Elmer Gantry
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Movie Reviews of Elmer Gantry
Movie Review: A story of an evangelical movement in 1920s America
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a spectacular movie which focuses on the early evangelical movement in the United Sates. Some critics think it is crudely based on the lives of evangelists, Aimee Semple McPherson and Billy Sunday, but it is based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis (1927) which caused a public furor. His book was banned in Boston and other cities, and clergy denounced from pulpits across the country. He wrote this book after his research at several churches in Kansas City. The theme of the movie is corruption and fraud perpetrated in the name of God, but there are no foul words, no nakedness, no illicit sex or alcohol among church members, but there is greed and ambition.
Burt Lancaster, as the lead character Elmer Gantry, offers a brilliant performance that is captivating: Some critics said that he was born to do this role. Sometimes he acts like a crazy drunk, a flamboyant salesman, a womanizer, a penniless drifter who cons others for his own enjoyment. We see Gantry as a disillusioned and misguided middle aged human being with no particular aim in life. While travelling in the Midwest, he comes across the public prayer meeting of evangelist, Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons). Sister Sharon is the leading preacher of a new movement, a kind of revival of faith movement, or evangelism, or church without walls. She is very feminine, tender, and vulnerable and yet she can put her foot down when she has to make firm decisions about her preaching or her style of spreading the message of God. She is on a fast track to make to the top as the messenger of God, and it is then Gantry meets her and cons her into believing that he is a man of God and he can help her movement. Sharon is hesitant and her right-hand man, William Morgan (Dean Jagger) expresses his displeasure especially when he finds about the shadowy past of Elmer Gantry. But Gantry squirms his way into the movement as the new leading man; he impresses Sharon Falconer with his style of preaching. Soon he will be making deals with crooked men and gamblers.
Jean Simmons offers a great performance as Sharon Falconer, but she is strongly overshadowed by the brilliance of Burt Lancaster who won the Academy award in the best actor category in 1960 beating a heavy weight like Spenser Tracy (Inherit the wind), another movie about Biblical teachings.
Gantry sees his end coming when his past catches up with him. His involvement with a young woman named Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones) becomes scandalous and his reputation and the movement is discredited, but when the air clears and later Lulu claims that she framed Elmer, the movement gains its strength again, but it is too late for Sharon Falconer when the church catches fire . It is at end of the movie, we see humanity in all its beauty, love and forgiveness in the spirit of Biblical teachings.
The rest of the cast is also superb. Patti Page is poignant as Sister Rachel, who leads the choir of the ministry, and falls in love with Gantry, but in vain, her voice is never heard, since he is more focused on expanding the ministry and building the coffers of the movement. Jean Simmons does her best to speak with a Midwestern accent, since Falconer is supposed to be from Kansas. Shirley Jones as Lulu Bains is beautiful and seductive was also honored with an Academy award in the best supporting actress category. My favorite moment in the movie is when Gantry enters a black church, barefoot, filthy, with two suit cases in his hands (after a fight with drifters on goods-train). Then he joins the startled congregation in singing the prayer; "I am on my way, Glory, Hallelujah, I am on my way." You may watch part of this video on YouTube.
1. Inherit the Wind
Movie Review: "People are all the same in one thing. They're all afraid to die and they want you to save them."
Summary: 5 Stars
Elmer Gantry doesn't need a lightshow, radio mikes or his own TV channel, he creates his own energy and carries all before him with a gift of the gab that can turn any situation to his advantage. Phoney as a two-dollar bill and first seen drinking, womanising and fighting in that order, Gantry is a crude, vulgar showoff with a vocabulary that belongs in an outhouse who goes from selling vacuum cleaners to selling religion in a travelling revival show. Worming his way under her guard to become bad cop to Jean Simmons' Sister Sharon's good cop, he damns them and she saves them. If he's a sharp operator, she's not exactly a mug herself: "God chose me. I chose you." Before long, he's converting her to the ways of the flesh and all hell breaks loose...
