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7am PST – Elmer Gantry (1960) – A young drifter finds success as a traveling preacher until his past catches up with him. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger Dir: Richard Brooks C-147 mins, TV-PG
Smart, sophisticated and complex look at religion and those who spread it. Honest, but never cynical, critical, but never unfair, “Elmer Gantry” is as satisfying a look at faith, the faithful and their shortcomings as has ever been depicted on the big screen.
Lancaster towers in the title role of a Saturday night sinner who finds his way back to Jesus every Sunday morning. Great characters are riddled with contradictions and who Elmer Gantry truly is remains a mystery even after the fade, but that’s what makes him so fascinating. You don’t need me to tell you Lancaster won the Oscar in a career-defining role; you need only watch the film.
Shirley Jones also took home a statue for her against-type portrayal of a vindictive prostitute, the criminally under-appreciated Jean Simmons (she of the greatest female speaking voice ever) is just as good in a role almost as complex, and the great Arthur Kennedy supports doing what he always did better than anyone: sneer, spread cynicism, and ultimately find some kind of redemption.
Director Richard Brooks won an Oscar for adapting the novel by Sinclair Lewis, and the above clip is one of my all-time favorite screen moments. In the three scenes prior, everything we learn about Gantry tells us he’s a drunken, womanizing, bum who lies to his mother and uses faith as a tool of seduction. Then, with no one looking other than God, he walks into a church.
What a movie.
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