Elmer Gantry (1960)

Brothers and sisters, can we get a witness for this woeful tale of saints and sinners? Burt Lancaster earned his only Oscar as the wide-smiling, glad-handing, soul-saving charlatan Elmer Gantry, a salesman who turns his gift for preaching into a career at the pulpit. Climbing on board the barnstorming evangelical tour of revivalist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a true believer in the Aimee Semple McPherson mold, Gantry declaims, invokes, and sermonizes his way to the top until a former flame-turned-prostitute (Shirley Jones in an Oscar-winning performance) threatens to reveal his dark past as a womanizer and con man. Lancaster harnesses all his physical vigor and natural charisma for this role, literally throwing himself into his preaching with the vigor of an acrobat and the sing-song delivery of a gospel singer--he even brays like a hound to show the Holy Spirit within him. Gantry is a showman, pure and simple, and while he doesn't fool true-believer Sister Sharon, he gives her a few object lessons in playing the crowd. Director Richard Brooks, who also took home an Oscar for his screenplay (adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel), creates a rousing drama both on and off the pulpit, and provides fine roles for an excellent supporting cast, including Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, John McIntire, and singer Patti Page. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com essential video

Wow! Rich, Complex, Relevant, A Must-See

In "Elmer Gantry," Burt Lancaster gives one of the all-time great screen performances. Lancaster's performance is so rich, so real, that the viewer knows this man, knows what Gantry smells like (sweat and eau de cologne) and what he eats (big slabs of beef). I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it.

Gantry's entire repertoire is performed with encyclopedic thoroughness and accuracy. We see Gantry the narcissistic conman, Gantry the philanthropist, Gantry the flamboyant showman. Just when we think we've seen it all, just when we think we can write Gantry off as a cross between a clown, a self-deceiver, and a blowhard, the movie reveals another nuance in Gantry's soul - something we'd never seen before, and yet realize is totally believable, and, in fact, essential to understanding the man. Our views of the man change. We can't help but love him.

One such scene: almost 75 % of the way through the movie, in fact, after a shorter and shallower movie would have ended, Gantry says to another man, "Don't you know that that hurts?" in a voice we haven't heard him use before. Lancaster is breathtaking in this, the film's quietest line reading. Lancaster is so magnificent in this, his Oscar-winning role, that you have to wonder if he is not calling on much of his own character, as a charming, larger-than-life Hollywood star, to play the charming, larger-than-life star of tent revivals. Lancaster received a letter from a childhood friend saying that Lancaster's performance as Elmer Gantry reminded him of the Lancaster he remembered from real life.

The rest of the cast is also superb. Jean Simmons is domineering, spiritual, spooky, and lustful, by turns. Shirley Jones is heartbreaking as a doomed woman. Arthur Kennedy is perfect as a skeptical journalist. Dean Jagger perfectly times and pitches his paternal air, his outrage, and his surprised forgiveness. Patti Page is poignant as Sister Rachel. Edward Andrews is the embodiment of a sanctimonious, ambitious, brothel owner.

Of course this film addressing religious corruption, lynch mob mentality, and illicit sex was made under strict rules of censorship. There are no four letter words, no naked breasts, no bleeding wounds. And yet this film raised goose bumps in ways that more explicit movies only wish they could. A crowd bays for blood; a man pulls a horse whip out of a paper bag and cracks it. Refuse is thrown at a man, and what looks very like maggots. A police officer arresting a prostitute says "You wouldn't believe what I caught this one doing." A virgin is taken under a building by a man who has practically hypnotized her. Wow!

"Elmer Gantry" is critical of Christian revival meetings that were popular in the rural South and Midwest in the early decades of the twentieth century. Its indirect targets were understood to be the historical figures, Aimee Semple McPherson and Billy Sunday. Some Christians might avoid the movie for this reason. That would be a mistake. The movie is ultimately very charitable to all of its characters, even Babbit, the brothel owner. Like Gantry himself, the film sees humanity in all its beauty and ugliness, understands, and forgives. This is no black/white, two-dimensional screed. It's a complex exploration of complex behaviors, longings, needs, desires, ambitions. A woman can be a virgin dedicated to God and also a lover who empties sand out of her high-heeled shoe after a night of illicit passion on a beach. A villain who contributed to the ruination of a young woman's life can redeem himself through application of biblical concepts of humility and forgiveness.

