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The Ninth Configuration (1979)

Director: William Peter Blatty

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2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

It's easy to see why Exorcist author William Peter Blatty's debut effort as a director stayed on the shelf for a year. This unfathomable yarn about an ace US Army psychiatrist, at work in an isolated military nuthouse populated by a gallery of service fruitcakes (from cowardly astronauts and Congressional Medal winners to Vietnam war malingerers) has the same tortured Christian iconography as Blatty's bestseller, but is altogether more pretentious on the level of reflection about the Problem of Evil and the question Is God Dead (or is he just living in sin?). A kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Catch-22, or maybe Fuller's Shock Corridor set as an episode from The Twilight Zone. Sounds interesting enough, but isn't.

Author: RM 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

  • denise said...
    Posted on Sep 16 2009 07:38 As a psychologist who has worked with combat veterans for 18 yrs, I use this most touching rendering of the suffering that such men go through on a daily basis as a result of their war experiences. The question of where God was when hundreds and thousands of men died horrifically in front of them is the ultimate existential crisis which, thank God, most people will never have to know, The producers style highlighted core issues with these men in such a way as to make one question humility, courage, human frailty and other essential issues in life that we have forgotten to even think about. It's one of the best movies I have seen.
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  • Josh said...
    Posted on Jul 30 2009 13:03 Sorry but you missed the mark on this one. A masterpiece of filmmaking.
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Cast & crew

Director: William Peter Blatty

Producer: William Peter Blatty

Cast: Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders, Neville Brand, George DiCenzo, Moses Gunn, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell, Alejandro Rey, Tom Atkins full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 118 mins


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