Review by Jack Kost.
Every kind thought is
the hope of the world.
– Ed Flanders, as
Colonel Fell.
Many
times, over the years, people have asked me the same question about The Ninth
Configuration:
“What’s
it like?”
My
response is always the same: incomparable.
There’s
no other movie to compare it to.
It’s
set in an asylum, but it’s nothing like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
It’s
the author’s official sequel to The Exorcist, exploring the themes of faith,
suffering, good and evil, but it’s not a horror movie.
The
Ninth Configuration was directed, written, and produced by William Peter
Blatty.
He
based the script on his own novel: Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane,
originally published in 1966.
This
story is the second in Blatty’s “trilogy of faith”, an indirect sequel to The
Exorcist, with the novel Legion as the third part.
The
astronaut from the house party scene in The Exorcist, ominously warned by the
possessed girl: “You’ll die up there!”, is Cutshaw in The Ninth Configuration.
The
Ninth Configuration opens on a melancholic tone, as Captain Billy Cutshaw
(Scott Wilson) sits by a gothic castle window, watches a torrential rainstorm
outside, and listens to a song on a cassette player.
The
song San Antone, performed by Denny Brooks, written by Barry De Vorzon, plays
on the soundtrack as we move from Cutshaw in his room, to the castle grounds,
surrounding area, and armed sentries braving the weather in hooded ponchos at
the castle gate.
The
song ends, Cutshaw stops the cassette, and sadly lowers his head.
The
opening titles play over a striking nightmare sequence: a countdown to a
moonshot is abruptly aborted as the moon looms up behind the rocket and launch
pad.
Psychiatrist,
Colonel Fell (Ed Flanders) informs us in voice-over narrative, that it’s
sometime in the ‘70s, towards the end of the Vietnam war.
The
castle is in a secluded, unspecified location, shrouded in mist, set somewhere
in the Pacific Northwest.
The
building is being used as a military asylum.
The
castle shown in the movie is the Burg Eltz Castle.
It
overlooks the Moselle River, between Koblenz and Trier, in Germany.
After
the sad opening scene and the surprising dream credit sequence, there’s a genre
switch again to comedy, as we’re introduced to the castle residents:
Lieutenant
Frankie Reno (Jason Miller) is adapting Shakespeare’s plays, with dogs in the
roles.
He
has a problem with Hamlet.
Lieutenant
Spinell (Joe Spinell) is Reno’s casting director.
Major
Nammack (Moses Gunn) believes he’s Superman.
Captain
Fairbanks (George DiCenzo) has multiple personalities.
One
believes he can walk through walls.
He
smashes a hole in one wall to punish the atoms after he takes a running bash
and fails, miserably, to pass through.
Another
of his personalities is a sword-carrying nun who exorcises a Cola vending
machine.
Lieutenant
Bennish (Robert Loggia) believes he has been abducted to the planet Venus, is
enraged that his flying belt has been confiscated, and promises not to use it
to escape.
Lieutenant
Gomez (Alejandro Rey) is a painter, complaining there’s no color in the air.
Lieutenant
Fromme (William Peter Blatty) believes he is the real psychiatrist and steals
Colonel Fell’s jacket, pants, and stethoscope at every opportunity.
Major
Groper (Neville Brand) attempts, in vain, to maintain discipline among the
lunatics.
Sergeants
Krebs (Tom Atkins) and Christian (Stephen Powers) patrol the castle and
grounds, overseeing everything.
The
humor works.
Before
William Peter Blatty wrote his landmark 1971 horror novel: The Exorcist, he was
a comedy screenwriter.
The
patients, even though they say and do crazy shit, are all highly intelligent,
some near-genius, and highly decorated for their combat service.
It
seems unlikely that these men would be faking insanity to avoid combat, but
suspicion still hangs over them.
Cutshaw
is the odd man out: an astronaut who aborted his mission to fly to the moon,
during the final countdown.
The
question is why?
Cutshaw
wasn’t in combat.
Why
would he fake insanity?
