Flicks of Shame: what's a nice actor like you doing in a movie like this?

The Possessed (1977)

It doesn’t take much movie knowledge to realise that 1977 was something of a pivotal year for Harrison Ford. In May of that year Star Wars burst into cinemas around the world and transformed the one-time carpenter into a swashbuckling anti-hero, complete with laconic world-weary drawl and an alarmingly hairy companion.

No, not Mark Hamill.

But only weeks before this world-changing event, Ford also co-starred in The Possessed, a little-seen TV movie about demonic danger at a girl’s school. Clearly inspired by The Exorcist (or ripped off from it, depending on how cynical you feel) the movie was meant to be the pilot for a proposed TV show about a jaded priest called Kevin, forced to travel America fighting evil forces wherever they may strike – a sort of prototype X-Files, with more than a hint of Kolchak the Night Stalker.

Father Kevin’s first - and, as it turned out, only – case involved a series of mysterious fires at a girl’s school where the science teacher is one Paul Winjam, played by none other than Indiana Jones himself. Indeed, our first introduction to the bizarrely named Winjam is remarkably similar to his classroom scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, as he teaches a room full of lusty Lolitas all about the life cycle of spiders.

Unlike Indy, this teacher lacks moral fibre and is embroiled in a randy affair with one of his young charges. Also unlike Indy, Paul Winjam isn’t the sort of character who lives to fight another day – he gets claimed by the infernal flames and combusts, rather hilariously, in a locked classroom long before the finale.

While his screen time is brief, it’s an important role and Ford comes across well – as you’d expect, given that he was still in the first flushes of Han Solo’s tousle-haired scoundrel glory.

Need to know: The Possessed has more than a few elements in common with Ford’s rather more famous 2000 supernatural thriller, What Lies Beneath. In both movies he plays a teacher or professor engaged in an affair with a pupil, both movies feature the leading lady being possessed by spirits and both have conclusions that take place in or near water. Even more spooky, both movies co-starred Diana Scarwid – in The Possessed she plays the best friend of Harrison’s jailbait lover, in What Lies Beneath she fulfilled best friend duties for Harrison’s wife, Michelle Pfeiffer. History, however, does not record whether or not The Possessed had a stupid trailer that spoiled the entire movie by revealing the twist.

Availability: The Possessed is unavailable on both VHS and DVD. Old rental tapes or bootlegs turn up at online auctions occasionally, but it’s very scarce.

		The Possessed (1977) It doesn’t take much movie knowledge to realise that 1977 was something of a pivotal year for Harrison Ford. In May of that year Star Wars burst into cinemas around the world and transformed the one-time carpenter into a swashbuckling anti-hero, complete with laconic world-weary drawl and an alarmingly hairy companion. No, not Mark Hamill. But only weeks before this world-changing event, Ford also co-starred in The Possessed, a little-seen TV movie about demonic danger at a girl’s school. Clearly inspired by The Exorcist (or ripped off from it, depending on how cynical you feel) the movie was meant to be the pilot for a proposed TV show about a jaded priest called Kevin, forced to travel America fighting evil forces wherever they may strike – a sort of prototype X-Files, with more than a hint of Kolchak the Night Stalker. Father Kevin’s first - and, as it turned out, only – case involved a series of mysterious fires at a girl’s school where the science teacher is one Paul Winjam, played by none other than Indiana Jones himself. Indeed, our first introduction to the bizarrely named Winjam is remarkably similar to his classroom scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, as he teaches a room full of lusty Lolitas all about the life cycle of spiders. Unlike Indy, this teacher lacks moral fibre and is embroiled in a randy affair with one of his young charges. Also unlike Indy, Paul Winjam isn’t the sort of character who lives to fight another day – he gets claimed by the infernal flames and combusts, rather hilariously, in a locked classroom long before the finale. While his screen time is brief, it’s an important role and Ford comes across well – as you’d expect, given that he was still in the first flushes of Han Solo’s tousle-haired scoundrel glory. Need to know: The Possessed has more than a few elements in common with Ford’s rather more famous 2000 supernatural thriller, What Lies Beneath. In both movies he plays a teacher or professor engaged in an affair with a pupil, both movies feature the leading lady being possessed by spirits and both have conclusions that take place in or near water. Even more spooky, both movies co-starred Diana Scarwid – in The Possessed she plays the best friend of Harrison’s jailbait lover, in What Lies Beneath she fulfilled best friend duties for Harrison’s wife, Michelle Pfeiffer. History, however, does not record whether or not The Possessed had a stupid trailer that spoiled the entire movie by revealing the twist. Availability: The Possessed is unavailable on both VHS and DVD. Old rental tapes or bootlegs turn up at online auctions occasionally, but it’s very scarce.
Text © 2008 Dan Whitehead. No cut and paste, y'hear? All images remain the property of the offending studios and their reproduction is covered by Fair Use law.