Too, the flimflamming "Elmer Gantry" skewers is not limited to churches. There is a charming narcissist of uncertain background on the world stage today who, like Gantry, attracts chanting crowds, causes women to faint and men to believe in a national renaissance. This particular charismatic public speaker is not a religious leader, but a candidate for the presidency. The speaker who wows crowds, the crowds who yearn to surrender themselves to a putative messiah, are forever with us. That being the case, "Elmer Gantry" is a film that will never lose its relevance.
August 24, 2008

Elmer "where are ya now, when we need you" Gantry

Ah yes, when men were men, and Burt Lancaster was the best of all possible men! He has always breathed a quality of three-dimensional life into the characters that he portrayed that made him almost mythical. But clearly this was one of Burt's best acting performances. The man embodied sheer brilliance.

In one scene Elmer (Burt Lancaster) walks into an all black Church, takes a place in the pews and starts singing "I'm On My Way" with the rest of the parishioners. Everyone stops singing... except Elmer. He singings from such a depth of heart that everyone in the Church soon after embraces him as a brother. That magnitude of passion is Burt being Burt. He was one of a kind.

As the jilted Lulu Baines, Shirley Jones is not only breath-takingly beautiful but also heart-breakingly real and emotionally genuine. If you can only remember Shirley Jones as Mother Partridge from "The Partridge Family" television series, then you definitely need to watch this film. She shows true talent and skill in this role. (She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.)

This film should be rated "M" for mature; it is made for an adult, clear thinking audience. If you are ready to put on your big girl panties (or big boy jockies) and deal with real world issues.... watch this DVD. You will be a better person for having done so. And that's something you can't say that about many films being produced nowadays.

If it is true that we have a panoramic life review when we die, then re-watching this film will be among the highlights of my current incarnation. In my next life I want to be the sister, Sharon Falconer, to Burt's Elmer Gantry. That would be a life and love worth living! And what is love but the morning and evening star... July 2, 2008

Great Singular Performance by Lancaster

Burt Lancaster is great in this movie, but everything else in the
movie is merely average. Shirley Jones steals some scences but
she is only in the movie for a very short period of time. The movie
is a long watch and becomes a bore whenever Lancaster is not
center stage. I recommend reading the book which is an all time classic
and covers more of Gantry's life giving him more depth then the movie.

This is one movie that would greatly benefit from a modern day remake.
A filmmaker today could better explore the depths of Gantry's
personality and show his vices. Someone like George Clooney, while
not being able to surpass Lancaster, would make a huge hit out this
material. March 10, 2008

"People are all the same in one thing. They're all afraid to die and they want you to save them."

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.
November 29, 2007

Give Me That Old Time Religion

Can a man be a drunk and a womanizer and still love Jesus? Can a man love Jesus and still be a drunk and a womanizer? Those of us who have known the burden of fundamentalist guilt can feel a little envious of Elmer Gantry whose conscience seems to be as leathery as Bill Clinton's. François de la Rochefoucauld once said: "Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue." If Elmer Gantry were introspective enough to think about it he would certainly agree.

Played by Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry is a defrocked divinity student expelled from his seminary for seducing Lulu Baines, the deacon's daughter. He is earning a precarious living as a traveling salesman when, flat broke and down on his luck, he attends a tent revival hosted by Sister Sharon Falconer. Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon is delectable enough to lure any man down her aisle seeking salvation, and Gantry soon falls. He immediately tries to gain her confidence. Sister Sharon sees through him, but she is tired of sanctimonious people, and she is attracted to Gantry who is a likeable rogue. Gantry soon becomes her left hand man, the right being occupied by Dean Jagger as the upright Bill Morgan. The unholy trio is taking the Bible Belt by storm until Gantry leads a raid on a brothel occupied by a scornful Lulu Baines, played by Shirley Jones. Then all hell breaks loose.

Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones both received Academy Awards for their performances. Unfortunately Simmons was ignored although her performance was as good as Lancaster's. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I would recommend it to anyone. Be forewarned: true believers may be offended, and recovering fundies will have a hard time resisting Sister Sharon's alter call.
November 28, 2007

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