help Friedkin. It sets the bar too high. And then we don't, he doesn't get viewed in the same light as Scorsese and Lucas and Spielberg and all of his contemporaries, all those people who came out of the late 60s and early 70s.

He's made some of the most influential and important movies ever made, but he's not in, I think he's considered B-tier of the greatest. And I think it's because this weirdly set the bar too high. It was hard to get over this. And he was so convinced of his own greatness in a way he goes on to have kind of a complicated period. You know, Sorcerer is great, but very troubled. And cruising is very troubled, you know, from the way it was received. And that's not until to live and die in L.A.

when he kind of reinvents himself. Yes. But then he makes several future rewatchables like Jade. Did he make Jade? Oh my God, he did. There's a chance that if we... The weirdest one is blue chips. If we do this podcast...

I love blue chips. So this is the second Freedkin, right? Yeah. I could see us doing to live in die in L.A. We are going to do... We did blue chips. We did blue chips. We could...

We're doing cruising. So that's five. Yeah. And Jade is in play. Jade is amazing. I think you should do a solo bug rewatchables. Dressed like Michael Shannon in that movie. I saw Jade.

And you will be their queen. I saw Jade in the theater with my friend Nick Ayeda in Framingham, Massachusetts. And fortunately, we were one of the only people there, and we could openly mock it as it. It's now a comedy. I think certain movies become comedies over time. Jade is now a comedy. The other one that's now comedy is Caller of Night with Bruce Willis and Jane March. It's another one where it's just like impossibly terrible.

and isn't achieving any of the things that it set out to do. I can't explain Jade. Jade killed Caruso's career. Yeah. Like he almost didn't come back from it. He didn't. Is that the movie? He left NYPD Blue for that movie, right?

It was to go do that movie? Well, it was Kiss of Death. Or the Kiss of Death? Okay. Kiss of Death, which probably I have that marked down in the 250 to 270 rewatchable range. When we get to like about 250, Kiss of Death is probably happening. That's like 2020. It's like late 2021.

That's soon. That's like 22. It's like, how many have we done? Well, eventually we're just going to do the kiss of the day. We're going to run out of movies.

There's so many left. You know, if we do Jade and don't do the French connection and Sorcer, I will quit. That's all it's going to take. Wait, I had a question about Friedkin. I think the reason he's not compared with those guys

is because he has all these movies he made in the 60s. So he's considered not in that generation because he was already successful, right? In a weird way, that kind of works against him. Yeah. Yeah. No, it did. I mean, so, you know who else did a giant nose dive?

I hate to say it, but Coppola, after Apocop's now, like, go look at his IMDB. It's not like the, it's teeming with hits. but he was able to kind of hold on to those 70s movies. It's weird that Friedkin hasn't had the same kind of thing. I think Coppola's 80s, though, has had more of a reclamation project. You know, Cotton Club and The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, those movies have like, those movies are in the Criterion Collection.

You know, like those are big movies now. Look at the movies that Freedkin made in the 80s. He made cruising, which is a good movie, but is complicated. He made Deal of the Century to Live and Die in LA, which we all always. like. And then Rampage and the Guardian, which, I mean, is anybody having a conversation about 1987's Rampage? He did do the Laura Brandigan self-control video, which I'd talk about all the time. 1984. Yeah, it is, that would be a good, a good bracket we would never do on the ringer is the weirdest IMDB of all time bracket. Yeah. Freakin's definitely a top two seed. If you're just like, can you explain this

friend IMDB to me. His highs compared to his lows are stunning. That they're like a sheer cliff face of difference. He takes crazy risks. That's why. He takes on these really weird projects. And he like won it back. He made Bug and Killer Joe at the end of his run as a filmmaker. And everybody was like, oh, right. This guy is one of the absolute best of all time. But for 20 years, people didn't think of him that way. I think Paul Schrader's like that to me too a little bit where you look at his Iron DeBe and you're like, man, I love that movie. Oh my God. I love that one. It's like, whoa, that one. It's just, it's a roller coaster ride. And he had the same thing, right, with the, with the Greg Kinnear movie at the end of his career or in the early 2000s, what was auto focus? Where like for 15 years, you know,

he had a affliction in auto focus in a row and people were like, oh, yeah, Paul Schrader. He's amazing. And then he has this, this third wave of greatness. But it's weird. These guys, like in the 80s, it was hard for them when the movie business changed so much in the seven, after the 70s because they thought that it was going to be that way forever. And they were like, I get to, I get to shoot off guns and and slap people in the face and do 80 takes and take two days to light an outdoor exterior shot of a guy walking through a door. And nobody really gets to do that anymore. Not gets to do.

It does that. We'll tackle them again when we do cruising over the course of four podcasts for Christmas. Christmas holiday week, four part cruising. We just break down. We'll do it for Hanukkah. Eight, eight episodes. We just break it down 20 minutes at a time. And then Craig quits and Sean eventually quits as we head toward the ending.

All right, you can hear fantasy in the big picture. You can hear Chris on the watch. Little dabble in the ringer NBA as well and sometimes on the big picture. And I have another podcast coming tomorrow. That's it for the rewatchables. We will see you next time.