But I think, actually, Timothy Carey in his movie The World’s Greatest Sinner did that [dealt with the desecration of the Eucharist]. The film was never released, but it’s one of John Cassavetes‘s favorite films, directed by and starring Timothy Carey. He takes the Eucharist from the tabernacle, and – I never saw the picture but they tell me that as he’s running away, the Eucharist starts glowing and blood starts to follow him all through the streets, and over the hills as he’s running blood is following him. It’s a wonderful idea. He’s a folksinger-preacher type, plays guitar and has a snake around his neck. I know the film exists. One day, ten years ago, when we were doing New York, New York, I went to screen my rushes and somebody was looking at it in the next room. I walked in and I saw this guy stealing something from a tabernacle and I said, ‘That’s Timothy Carey!’ Listen, nobody believed me. It was like, ‘This film really exists, guys!’ and ‘Oh, come on, Marty, let’s go look at the rushes.’

– Martin Scorsese, from “In the Streets,” from Once a Catholic: Prominent Catholics and Ex-Catholics Reveal the Influence of the Church on Their Lives and Work, by Peter Occhiogrosso (Ballantine Books, 1987)