ELMER GANTRY
Year: 1960
Country:
United States
Run Time:
127 minutes
There was no actor quite like Burt Lancaster. Whether this former acrobat was playing the doomed boxer in "The Killers" (1946), a sleazy gossip columnist in "The Sweet Smell of Success" (1957), or a reclusive doctor in "Field of Dreams" (1989), he always seemed to be in a semi-reverie, his lines and gestures stealthily finding their way around the other characters and bulls-eyeing right into the auidence. No role emphasized Lancaster's earthbound state of grace better than his Oscar-winning turn as the dissolute preacher of Sinclair Lewis' novel, a booze-soaked but incredibly persuasive and charismatic charlatan. He attaches himself to a nationally famous evangelist Sister Sharon (a character based on th ereal-life Ainee Semple McPerson) and build up their act from traveling tent shows to a palace-sized temple, fattened on contributions from countless believers. But Gantry's lustful eye for the ladies and Sister Sharon's dawning dementia catch up with them like the wrath of God. It's worth noting that nobody would dare do a mainstream movies like this in today's Hollywood, and if they did, they couldn't match the power of Richard Brooks and Burt Lancaster.
Screenplay
Richard Brooks, Based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis
Director
Richard Brooks
Producer
Bernard Smith
Cinematography
John Alton
Editing
Marjorie Fowler
Principal Cast
Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Shirley Jones, Arthur Kennedy.
MGM/UA Classics
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