I am not a reader of Flannery O'Conner, so I can't comment on her point, but I know she is considered a great American writer of Southern Gothic fiction, and that she only wrote two novels, one of which was made into this film.

I am familiar with Brad Dourif, who got an Oscar nomination for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was most recently in Rob Zombie's Halloween, is familiar to TV viewers on "Deadwood," and is the voice of Chucky. He put himself in the very capable hands of a great director, John Huston, who won Oscars for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (writing and directing),and accumulated 13 other nominations for such classics as Sergeant York, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, The Asphalt Jungle, and Prizzi's Honor.

What we get is a dramedy that is more comedy than drama. Hazel Motes (Dourif),in reaction to his strict fundamentalist upbringing, starts a church that he calls The Church of Christ Without Christ. Now, that will go over well down here in the South! He meets an assortment of preachers/con-men (Harry Dean Stanton and Ned Beatty),a non-stop talker (Dan Shor),and an oversexed 17-year-old (Amy Wright). The collective wit of the entire cast in this film is about equal to a bowl of soup, and that is what makes it funny.

One of the first of Dourif's over 120 appearances, and it is a hoot!

Army veteran Hazel Motes (Brad Dourif) returns to the South after the war to find his abandoned crumbling ancestral home. His grandfather (John Huston) was a preacher. He's wounded but doesn't want people to know where. He intends to do something he's never done before. He hates to be called a preacher. He encounters blind street preacher Asa Hawks (Harry Dean Stanton) and his daughter Sabbath Lily Hawks (Amy Wright). He counters by preaching his own Church of Truth Without Christ Cruxified. He is hounded by Enoch Emory (Dan Shor) who claims to have wise blood. He buys an old rundown car to sleep in. He follows the blind preacher's daughter.

There is a surrealism to all of it like the characters are not of this world. All of them are a bit off. Brad Dourif creates one of the most eccentric angry character that is still compelling to watch. This is such an off-kilter group. I'm fascinated enough to follow his meandering journey. There are some terrific supporting actors delivering wonderful performances.

In the Citadel Film series book on The Films Of John Huston the author quoted the Time Magazine review saying that there were enough quirky characters in Wise Blood to fill a Tennessee Williams stock company.

That there were, but sadly they were attached to a screenplay that didn't seem to know which direction it was going in.

In post World War II southern America young Brad Dourif decides to go into the street evangelism business. Personally I think if you're going to do that you ought to shoot to be Joel Osteen and not waste time with the retail trade. But Dourif is a man who knows his limitations.. The movie is about his experiences.

I did love the characters in the film, but I could not wrap my mind around a coherent plot. I realize I'm in a minority on Wise Blood, but so be it.