Exorcising an Infamous Failure

David Kittredge’s “Boorman and the Devil” begins with a quote by a British novelist and screenwriter, Hanif Kureishi: “The artist must live on the edge of failure . . . any work could be a triumph, disaster or a bit of both.” Later the camera alights on John Boorman, the nonagenarian director of signal pictures like “Point Blank” (1967) and “Deliverance” (1972). He relates a bit of advice given to him by fellow director David Lean: “John, you know, we all make failures. Try not to make a famous one.” “Deliverance” was a critical and commercial success, and gained a cultural notoriety that few works of art can claim. Mr. Boorman followed up not with a famous failure but, you might say, a failure on the down-low. “Zardoz” (1974) was a science fiction epic that is likely best remembered for featuring a hirsute Sean Connery wearing what can best be called a post-apocalyptic diaper. The movie is an unholy mess indicative of the humbuggery that attended to a generation that came of age after the cultural contretemps of the 1960s. It’s got to be seen to be believed.“Zardoz” has since garnered a cult following, as do most odd and off-topic movies, and so did Mr. Boorman’s next effort, “Exorcist II: The Heretic” (1977). Listen to Mr. Kittredge gush about this “mesmerizing” achievement: “It was a sequel that was nothing like the original . . . it came from another world.” After having watched “Boorman and the Devil,” which is playing at the Quad Cinema, you have to conclude that “The Heretic” was less a consequence of alien intervention than a hodgepodge resulting from too many cooks in the kitchen and a set of circumstances even the hardiest of souls couldn’t withstand.Did you know that Mr. Boorman was among the directors first approached to helm the adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s book about a young girl possessed by the devil? He turned down the job, finding the story “rather repulsive.” Why, then, did Mr. Boorman sign on when Warner Brothers came knocking at his door for a sequel? Because the script, written by Broadway playwright Bill Goodhart, mentioned Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit priest whose theological notions have, on the whole, rankled Catholics, scientists and philosophers.Mr. Boorman was enamored of the good father’s mystical bent, and Mr. Kittredge provides helpful diagrams outlining Chardin’s theory of collective human thought, something dubbed “the noosphere.” Still, Mr. Boorman felt the screenplay needed “jolts” so he called on a buddy, Rospo Pallenberg, to help out. Goodhart wasn’t having any of it, but that didn’t stop Messrs. Boorman and Pallenberg from imagining a film whose globe-spinning convolutions ultimately made “Zardoz” seem like a child’s pull toy.Linda Blair returned to play the unlucky Regan Teresa McNeil at a remunerative price tag; Max Von Sydow returned as well. Lee J. Cobb, who played a hard-bitten detective in the original movie, died of a heart attack during the film’s pre-production, but stentorian actor Richard Burton signed on to play a priest. Louise Fletcher, Oscar winner as Best Actress for her turn as Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), was pegged as the head of a psychiatric institute. “Boorman and the Devil” lays out in exacting detail the myriad problems that stymied the film, not least an illness that felled Mr. Boorman for a five weeks. Upon his return, the director was a changed and, according to some, a lesser man.“The Heretic” opened well, but went on to become one of the biggest boondoggles in Hollywood history. Its failure did much to damage Mr. Boorman’s psyche, but did wonders for Friedkin, whose schadenfreude about the sequel was undiminished until his very last day. As for Mr. Kittredge, he’ has crafted a panegyric to a picture that is, let’s face it, a must to avoid. “Boorman and the Devil” underlines all too well the vagaries of hubris, capital and failure all too famous.

Exorcising an Infamous Failure

Exorcising an Infamous Failure

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