Badinage

 

 

 

 

EXTERIOR- RUNNING TRACK- GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY- DAY 

 

 

 

In training gear, Karras is running laps. Seated on a bench at the edge of the track, watching Karras, Lt. Kinderman. Karras seems curious, if not disturbed, by Kinderman's presence. When Karras stops, panting, Kinderman rises and moves toward him. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

Father Karras? 

 

 

 

Karras picks up his towel and wipes his brow. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

Have we met? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

No we haven't met, but they said I could tell; that you looked like a boxer. 

 

Kinderman shows his badge. 

 

KINDERMAN

William F. Kinderman. Homicide. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

What's this about? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

Yeah, it's true. You do look like a boxer.

John Garfield, in Body and Soul.

Exactly John Garfield anyone told you that Father? 

 

KARRAS

Do people tell you look like Paul Newman? 

 

KINDERMAN

Always. 

 

Karras walks away toward the campus. 

 

KINDERMAN

You this director was doing a film here, Burke Dennings? 

 

KARRAS

I've seen him. 

 

KINDERMAN

You've seen him.

You're also familiar with how last week he died? 

 

KARRAS

Only what I read in the papers. 

 

KINDERMAN

Papers. Tell me, what do you know about the subject of witchcraft?

From the witching end, not the hunting. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

I once did a paper on it 

 

KINDERMAN

Really? 

 

KARRAS

From the psychiatric end. 

 

KINDERMAN

I know. I read it.

These desecration's in the church…you think they have anything to do with witchcraft? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

Maybe. Some rituals used in Black Mass. Maybe. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

And Dennings, you read how he died? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

Yeah, a fall. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

Let me tell you how Father, and please confidential. Burke 

 Dennings, good Father, was found at the bottom of those steps 

leading to 'M' Street, with his head turned completely around. 

Facing backwards. 

 

KARRAS

Couldn't it of happened on the fall. 

 

 

KINDERMAN

It's possible. Possible however… 

 

KARRAS

Unlikely. 

 

KINDERMAN

Exactly. So on the one hand we've got a witchcraft type of murder 

and a Black Mass style of desecration in the church. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

You think the killer and the desecrator are the same? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Maybe somebody crazy, someone with a spite against the church, some unconscious rebellion, perhaps. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

Sick priest, is that it? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

Look, Father this is hard for you- please. But for priests on the 

 

campus here, you're the psychiatrist; you'd know who was sick at 

 

the time, who wasn't. I mean this kind of sickness. You'd know 

 

that. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

I don't know anyone who fits the description. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Ah, doctor's ethics. If you knew you wouldn't tell, huh? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

No I probably wouldn't. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Not to bother you with trivia, but a psychiatrist in sunny 

 

California was thrown in jail for not telling the judge what he 

 

knew about a patient. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Is that a threat? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

No, I mentioned it only in passing. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Incidentally I mention only in passing that I could tell the 

 

judge that it was a matter of confession. 

 

 

 

Karras walks off toward his dormitory and Kinderman chases him. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Hey, Father? You like movies? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Very much. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

I get passes to the best shows in town. Mrs. K though, she gets 

 

tired and never likes to go. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

That's to bad. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Yeah, I hate to go alone. You know, I like to talk film; discuss 

 

the critique. D'you wanna see a film with me? I got passes to The 

 

Crest. It's Othello. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Who's in it? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Who's in it? Debbie Reynolds, Desdemona, and Othello, Groucho 

 

Marx. You're happy? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

I've seen it. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

One last time: Can you think of some priest who fits the bill? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Come on! 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Answer the question, Father Paranoia. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Alright. You know who I think really did it? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Who? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

The Dominicans. Go pick on them. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

I could have you deported, you know that? 

 

 

 

Karras walks to the front door. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

(shouts to Karras)

 

I lied! 

 

 

 

Karras turns around. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

(shouting to Karras)

 

You look like Sal Mineo! 

 

 

 

Karras smiles and walks inside. 

 

 

*****

 

MERRIN

Give way to Christ, you Prince of Murderers —

You're Guilty, before Almighty God, 

Guilty before His Son, 

Guilty before The Whole Human Race.

 It's The Lord who expels you. 

He who is coming to Judge both The Living and The Dead 

and The World 

by Fire. 

