Unsuccessful satire on organized religion, A mean, pissed off Brad Dourif gives a strong performance, as he grows increasingly psycho, murderous and self destructive, Wacky characters don't connect, Movie's points aren't focused , The ending is pointless, and maybe that was intentional,

I kept wondering throughout the movie: Where is this headed? I seemed directionless and without purpose or meaning. Yep, by the end that is exactly what this movie is about - roaming senselessness. Was this Huston's stab at "A Clockwork Orange" or a biker movie? I'll never get that 1 hour and 47 minutes of my life back. I feel dumber for having watched it.

One of the best of the Southern Gothic movies. And it stays close to the story that Flannery wrote. Like many of the militant atheists, her main character (Hazel) is obsessed with religion. He pulls other people into his personal tragedy as he preaches against God and Christ. Don't be surpised if you become one of Hazel's victims. This movie may give you nightmares.

Very bizarre, hilarious, awkward. I loved it.

Think this one would be better shot my Coen Bros or Martin McDonagh, who have a feel for O'Connor type stories. The soundtrack is distracting and uneven. Overdubbing with a fresh one would remedy half of what's objectionable in this movie.

This is on my ten-best movies list. What Huston wrung out of a low-budget on-location movie with lesser parts played by locals is phenomenal.

I haven't read Flannery O'Connor's book (her first, from 1952), which must be quite weird, because this (supposedly faithful) adaptation by director John Huston is also very strange. It is hard to get a good grasp of the central character, Hazel Motes, who returns from the war (WWI in the novel, but given the 1970s cars on display here, perhaps Vietnam for the movie) and soon takes up preaching an anti-religion ("the Church of Christ without Christ"). Brad Dourif plays Motes as perpetually antagonized ï¿ 1/2" by almost everyone he meets, but especially by con men posing as preachers (as played by Harry Dean Stanton or Ned Beatty). Perhaps this has something to do with his (now deceased) grandfather, played by Huston himself, who was also a preacher. A distant memory has Hazel filling his shoes with rocks as a child, potentially as a punishment for sinning. Soon, he turns to similar self-punishment as an adult (after a particularly violent act against a false prophet). But this synopsis may make Motes seem more focused than he appears in the movie ï¿ 1/2" he is purposeful but his goals are unclear (perhaps even to himself?). An odd subplot involves another young man, new to the city, who wants to help Motes find a "new Jesus" but ends up running around in a gorilla costume. To be honest, without reading the book, I'm at a loss when trying to discern the deeper themes of the movie (based on O'Connor's Catholicism, they say). In the end, Motes is sacrificed but has his spiritual purging led to salvation? Or is Huston criticizing the sort of lunacy that can lead to such an end? All told, the movie's resistance to easy understanding makes it that much more compelling ï¿ 1/2" and its dead-end ï¿ 1/2~70s' vibe is always a pleasure (see also Fat City, 1972).

i disliked this movie at first but now i am a fan. it's a weird and disturbing story about street preachers living on the edge of society

Wise Blood is an okay film. It is about a Southerner who is determined to become something in the world. Brad Dourif and John Huston give decent performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. John Huston did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the humor and drama.

There is this intense dude who decides he'll become a preacher, and start his own church without Christ. He's obsessed with this pretendy blind preacher, and that guys daughter is more than a little obsessed with the main preacher. There's also this bumbling town idiot who works at the zoo, steals a tiny mummy from the museum to be "the new Jesus", then steals a gorilla suit. Then there's this other dude with a guitar who works fake preachers for cash.... Our dude ends up running over that fake preacher. Then he blinds himself for-reals, and his landlady says there's nothing for it but for them to get married... It is one weird and rambling tale, without any real moral, but with plenty of preaching.

The movie I didn't know I needed. Finding charm in the grotesque. Brilliant dialogue and exceptional performances.

A great film adaptation by director John Huston of Flannery O'Connor's novel. It follows a young man named Hazel Motes (played by a young Brad Dourif) who is mad at God and Christianity and decides to start the The Church of Truth Without Christ in the deep South, where pretty much everyone is a Pentecostal, Evangelical, or Fundamentalist Christian. It is a funny, powerful, and scathing satire on religious fundamentalism and also extreme atheism. If you think you've seen it all, well, you haven't if you haven't seen WISE BLOOD.

John Huston's WISE BLOOD is a scathing tragicomedy, with Brad Dourif giving an Oscar-worthy performance as a devout atheist who starts the first "Church Of Truth Without Christ." Huston brilliantly injects allusions of the messiah into Dourif's character, hence making it a film accessible for rewatch.

