Might be thought to form a trilogy with "Taxi Driver" and "Apocalypse Now" of oblique explorations of the Vietnam War taking insanity as a central theme. Surreal and at times rather too convinced of its own significance, it also comes across as a genuine attempt by this novelist-turned-filmmaker to create his own personal Zauberberg. Crediting the attempt helps the viewer to overlook a degree of pomposity that infects certain scenes. Some clever dialogue. Odd role for an unusually subdued Keach.

What the hell is this? The inspiration of modern-day Family Guy? A bunch of obnoxious characters say random things to each other with intermittent stoner-what-is-life type of introspection. This is utterly unwatchable.

I like that Stacy Keach was clean shaven.

Obnoxious.

Stacy Keach plays a new army psychiatrist at a military asylum whose unconventional techniques have rapid effect on his patients, though he seems to be fighting his own madness as well. A bizarre and artsy film filled with musings on god, morality and insanity peppered with heavy symbolism and a handful of light comic touches. Has some really great acting performances, but the story kinda lost me in the lengthy third act.

The ending is a load of crap. I wouldn't have cared, but the movie seemed to expect me to take it seriously. I enjoyed the rest of it mostly, but the philosophically worthless ending severely diminished my overall opinion of The Ninth Configuration

This film SUCKED!

A very strange everything-but-the-kitchen-sink comedy drama. It doesn't always work, but wonderful performances from Keach, Wilson, and Ed Flanders anchor it and bring Blatty's often hilarious dialog to life.

A motion picture like no other. Hilarious, yet thought-provoking. I will never forget it

So far the best movie covering faith and the search for God that I have ever seen. Blatty's movie slowly builds up its message, carefully exaiming not only God and faith but also exaiming the soul and nature of man.

Watch and enjoy this fine movie, but for the love of everything that is dear to you, skip the very last scene! Shoot the telly, run for the exit, but DON'T WATCH THE ENDING!

This is a wildly uneven mix of free-form Freudian vaudeville -- at its best, its non sequitur exchanges play like a _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ script-doctored by Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead -- broad satire lifted from some bad college play, remedial theological probings, and at its core, an intriguing tug-of-war between Keach and off-balance ex-astronaut Wilson. Despite its flaws, Blatty's one-man movie offers enough to earn its long-standing cult status.

A bizarre piece of American cinema that, in its narrative and screenwriting, is both a bit haggard but brilliant nontheless. Like Shock Corridor, it analogizes all USA as an insane asylum, but to its benefit discusses the existence of sin, the afterlife and God in a seemingly Godless universe. The barroom scene is a powerful metaphor for the human condition (under Christian symbolism, that is). It probably won't work for everyone, but it worked for me once I focused on content over technicals.