 

 

 

As Merrin kneels by the bed, Karras crawls over and covers Regan with a blanket. 

 

 

 

MERRIN

Are you tired? 

Karras nods. 

 

MERRIN

Let's rest before we start again. 

 

 

 

Merrin leaves the room, but Karras stays sat on the bed, shivering with both coldness and fear. Regan is asleep. 

 

 

 

INTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY- STAIRS- NIGHT 

 

An exhausted Merrin and Karras are sitting in the hallway, on the stairs, outside the bathroom. 

 

KARRAS

Why this girl, it makes no sense? 

 

MERRIN

I think the point is to make us dispair... 

To see our selves as... 

animal and ugly... 

To reject the possibillity that God could love us. 

 

 

 

MERRIN

Will you excuse me, Damien? 

 

Merrin rises and moves toward the bathroom. 

 

 

 

INTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- BATHROOM- NIGHT 

 

Merrin sits on the toilet and takes out his pilbox. He extracts nitorglycerin tablet and places it under his tongue. He is  shaking with fear as he holds his head with exhaustion. 

 

 

 

INTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY- NIGHT 

 

 

Karras moves back toward the bedroom and enters. 

 

INTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- REGAN'S BEDROOM- NIGHT 

 

 

Karras is shocked to see an instant apparition of his mother, laying on the bed in place of Regan. It vanishes. He moves toward Regan, who is shivering and drenched with sweat. 

 

 

 

REGAN/MRS. KARRAS

 

Dimmy, why you did this to me? 

 

 

 

Karras gets out a stehoscope and places it on Regan's chest. 

 

 

 

REGAN/MRS. KARRAS

 

Please Dimmy, I'm affraid. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

You're not my mother. 

 

 

 

REGAN/MRS. KARRAS

 

Dimmy please! 

 

 

 

Merrin re-enters the room. 

 

 

 

MERRIN

 

What is it? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Her heart. 

 

 

 

MERRIN

 

Can you give her something? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

She'll go into coma. 

 

 

 

Regan, in the voice of Karras' mother, speaks a few pleading 

 

phrases in Greek to Karras. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

(shouting)

 

You're not my mother!!! 

 

 

 

MERRIN

 

Don't listen. 

 

 

 

REGAN/MRS. KARRAS

 

Why, Dimmy? 

 

 

 

Damien breaks into convulsive sobbing. 

 

 

 

MERRIN

 

Damien. 

 

 

 

REGAN/MRS. KARRAS

 

Dimmy, please! 

 

 

 

MERRIN

 

Damien! Get out! 

 

 

 

Damien arises from the bed. Merrin leads him out, and then re-

 

enters the room himself. He sprinkles some holy water on Regan 

 

and kneels at her side. He holds her hand tightly. 

 

 

 

MERRIN

 

Our Father, who art in heaven... 

 

 

 

INTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- FOYER- NIGHT 

 

 

 

Downstairs Karras sits brooding as Chris enters. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Is it over? 

 

 

 

Karras shakes his head negatively. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Is she gonna die? 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

(firmly)

 

No. 

 

 

 

He rises and starts ascending the stairs with renewed conviction. 

 

The doorbell rings and Chris moves toward the door. Before 

 

opening she applies the chain lock on. She opens the door slowly 

 

and we see Kinderman staring at her from the gap. 

 

 

 

INTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- REGAN'S BEDROOM- NIGHT 

 

 

 

Karras re-enters Regan's room and sees Merrin face down on her 

 

bed. Regan is sitting up against the bottom right hand bed post 

 

as Karras pulls Merrin to the floor. Karras feels for Merrin's 

 

pulse, then tries frantically to pump life back into the priest 

 

with blows to his chest, but gives up when he realises Merrin is 

 

dead. He hears a giggle and turns to Regan. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

You son of a bitch! 

 

 

 

He grabs her and pulls her to the floor. He begins to punch her 

 

in the face and head, then shakes her and nearly strangles her in 

 

his fury. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

Take me! Come into me! God damn you! Take me! Take me! 

 

 

 

A gargantuan struggle is visible in the demonic features of 

 

Regan's face. His face has taken on a demonic shade, and his eyes 

 

have turned bright green. She screams out as Karras' body jerks 

 

back, apparently manipulated by some inner force, which now 

 

reaches toward Regan to strangle her. Karras fights the force for 

 

control of his body, and he screams, compelling it toward the 

 

window. 

