The Ninth Configuration

Starring:Tom Atkins, Neville Brand, George DiCenzo, Ed Flanders, Moses Gunn, David Healy, Stacy Keach, Gordon K. Kee, Robert Loggia, William Lucking, Richard Lynch, Jason Miller, William Paul, Stephen Powers, Alejandro Rey, Steve Sandor, Tom Shaw, Joe Spinell, Scott Wilson
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The lunatics are running the asylum... but are they really lunatics? Is Colonel Kane (Stacy Keach) really a noted psychiatrist, assigned to supervise patients in an experimental government clinic, or is he really "Killer" Kane, a decorated U.S. Marine who committed atrocities in Vietnam before going insane? And why did Captain Cutshaw (Scott Wilson) go berserk just seconds before a scheduled rocket launch? These are just some of the puzzles that will eventually be solved in The Ninth Configuration, a giddy and often brilliant drama created by William Peter Blatty, who wrote The Exorcist before directing this adaptation of his own novel, Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane. A satirical study of war's traumatic aftermath, the film uses battle psychosis as the springboard for a delirious and scathingly intelligent human tragedy, laced with some of the wittiest dialogue you're ever likely to hear.

Amazon.com

The lunatics are running the asylum... but are they really lunatics? Is Colonel Kane (Stacy Keach) really a noted psychiatrist, assigned to supervise patients in an experimental government clinic, or is he really "Killer" Kane, a decorated U.S. Marine who committed atrocities in Vietnam before going insane? And why did Captain Cutshaw (Scott Wilson) go berserk just seconds before a scheduled rocket launch? These are just some of the puzzles that will eventually be solved in The Ninth Configuration, a giddy and often brilliant drama created by William Peter Blatty, who wrote The Exorcist before directing this adaptation of his own novel, Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane. A satirical study of war's traumatic aftermath, the film uses battle psychosis as the springboard for a delirious and scathingly intelligent human tragedy, laced with some of the wittiest dialogue you're ever likely to hear.

Description

In a castle on a remote island in the Pacific, insane army soldiers are sent for treatment. Psychiatrist Col. Kane's (Keach) discovers his own need for therapy through the treatment of his patients.

Customer Reviews:

BRILLIANT PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE FILM!.......2006-10-02

I watched this film when it was first released at the now defunct Studio Drive-In in Culver City, CA. And I found it fascinating. Yet, I didn't know very many others who had seen the film. It wasn't until it was released on DVD that I ever had a chance to see it again. And it was just as good as before. This all-star-cast film is a brilliant psychological study from William Peter Blatty of a highly decorated U.S.Marine who has had a mental breakdown.

I do not want to give away too much of this film, because so many people have not seen this great movie. Moreover, it would just ruin it for you if you were to find out about it while reading this review. So I will not put any spoilers in here for you to find. However, if you can find the film in your DVD store, rent it or buy it. Rent it first if you can, because this is not a film for everyone. I will write that the film is about a group of American servicemen from all of the branches of service who are being treated at a secret psychiatric hospital in the Northwestern U.S. Their treatment is very unorthodox, as the men are allowed to act out their fantasies.

One Colonel in particular who is in charge of the group is Colonel Fell (Ed Flanders). He is later joined by another psychiatrist Colonel Kane (Stacy Keach). This is one of the best performances I have ever seen by Stacy Keach. He is not an ordinary psychiatrist, and to tell you anything about his character would ruin the film for you, however, he is the primary, and I mean primary character in the film. All the character actors in the film are great, including the late actor Neville Brand who portrays the top sergeant in charge of the men. [As a sidenote: Neville Brand was also the 3rd most decortated American soldier in W.W.II] I highly recommend the film, it is really, really good. [Stars: 5+]

9th configuration - good but not for everyone.......2006-08-25

This is a great film - but it is not for everyone. I would rate it in the lines of a Clockwork Orange or a 2001 A Space Odessey.

This is the version where they have Stacey Ketch commit suicide as opposed to the originally released version where the bikers knife had cut him.

Blatty astounds us.......2006-08-19

Coming to this film 26 years late is certainly better than never. Like most people back then, when I saw it was showing at the theater, I was turned off by it's original annoying title "Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane." I was the poorer for those 26 years. Now that I've seen it, I'm belatedly spreading the word about it to all my friends.