Sinclair Lewis' novel may well be Book of the Month Club choice stuff, but at least in those days books of the month were about something. A work of both ambition and substance, this is the kind of film that Day of the Locust wanted to be. Sharing many of the same themes, but putting them over with breathless energy, it is filled with outstanding moments. Gantry's reunion with Shirley Jones is touchingly pathetic without being openly sentimental, giving a real sense of wasted lives, and there is real tension in the miracle leading up to the genuinely apocalyptic ending that puts Frank Capra's earlier Miracle Woman to shame.
The sexual chemistry between the leads is just as convincing, and the film is not without humour as well, even throwing in a sly in-joke when Gantry tells how Arthur Kennedy's doubting Thomas learned his use of words from "Sinclair Lewis, lot of other atheists." The films own use of language is superb, and not just when sermonising. It is hard to believe that some of the dialogue crept past the 50s censors - although there is no foul language, the screenplay is incredibly daring for its day. Shirley Jones recounts to her fellow whores the time Elmer "rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my father's footsteps" in the pulpit one Christmas Eve, while Gantry propositions Sharon with "I'd like to tear those holy wings off you, make a real woman of you. I'd show you what heaven's like." It's no surprise that MGM pulled out of a planned version in the mid-50s to be produced by and star William Holden (who was so sure the film would be made he turned down the lead in Giant to make it).
It may not be Lancaster's greatest performance, but in true Oscar-winning fashion it's hands down his showiest - at times you want to tell him to put those teeth away before he hurts someone. You know exactly what he is in any given scene, it's putting them all together that makes it hard to get a complete picture. Gantry's semi-redemption is more subtle and complex and elusive than the cinematic norm and therefore more poignant.
Both Simmons and Oscar-winner Jones, cast wildly against type as the fallen woman, are superb. The under-appreciated Arthur Kennedy, in what is almost a dress rehearsal for his cynical reporter bit in Lawrence of Arabia also offers strong support: the moment where his dictation of a newspaper article matches the power of Gantry's oratory and stops the other reporters in their tracks is beautifully underplayed.
The DVD includes a trailer with Lancaster's Gantry selling the film the way he sells religion. Wearing its length lightly and taking you with it every step of the way, this is more than worth the money, with outstanding direction and screenwriting from Richard Brooks and great performances from all concerned, Elmer Gantry is terrific.
Movie Review: "The Lord sure moves in mysterious ways."
Summary: 5 Stars
To say that this is a great movie,is an understatement in many ways.I have watched this movie a number of times over the years and recently got my own copy. It was one of my all-time favorite movies and after watching it again last night ,it impressed me once again. Since the last time I watched it someting new has taken place; that being Amazon Customer Reviews.In the past,one might read or hear a review of a book or movie if you were lucky,but in a short time it would be hard to find one on anything a couple of years old. I guess there were always sources to find old reviews if you knew where to find them;but this was not accessable to the "ordinary joe".
Now it's a whole different story. After watching the movie again,I couldn't wait to check out the Customer Reviews. Here I found 39 Reviews.I read every single one,helpful and otherwise. There are all kinds of things in these reviews and coming from Customers of every stripe and color;they are all different and and particularly different from what we got in the past,namely,only Editorial Reviews. Some CR's give a brief summary of the movie,some are written with a personal bias,some add information about Oscars,some give opinions of the meaning the author was attempting to convey,and so forth. I even enjoyed the few that "slammed" the movie;because it was interesting to find why someone might dislike such a movie, that was held in such wide high regard. It is hard to pick one review over another,but if you were to read only a few;don't miss the review of Lawrence Bernabo of March 17,2005.I only wish I had the knowledge and skill to write a review like that.
I hadn't thought about it;but from reading the reviews,the movie was based on a book written in the 1920's by Sinclair Lewis and the movie is essntially from only one chapter. I couldn't find any CR's on the book; but I'm intending to read it,now that I know about it.If the movie is only one chapter,the whole book must be good.
Another thing I learned from the CR's is that the movie is somewhat based on two well known revivalists at the time. My father was a young man in the 1920's and I can remember him mentioning the names of Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson the personalities some reviewer suggested Elmer Gantry and Sister Sharon Falconer were based on.
