Flannery O'Connor Movies
Set in the Deep South during the postwar era, Wise Blood stars Brad Dourif as an aimless veteran, who decides to become a Bible-thumping preacher (for a questionable concern called "The Church Wihout Christ") principally because he hasn't anything better lined up. Dourif links up with a veteran of the hellfire-and-brimstone circuit, who for business purposes pretends to be blind. The older man persuades Dourif to blind himself for real so that he can truly "see the light" (yes, the movie is that weird). Director Huston, himself, appears as Dourif's grandfather. Adapted from the one-of-a-kind novel by Flannery O'Connor, Wise Blood was a noble experiment but a box-office failure-though, to be fair, Huston never set out to make a blockbuster from O'Connor's offbeat tale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Dourif, Ned Beatty, (more)
- 1976
Introduced by Henry Fonda, this unrated but good family movie is an adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's short story. Taking place in Georgia in the 1940s, Irene Worth plays a widow who allows a Polish WWII refugee family to live on and work her land, but she is soon infected with the same prejudice afflicting many of her neighbors when the immigrants prove so industrious that the home folk are put to shame and begin to feel threatened. Depicting the prejudice that faces many immigrants when they are struggling to make it in a new country, this movie advocates the strong work ethic embodied by the ambitious newcomers to America. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
