An ex-marine psychiatrist attempts to rehabilitate his patients by indulging their fantasies, and seeks to prove the existence of a loving God to one especially troubled inmate.An ex-marine psychiatrist attempts to rehabilitate his patients by indulging their fantasies, and seeks to prove the existence of a loving God to one especially troubled inmate.An ex-marine psychiatrist attempts to rehabilitate his patients by indulging their fantasies, and seeks to prove the existence of a loving God to one especially troubled inmate.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 4 nominations
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWilliam Peter Blatty has said that he considers this movie to be the true sequel to The Exorcist (1973) as opposed to a mere follow-up. The novel and film of "The Exorcist" deals with the existence of both good and evil, "The Ninth Configuration" deals with the mystery of good, and the third novel, "Legion", deals with the human's punishment of evil for original sin. Captain Cutshaw is the same astronaut whom Regan warns "You're gonna die up there" in "The Exorcist". book. However, in the Exorcist film, the astronaut is never mentioned by name (not even in the credits).
- GoofsWhen Capt. Cutshaw places the mud pie on Col. Kane's desk it is whole and intact. In the next shot the mud pie is very noticeably crumbled.
- Quotes
Col. Vincent Kane: In order for life to have appeared spontaneously on earth, there first had to be hundreds of millions of protein molecules of the ninth configuration. But given the size of the planet Earth, do you know how long it would have taken for just one of these protein molecules to appear entirely by chance? Roughly ten to the two hundred and forty-third power billions of years. And I find that far, far more fantastic than simply believing in God.
- Alternate versionsThere are five different versions of this film, with various running times from 99 up to 140 minutes. Director William Peter Blatty disowned all versions except one: his approved cut runs 118 minutes and is the version that was originally released theatrically in the USA. This version is available on DVD.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Night of the Creeps: Tom Atkins, Man of Action (2009)
- SoundtracksThere's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder
Written by Al Jolson (uncredited), Billy Rose (uncredited) and Dave Dreyer (uncredited)
Performed by Al Jolson
Courtesy of MCA Records
William Peter Blatty wrote 'The Exorcist' as the first part of a trilogy of novels, the other installments being 'Twinkle twinkle killer Kane' and 'Legion'. 'Twinkle twinkle killer Kane' was adapted to the screen by Blatty as 'The Ninth Configuration' and where 'The Exorcist' explored the argument for the existence of God through the palpable presence of evil, 'The Ninth Configuration' continues the argument through exploring the presence of good in a universe purported by science to be empty, blindly deterministic, and amoral.
At the start of the film we are introduced to a motley band of members of the military who, in the course of the Vietnam War, have all suffered various kinds of mental breakdown and for their treatment have been sent to a reconstructed European castle in some remote American mountains (the film was actually shot in Hungary). Chief among these is the astronaut Capt. Billy Cutshaw (Scott Wilson) whose illness is seen as somehow key in that it is clearly not feigned due to cowardice as he was never scheduled for combat. This introduction sets the tone for the first part of the film and the portrayal of mental illness is somewhat zany and comedic and continues as we are introduced to the other main character, the psychiatrist Colonel Kane (Stacy Keach). Col. Kane, with the support of fellow psychiatrist Col. Fell (Ed Flanders), then institutes an unorthodox treatment which indulges the fantasies of the inmates in an attempt to invoke a catharsis which is when all (comedic) hell breaks loose and it is against this anarchic backdrop that Cutshaw argues with Kane for the absurdity of believing in God in a world in which undue suffering proliferates.
The light-hearted whacky tone gives way in the second half as Kane and Cutshaw's arguments become more penetrating (although not completely, as Cutshaw's choice of wardrobe to a Christian Mass will testify!) and the climax of the film is a double-whammy of a plot reveal that casts the performance of Ed Flanders as Col. Fell in a pathos infused light (which can only be fully appreciated with repeat viewings), as well as a bar room fight that will have you stuck to your screen as the tension builds and builds to an explosive finale.
Unfortunately, owing to the fact that a theological tragi-comedy is not the stuff the popcorn and soda crowd really go for, 'The Ninth Configuration' has fallen into the "cult" film category, which is a shame as another film with as fine a plot carried off by as fine a cast (not to mention a wealth of quotable one-liners) you are unlikely to see. However, while the film clearly deserves wider recognition (especially given it's conceptual relationship to 'The Exorcist'), those that seek it out, or fortuitously stumble upon it , are in for a real treat!
- RomanJamesHoffman
- Jul 4, 2012
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Ninth Coinfiguration
- Filming locations
- Castle Eltz, Wierschem, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany(exteriors of the castle)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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