I don't know if I'm more amazed by Blatty's skill as a writer or a director. I'm bowled over by every aspect of this production. It's hard to single out any one thing, because there are too many things to praise. I guess I'm most impressed by Blatty's skill in weaving a very intricate story. The first half hour doesn't make any sense, but we can still tell we're on to something great. We can simply sit back and enjoy the incredible dialogue. The rest of the movie fulfills its early promise. The plot comes together in a delightfully complex way. Blatty skillfully throws in a couple twists I didn't see coming. And it's all held together by Keach's brooding performance.

Beneath the surface mysteries of the characters' true identities and inner motivations, the core of the film deals with the question of the existence of God. Blatty spins out an intricate and compelling argument for God's existence. As an atheist, I didn't buy his argument, but I was very impressed with it on an emotional level.

If you step beck, you're forced to admit that the whole scenario of the movie is ridiculously improbable. But Blatty's skill in telling the story more than makes up for this. Like most of you, I sensed many layers of meaning in this film. But I've only watched it once so far, so I still have many more viewings ahead of me in which I can plumb its depths for the riches I sense are in there. I feel extremely fortunate that I'll have this movie with me for the rest of my life.

"Reasons Are Dangerous" ~ The Nature Of Insanity.......2006-07-05

'The Ninth Configuration' released in '80 is a totally unexpected, off-the-wall tale that posits the question "who really is insane?" Is it those we lock away in asylums, or those who possess the keys?

Adapted from William Peter Blatty's novel, 'Twinkle Twinkle Killer Kane' and directed by Blatty (who also appears in the film) the viewer finds himself in a gothic castle somewhere in the U.S.A. filled with overtly demonic, evocative statuary. The site serves as an insane asylum for highly disturbed military personnel and Captain Kane (Stacy Keach) who he has been assigned as the new psychiatrist for the facility has just arrived. Little does he know the real reason as to why he was sent here.

An excellent examination of insanity and the various causes and reasons that send individuals over the edge. By the end of the film you are left to ponder if there is any difference between those institutionalized and those allowed to wander free.

There's no middle ground with this film. You'll love it, or you'll hate it.

Twinkle, Twinkle.......2006-05-09

A new officer arrives at a mental hospital for military personnel. The officer is Colonel Kane, played by Stacey Keach, and the off-the-wall-loony inmates include Capt. Billy Cutshaw (Scott Wilson,) an astronaut who broke under a strange space oddity. Also on hand is Lt. Frankie Reno (Jason Miller,) who's directing an all-dog production of Hamlet, Lt. Bennish (Robert Loggia) who in one scenes does a bad Al Jolson sing-along in front of an unimpressed Maj. Nammack (Moses Gunn.) Then there's... but you get the idea. THE NINTH CONFIGURATION starts out broad and loud and funny, after a fashion. There's a serious message struggling to get out, though, and it involves Col. Kane and Capt. Cutshaw and the compound's medical doctor, Colonel Richard Fell (Ed Flanders.) Beneath the comedy, overwhelming it eventually, is a debate, carried out primarily between Kane and Cutshaw, over the nature of good and evil, and the existence (or non-existence) of God.

Written and directed by William Peter Blatty (he of `The Exorcist' fame,) THE NINTH CONFIGURATION is tough to categorize - is it a comedy? a farce? a science fiction thriller? The movie contains some big surprises, and after it's first act and a half of knock-about comedy settles down to some serious issues. The transition is a bit jarring but overall acceptable. Hey, you're in for a bumpy ride with this one. Keach, seeming a little too subdued in the early goings, is just about perfect as the troubled colonel. Better yet is Scott Wilson, late of `In Cold Blood,' who gives a world-class performance as the grounded astronaut. Holding them, and the story, together is Ed Flanders. Really a terrific ensemble cast.

The disk contains many deleted scenes (we learn Blatty has cut this movie differently many times,) a short featurette hosted by the movie's fan Mark Kermode, and a commentary track with Kermode leading Blatty through the film. Kermode seems more interested in the film than Blatty, and seems at times struggling to bring the wandering Blatty back to the movie. If there's a flaw to the movie, and I think there are a couple, Kermode introduces them in the commentary track. I won't reveal the plot, but this chair strongly believes Blatty should have used the `protection' shot Keach begged Blatty to take - the scene in question occurs late in the movie, and the `protection' shot is included in the deleted scenes section (although the other shot is used in the film.) We didn't need the letter or Wilson's discovery of the medal, either. By then we get it already, and Blatty would have had a stronger end without them. They diffuse rather than build the drama, and I think it's the ending, more than anything, that keeps this off of the top shelf where all the classics are. Blatty has made his mind up about the movie, and its meaning, but some of the best movies leave the conclusions to be drawn by the audience. Very good movie, but I was let down by the ending.