49 Years Since "The Exorcist" Was Released

It is hard to believe that it was 49 years ago yesterday that William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist opened for general release. The release date was December 26, 1973.

A friend and I went about a week or two later to see it at the Mann National Theater in Westwood near UCLA. The lines for the movie wrapped around the block the theater was on (more like an island). The National opened on March 27,1970 and was demolished in January 2008.

While we stood in line, we met two girls (a blonde and brunette) and we ended up at the Woodland Hills home of one of them after the movie. The brunette was named Sharon. We were in line for about three hours before we saw the movie. The Mann National Theater only had one screen.

I later bought the book version of The Exorcist (I still have it). It was one scary movie and it still holds up well.

Above, the Mann National Theater in Westwood showing The Exorcist.

Back around 1985, my then-girlfriend (and later spouse) and I rode an elevator at work and in the elevator car was Linda Blair. 

Then, in 2016, music from The Exorcist (specifically "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield) was played in the helicopter as we toured Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park. I made mention of this and the pilot laughed.