No wonder I enjoy this movie so much. There is little doubt that this is a Classic and is as good to watch today as when it first came out in the 1960's.
Not only that,the CR's show what a wonderful resource,we now have at our disposal;but then again; I already knew that.
Movie Review: One of the best adult-themed films to come out Hollywood while censors still held sway
Summary: 5 Stars
Burt Lancaster was at the top of his talents, the role of evangelist Elmer Gantry calling on everything Lancaster had to give as an actor. Jean Simmons and Shirley Jones were great, too, exactly right as the true believer and the scheming whore, respectively. And to think it almost didn't happen.
Writer-director Richard Brooks tried for years to get a studio to back the film, according to the new book "Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks" (available from amazon.com), but no one wanted to touch it. As a young man Brooks had been taken by the Sinclair Lewis novel about a hypocritical preacher, but the novel had been banned from film production by the Hollywood censors as early as the 1930's.
Finally, in the late 1950's, with the Production Code crumbling amid controversial but popular movies, Brooks got the go-ahead and made "Elmer Gantry" for United Artists, his first movie after leaving MGM. Lancaster had been unmoved by early versions of the script, and Brooks considered other actors before agreeing to work with Lancaster to revise the script. (Names he mentioned included Montgomery Clift and James Cagney.)
Brooks didn't want Shirley Jones for the role of the prostitute - she was known as a light musical star - but Lancaster had seen her in a live TV show and thought she could handle the part. Brooks made her feel unwanted, ignoring her the first day she worked, even though it was her big scene in the whorehouse. That night, he called her and admitted she had been great and that he had been wrong. He correctly predicted she'd get an Oscar - as did she, Lancaster and Brooks himself for his screenplay.
Don't overlook Jean Simmons, though. She makes the whole movie work as Sister Sharon. By playing Sharon as a true believer - she wasn't the phony that Elmer Gantry was - Simmons makes her being swept away by Gantry all the more tragic. Brooks pushed to prohibit people under 16 from seeing the movie without an adult even though it cost him at the box office. Doing so avoided having the Legion of Decency condemn the movie. Notice, too, that no specific denomination is mentioned (in the book Gantry was a Baptist).
Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks (Wisconsin Film Studies)
Movie Review: "You're all sinners! You'll all burn in hell!"
Summary: 5 Stars
"Elmer Gantry" is an amazing film that does not seem dated at all, having lost none of its bite or appeal with the passing of time. Taken from the classic Sinclair Lewis novel of the same name, director Richard Brooks garnered an Oscar for Best Screenplay for his adaptation, and Burt Lancaster won his sole Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Elmer Gantry. Gantry is an over-the-top opportunistic traveling salesman who teams up with evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) to promote religion in 1920's America. Gantry turns out to be the perfect publicity compliment to Sister Sharon, who, unlike him, is a true believer. Where she is quiet and gentle with her manner of preaching, he is all fire and brimstone, literally throwing himself about the audience and inflaming them into repentance.
Burt Lancaster commands the screen: all flashing teeth, athletic energy, charisma, and wild hair, using his own physical prowess to great advantage. The angelic and lovely Jean Simmons, who had legions of adoring male fans when she was in her ethereal prime, portrays Sister Sharon (loosely based on a well-known real-life revivalist of the early 1920's, Aimee Semple McPherson, about whom I'd heard from my grandmother) in a manner reminiscent of her character in "Spartacus" - she was the perfect choice for this role, as was Lancaster for his.
Shirley Jones was awarded the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her lively portrayal of prostitute Lulu Bains, whose past history with Gantry comes back to haunt him, with some of the best lines in the film - gleefully laughing as she dances about a room full of her fellow prostitutes, she recounts that "He rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!"
Watching Burt Lancaster in his prime use his athletic ability (he was a circus acrobat before he became an actor) and physical grace helps make his performance truly electrifying. And he also manages to believably evolve Elmer Gantry from loud-mouthed salesman to a sympathetic and honest human being over the course of the film.
The top-notch supporting cast includes Arthur Kennedy, Patti Page, Dean Jagger, and John McIntire.