 

 

 

KARRAS

 

No!! 

 

 

 

With his last angiushed cry, Karras leaps out of the window. We 

 

see him roll down the concrete steps outside and hit the floor at 

 

the bottom. His cry was immediatly followed by frightened sobs 

 

and whimpers that are unmstakably those of an ordinary little 

 

girl. 

 

 

 

REGAN

 

(crying)

 

Mother...Mother...Mother...Mother... 

 

 

 

Chris rushes in and pauses to make sure that it's really Regan 

 

again. She's follwed in by Kinderman. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Rags? 

 

 

 

She dashes over to where her daughter is cowering on the floor. 

 

She flings herself down on top of Regan, cradling her and crying 

 

in hysterical relief, as Kinderman looks at Karras' body from the 

 

window, looks at Merrin's dead body on the floor and then looks 

 

at Chris and Regan. 

 

 

 

EXTERIOR- M-STREET- STEPS- NIGHT 

 

 

 

A crowd is gathering at the scene of an accident. Their 

 

attentionis focused by a man lying in a pool of blood on the 

 

pavement at the foot of the steps under Regan's window. 

 

 

 

BYSTANDER

 

Somebody fell at the bottom of the steps here! 

 

 

 

Father Dyer pushes through the crowd and kneels beside Karras. 

 

Fighting back tears, he grasps Karras' hand and leans close to 

 

whisper in his ear. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

Do you want to make your confession? Are you sorry- (his voice 

 

catches)

 

Are you sorry for having offended God, with all the sins of your 

 

past life? (he breaks down for a moment, then starts 

 

administiring the last rites)

 

Ego to abslovo in nomine patris, et filli, et spiritus sancti. 

 

Amen. 

 

 

 

As a wailling siren signals the approach of an ambulance, Dyer 

 

weeps openly. 

 

 

 

EXTERIOR- PROSPECT STREET- TOP OF STEPS- DAY 

 

 

 

On a bright, sunny day, we are looking down the steps which are 

 

now clean. No blood, or body at the bottom. 

 

 

 

INTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- DINING ROOM- DAY 

 

 

 

Sharon and Chris are briskly packing up last minute items before 

 

moving out. 

 

 

 

SHARON

 

Where do you want this? 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

What is it? 

 

 

 

SHARON

 

Phonograph. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Storage. 

 

 

 

Sharon puts in in one of the large cardboard boxes that are 

 

standing about. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

I'm gonna miss you. 

 

 

 

SHARON

 

Me too. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Sure you won't change your mind? 

 

 

 

Sharon shakes her head. She reaches into her pocket and hands 

 

Chris the St. Joseph medal. 

 

 

 

SHARON

 

I found this in her room. 

 

 

 

Chris puts in her pocket. 

 

 

 

SHARON

 

That's everything. 

 

 

 

Chris hugs her. She pulls away and walks to the foot of the 

 

stairs. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Regan! C'mon honey we have to get going! 

 

 

 

EXTERIOR- MACNEIL HOUSE- PROSPECT STREET- DAY 

 

 

 

We see Karl is loading the car with cases. Father Dyer is 

 

standing outside the gates. Chris exits the house and Dyer moves 

 

toward her. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

She doesn't remeber a thing. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

That's good. 

 

 

 

Regan exits the house and walks to Chris. 

 

 

 

REGAN

 

All done. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Honey this is Father Dyer. 

 

 

 

REGAN

 

Hi Father. 

 

 

 

DYER

 

Hello. 

 

 

 

KARL

 

Ready Mrs. 

 

 

 

Chris shakes Father Dyer's hand. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Goodbye Father. I call you. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

Okay. 

 

 

 

Chris gets into the car, but Regan stands staring at Dyer's 

 

collar. She leans forward and kisses Father Dyer on the cheek. 

 

Not sure of what she has done, she retreats to the car. The car 

 

drives out to the street and Father Dyer waves goodbye. Father 

 

Dyer walks out and Willie closes the gates. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

Goodbye. 

 

 

 

WILLIE

 

Good bye Father. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

I hope to see you again soon, 

 

 

 

WILLIE

 

I hope so too. 

 

 

 

The car stops and we hear Chris call. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

Father Dyer? 

 

 

 

Dyer rushes to the car. 

