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Elmer Gantry (1960)

Elmer Gantry (1960)
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Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster), a drunken, dishonest street preacher allegedly patterned on Billy Sunday, wrangles a job with the travelling tent ministry conducted by Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons). Thanks to Gantry's enthusiastic hellfire-and-brimstone sermons, Sister Sharon's operation rises to fame and fortune, enough so that Sharon realizes her dream of building her own enormous tabernacle. These ambitions are put in jeopardy when a prostitute (Oscar-winning Shirley Jones), a former minister's daughter who'd been deflowered by Gantry years earlier, lures Gantry into a compromising situation and has photographs taken. It took several years for any Hollywood studio to take a chance with Sinclair Lewis' novel, and when it finally did arrive on the screen, producer/director Richard Brooks was compelled to downplay some of the more "sacrilegious" passages in the original. Also appearing in Elmer Gantry are Arthur Kennedy as an H.L. Mencken-style atheistic journalist, and Edward Andrews as George Babbitt, a character borrowed from another Sinclair Lewis novel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Burt LancasterJean Simmons, (more)
Director(s):
Richard Brooks
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of Elmer Gantry

Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster), a drunken, dishonest street preacher allegedly patterned on Billy Sunday, wrangles a job with the travelling tent ministry conducted by Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons). Thanks to Gantry's enthusiastic hellfire-and-brimstone sermons, Sister Sharon's operation rises to fame and fortune, enough so that Sharon realizes her dream of building her own enormous tabernacle. These ambitions are put in jeopardy when a prostitute (Oscar-winning Shirley Jones), a former minister's daughter who'd been deflowered by Gantry years earlier, lures Gantry into a compromising situation and has photographs taken. It took several years for any Hollywood studio to take a chance with Sinclair Lewis' novel, and when it finally did arrive on the screen, producer/director Richard Brooks was compelled to downplay some of the more "sacrilegious" passages in the original. Also appearing in Elmer Gantry are Arthur Kennedy as an H.L. Mencken-style atheistic journalist, and Edward Andrews as George Babbitt, a character borrowed from another Sinclair Lewis novel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
147 mins

Complete Cast of Elmer Gantry


Director(s):
Richard Brooks
Writer(s):
Richard Brooks
Producer(s):
Bernard Smith
Elmer Gantry Awards:
  • 1960 - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
  • 1960 - National Board of Review - Best Supporting Actress
  • 1960 - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actor
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Member Reviews
 
Kurt S.

This is an outstanding film adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel. Burt Lancaster earned every inch of his Academy Award statuette with his rip-roaring portrayal of the shady and opportunistic evaneglist. As the plot unfolds, we see how the line blurs between business and religion, true faith and clever marketing. Even so, despite the cynicism of the story, this is not an anti-religious movie.

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Raymond M.

Excellent movie with a supurb cast. The irony of the film showed the nation's enormous divide between the religious-right and the anti-religious progressive left wing that's even more prevelant today than ever. Burt Lancaster is so wonderful that he's almost too much. Definitely worth seeing, but you should be in the mood to hear hellfire and brimstone religious rants during the great depression era.

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Lorna J.

A fine movie by one of America's great writers. Burt Lancaster's performance as Elmer Gantry was outstanding. I was not in this country during the period of the great revivals so I found the history part very interesting. This movie will always be compelling to watch.

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