To
get to the core of the men’s problems, and to ascertain if their PTSD is real
and they are on the level, a new psychiatrist arrives at the facility.
The
comedy then shifts into drama.
Colonel
Kane (Stacy Keach) is unconventional in his methods.
Temperate
and stoic, no matter how much the inmates try to provoke him.
But
there’s something else going on with Kane.
In
his quiet moments, he suffers flashbacks.
Something’s
there in his mind, deep in the rain-drenched jungle he envisions.
We
see two of Kane’s dreams.
The
first is a brief glimpse of three crosses in a cloudscape, bathed in light,
possibly a vision of Heaven.
In
the second dream, Cutshaw is walking on the surface of the moon, the lunar
landing craft in the background.
Cutshaw
places the American flag, then turns and raises his arms.
The
camera draws back and we see Christ (played by Stacy Keach) on the cross.
As
this scene plays out, we hear Kane, in voice-over, give an argument proving the
existence of God:
“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 take 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 a God.”
This
monologue was inspired by the studies of Dr. Pierre Lecomte du Noüy, a French
biophysicist, philosopher, theologian, and author.
An
agnostic who converted to Christianity.
In
his book Human Destiny, published in 1947, he describes through his
telefinalist hypothesis, and study of the chirality of amino acids in a
protein, that life and evolution could not have happened simply by chance; God
is the driving force for everything.
Science
tells us how things work.
Only
God and faith can provide the meaning behind the mystery of life.
A
battle of wills ensues between Cutshaw the patient and Kane the psychiatrist.
After
disrupting a church mass, Cutshaw asks Kane:
“If you die first, in this life after death,
will you give me a sign?”
Kane
says yes.
Cutshaw
dismisses it.
He
meant the request as a mocking taunt, but Kane keeps his word.
They
meet and debate the mystery of faith, reason for suffering, existence of God,
nature of good and evil.
Kane
argues that if evil exists in the world, so does goodness.
Proof
of which is the existence of love, the selflessness of man, altruistic acts,
that one person will sacrifice their own life in order to save another.
Cutshaw’s
challenge to Kane is to give just one personal example of genuine altruistic
self-sacrifice to back up his argument.
Tensions
lead to a violent confrontation in a bar, involving Kane, Cutshaw, and a
motorcycle gang led by Stanley (Steve Sandor) and Richard (Richard Lynch).
This
movie is also notable as being the first to use the Howie Scream stock sound effect,
in the moment when knife-wielding biker, Stanley, attacks Kane.
Like
many movies, The Ninth Configuration, was poorly received on its release and
widely criticized over the years.
I
believe in credit where it’s due: Blatty helmed the entire project and achieved
a memorable mind-trip, with a genre mix of comedy, drama, war story, tragedy
and theological thriller.
You
have to go into this movie with patience and an open mind.
Be
sure to see the version labelled as the Definitive Cut; there have been several
versions released over the years, differing in running time and with key scenes
missing.
The
Definitive Cut is the best version, with the inclusion of the prologue
sequence, with the song San Antone playing, other scenes throughout, and a
clearer ending.
I’ve
always found watching The Ninth Configuration an entertaining and rewarding
experience.
Stunning
visuals.
Atmospheric
setting.
Brilliant
and, at times, hilariously written script.
All
played out with an excellent ensemble cast that clearly had a blast making this
movie.
I
first saw it as a video store VHS rental in the early ‘80s.
I’ve
seen it many times since then, and it is now part of my movie collection.
So
many movies just follow a predictable format.
The
Ninth Configuration dares to be a very different movie, in so many ways.
With
understanding of the author and director’s vision, we can appreciate the
achievement of everyone involved.
With
so many layers to the story, a funny and quotable script, serious themes,
effective plot twist, and an ending that is profound and genuinely moving, this
is one of the most original and ambitious movies I’ve ever seen.
The
Ninth Configuration was originally released in the United States on February
29, 1980.
A
leap year.
Take
a leap of faith and take the time to watch this surreal, thought-provoking, and
underrated classic.
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