 

 

 

CHRIS

 

I thought you'd like to keep this. 

 

 

 

She hands him Karras' St. Joseph medal. Dyer clutches it tightly. 

 

The car drives on, and Dyer watches it drive off. Dyer walks down 

 

toward the top of the M Street Steps. He looks down them and 

 

frowns, we see Regan's window in the background, boarded up. Dyer 

 

then turns away and walks back to Prospect Street. As he turns 

 

the corner he sees Kinderman standing outside the house. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

Lieutenant? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

I came to say goodbye. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

You just missed them. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

How's the girl? 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

She seemed fine. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

Ah, that's good. That's all that's important. Back to business. 

 

Back to work. Bye now, Father. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

Good bye. 

 

 

 

They both walk their separate ways. Kinderman stops. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN :

Father Dyer? 

 

 

 

Dyer turns back to him. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

Do you like films? 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

 

Sure. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

I get passes. 

In fact I got a pass for The Crest tomorrow night. 

Would you like to go? 

 

 

FATHER DYER

What's playing?

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

Withering Heights. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

Who's in it? 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

Heathcliff, Jackie Gleason, and in the role of Catherine  Earnshaw, Lucille Ball. 

 

 

 

FATHER DYER

I've seen it. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

(smirks) Another one. 

Had your lunch? 

 

FATHER DYER

No. 

 

 

 

Kinderman loops his arm around Dyer's. 

They start to walk off. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

I'm reminded of a line in the film Casablanca. At the end Humphrey Bogart says to Claude Rains, " Louie- I think this is the begining of a beautiful friendship." 

 

 

 

DYER

 

You know you look a bit like Bogart. 

 

 

 

KINDERMAN

 

You noticed. 

 

 

 

We fade out as Tubular Bells starts to play. 

 

 

 

FADE TO BLACK 

 

 

 

The music changes to the loud Fantasia For Strings. 

 

 

 

THE EXORCIST 

 

Sharks DON’T Take Things Personally, Mr. Brody.

Jaws 2 · Dead Orca

"I know that 

Dolphins communicate. 

I mean, They send signals. 

You don't think that if 

A Shark was destroyed, that another shark could... 

Could come and..."

"Sharks don't take things 

personally, Mr. Brody."

He only Thinks of Blood and Slaughter

The Shark should live on Land not Water.

To Hell with The Shark and all His Kin

And Fight Like Hell when You See His Fin.

A Walled Garden

“The Garden of Eden 

and 

The Heavenly Jerusalem 

are the same place, depending on whether you are looking 

backward or forward.”

"One of the variants of the hero — and I would consider a variant of the hero like a fragment of the picture of God — is the heroic warrior who slays the enemy. Of course, that's not precisely a politically correct representation of a hero in modern times, and no wonder, but it's still something that you go watch in movies all the time and admire. It’s one of the most — how many plots are there? Romance and adventure, that’s about it. Most of the adventure genre is, well, there’s some enemy that’s lurking in some form — it could be human, it could be alien — and someone rises up to go and confront it and maintain order. There's no getting away from that story. 

If you don't have that in your own life, you play a video game where that's happening, or you watch a movie where that's happening, or you read a book where that’s happening. It captures you, even if you're atheistic and your only religion is Star Wars. It still captures your imagination. You act like someone who’s possessed by religious fervor when you line up for three days to be the first one into the theatre — and all the while claiming that you’re atheistic to the core.

It’s hard to get a grip on what "without form and void" exactly means. I can give you another kind of example of how you would experience the formless chaos of potential in your own lives, and even how the order that you currently inhabit can dissolve into that. In Dante's Inferno, he outlined the levels of hell. Dante was trying to get to the bottom of what constituted evil in this representation. It's a work of psychology, and he’s thinking, well, there are various ways to behave reprehensibly, but there's a hierarchy of reprehensible behaviour, and there's something absolutely the worst at the bottom. Dante believed that it was betrayal. I think that’s right, because one of the things that enables long-term, peaceful cooperation between people is trust. I would also say that trust is the fundamental natural resource.