Wise Blood seems like a bizarre mish-mash. What the hell is this about? Who acts like Hazel Motes? Who thinks what this guy does could possibly work? Who would behave like that, to so little obvious benefit or effect? Until you finally figure out Flannery O'Connor's angle. This is how Catholics see Atheism. Atheism is preaching to people that there is no promise or hope, that no salvation will reward good works, that no happiness can result from this vale of tears. It's preaching this evangel in the most repellent, abusive manner possible, and then being utterly mystified that people are turned off from your message. In fact, even if you do find an audience, you are soon usurped by a slick charlatan who can play the drama better than you can. It's insisting that an obviously shitty car is perfectly good and is worth buying and maintaining, even when it constantly breaks down on you. It is self-imposed pain for no good reason, with no earthly comfort nor heavenly reward. When you see Wise Blood as a Catholic's view of Atheism, then what seemed like unmotivated nonsense becomes almost linear storytelling. This is, of course, a pretty insulting angle on Atheism. Only recently has Atheism found effective public voices from people like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Bill Maher. I don't know of any prominent public Atheists in the time O'Connor was writing, and the only prominent public Atheist I know of until the '90s was Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who frankly was no more attractive a public speaker than Hazel Motes. The substance of Atheistic argument is certainly stronger and more tenable than the nonsense Motes spouts, and there weren't many people around to counter O'Connor's tilted version of it. There are, however, levels where she has a point. Atheism does not offer hope. While hope is not a goal of philosophical inquiry, when one has successfully made the argument against religious faith, it cannot be ignored that this leaves the ex-believer bereft of hope, which is a powerful psychological need. Atheism is a burdensome load for the non-believer, and it is an act of staggering meanness to convince believers out of their faith and leave them devoid of hope for the future. Even illusory comfort is still comfort. John Huston, as always, is a wonderful cinematic storyteller here. He is diligently faithful to O'Connor's story. Brad Dourif was one of America's fastest rising actors in the late '70s and kind of fell out of favor, at least in major movies. It's unfortunate, because his performances from this era comprise a formidable body of work.

I saw this when I was a kid and it had just come out. I would see it years later at The Harvard Archive. This is a truly brilliant and often forgotten film. It is is actually pretty amazing that John Huston was able to come even close to capturing Flannery O'Connor's truly strange novel. More than coming "close," Huston actually equals her twisted book. Benedict and Michael Fitzgeralds' screenplay is on target, but one really has to credit John Huston with the sheer nerve to tap into the vibe of this O'Connor's darkly comical Southern-Gothica study of free will, sexism, racism, sin and redemption. The infamous novel had a great deal to provoke and shock in the early 1950's. It says something that Huston has just as much to deliver as our country crept out of the 1970's. Sadly underrated, Brad Dourif is cast in the leading role. And he is the perfect actor to capture "Hazel Motes" down to the very bones. Even more tragically underrated, Amy Wright, is equally potent in bringing "Sabbath Lily" to life. Add The One & Only Harry Dean Stanton to the mix as "Asa Hawks" and you have the perfect storm of actors to bring this experimental film to the full boiling point. This is also the best work that the late Cinematographer, Gerry Fisher, ever did. In my opinion this movie is very nearly flawless. It has been "over-looked" for years. Criterion released it within their collection a while back. Fingers-crossed that they will soon do a 4K remaster to blu-ray/HD format. While many consider this to be a Cult Film, I think it a cinematic masterpiece. See it and prepare to be challenged. No likes wise blood john huston independent film film art film theory american film brad dourif amy wright harry dean stanton gerry fisher cinematography flannery o'connor southern gothica cinematic provocation cinematic masterpiece the criterion collection

What a strange little movie. It is "queer" in the original sense of the word, as I imagine O'Connor's fiction is. After all, she is credited with saying "Thou shalt know the truth and the truth shalt make you odd." I love Brad Dourif. I have seen on the LOTR DVD extras that he is a method actor, and I wonder how he geared himself up (or down) for this role. Amy Wright is great, too.

I don't believe in anything. Hazel Motes is a poor southern boy who has a strong desire to change how people see the world. He leads a group of speeches against the belief in God and preaches a belief in change and the need to need nothing. He has a stocker young man that is a village idiot and some potential backers. The members in the town often treat him fairly well. When his beliefs don't take off like he'd hoped, he may self destruct. "What did you stop me for?" "I don't much like your face." John Huston, director of The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Man Who Would be King, Moulin Rouge (1952), Annie (1982), Prizzi's Honor, Key Largo, and The Asphalt Jungle, delivers Wise Blood. The storyline for this picture was very entertaining and unpredictable. The acting was also solid and the cast includes Brad Douris, Ned Beatty, William Hickey, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton, and Dan Shor. "If I had a face like that, I'd sit on it and never get up." I DVR'd this off Turner Classic Movies (TCM) about a year or so ago. I adore John Huston films and thought this had a unique plot for him. This has some good twists and character evolutions, even by sub characters sprinkled throughout the film. I thought this was very well done and is worth a viewing. "He blinded himself." Grade: B+/A-

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.

They had a good grasp of the characters, undoubtedly, but the whole feel, and the strange 70s setting was very unlike O'Connor.

What a weeeird movie. Almost as if Harmony Korine and Robert Downey Sr adapted a Coen Brothers movie. I don't know that it was necessarily a good movie as it was an interesting movie.. it unfortunately loses itself in the middle (I think by switching gears to comedy) which leaves the ending mostly confusing. However there's something there worthwhile there about the nature of religion... it's just a little hard to put your finger on it.