Wise Blood

Wise Blood (1979) starring Brad Dourif, Daniel Shor, Amy Wright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ned Beatty. Directed by John Huston. Southern Gothic story, based on a novel by Flannery O'Connor, in which Dourif plays a military man returning home from duty who decides that he will become a preacher of the "Church of Jesus Christ Without Jesus," or something like that. He travels to the nearest large town, where he meets up with various weird characters. Wright plays the young girl who initially falls for him, and Stanton and Beatty play rival preachers. It's all very amusing, in an odd sort of way, and if nothing else it's watchable. (Subtitles in English are available for the hearing-impaired.) Grade: B