There's been some very good books written on the economic utility of trust. Societies where the default economic presupposition between trading partners is trust tend to be rich, even if they don't have any natural resources. You can see that, for example, with what happened with eBay, which I think was kind of a miracle. What should have happened with eBay was that you sent me junk and I sent you a cheque that bounced, and that was the end of eBay. But that isn't what happened. The default transaction on eBay was so honest that the brokers—you could hire brokers, to begin with. I can't remember what they were called, exactly, but you could pay someone a fee so that they would guarantee the transaction. You wouldn’t send me junk and I’d actually send you a payment, and we’d pay 10 percent for someone to guarantee that. The default trade was so honest that those things vanished right away. That meant that all this frozen capital, roughly speaking, which were all the junk that people had lying around that someone else might want, instantly became money. The only reason that worked is that people trusted one another. Trust is an unbelievably powerful economic force, maybe the most powerful economic force.

Anyways, part of the reason for having a relationship predicated on trust is that trust is what enables us to look at each other without running away screaming. What I mean by that is that, if I trust you, then I don’t have to take into account how complicated you are, because you’re horribly complicated. A chimpanzee full of snakes: that’s what a human being is. As long as you’ll do what you say you’ll do, then I can take you at your word, and your word simplifies you. You can take my word, and my word simplifies you, and then we can act like we understand each other, even though we don’t.

But then, if that trust is betrayed, then all the snakes come forth very, very rapidly. All of you, I suspect, have been betrayed in one way or another. If you're in a relationship with someone and you trust them, then you make certain assumptions about the past, and you make certain assumptions about the present, and you make certain assumptions about the future, and everything’s stable. You’re standing on solid ground and the chaos—it's like you're standing on thin ice. The chaos is hidden; the shark beneath the waves isn't there. You’re safe; you’re in the lifeboat. But the instant the person betrays you…If you're in a intimate relationship and the person has an affair, and you find out about it, one moment you're in one place where everything is secure, because you predicated your perception of the world on the axiom of trust, and the next second—really, the next second—you’re in a completely different place. Not only is that place different right now, but the place you were years ago is different, and the place you're gonna be in the future years hence is different.

All of that certainty, that strange certainty that you inhabit, can collapse into incredible complexity. If someone betrays you, you think, well, ok, who were you? Because you aren't who I thought you were, and I thought I knew you. But I didn't know you at all, and I never knew you. All the things we did together, those weren’t the things that I thought were happening. Something else was happening, and you are someone else, and that means I'm someone else, because I thought I knew what was going on, and clearly I don’t. I’m some sort of blind sucker, or the victim of a psychopath, or someone who’s so naive that they can barely live. I don't understand anything about human beings, and I don't understand anything about myself, and I have no idea where I am now. I thought I was at home, but I’m not. I’m in a house, and it's full of strangers. I don't know what I’m going to do tomorrow, or next week, or next year. All of that certainty, that habitable certainty, collapses right back into the potential from which it emerged. That's a terrifying thing. That's a journey to the underworld, from a mythological perspective.

That is really something worth knowing, because journeys to the underworld are extraordinarily common in mythological stories—like the hobbit going out to find Smaug, the dragon, and get the gold, is the journey into the underworld. Journeys to the underworld happen all the time. Modern people don't understand what the underworld is, except that we’ve all been there and we go there all the time. We go there every time the solidity and stability of the world, that we’ve erected at least partly through our speech, is shattered because some sort of snake appears. That's another way of thinking about it. It’s a really good way of thinking about it, because no matter how carefully constructed a little habitable area that surrounds you, there's always something you didn't take into account. 

There’s always something that can pop up its head and do you in, and make you aware of your mortality and age you, or even kill you.

That's the permanent situation of life, which is part of the reason why I think the story of Adam and Eve is archetypal: it's because we do inhabit walled gardens. A walled garden is half structure and society, and half nature. That’s what the walled garden is. A walled garden is a place of paradise, warmth, love, and sustenance, but it's also the place where something can pop up at any moment and knock you out of it. I think part of the reason that story exists at the beginning of this collection of books is because it explains the eternal situation of human beings. We’re always in that situation. 

We’re in a walled garden—or we bloody well hope we are—but there's always a snake. It’s even worse because, if there is a snake, we’re exactly the sort of creatures that are going to do nothing but go and interact with that snake the second that we can manage it. It’s definitely the case that, if you want a human being to muck around with something, the best thing to do is to tell them not to ever do it, not to have anything to do with it. This is, of course, something you know if you have teenagers, or even children, or if you know anything about yourself or your partner."