Elmer Gantry Synopsis & Summary

Synopsis

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, All Movie Guide

Movie Info

Starring:
Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Dean Jagger, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley Jones
Theatrical Release Date:
08/21/1997
DVD Release Date:
03/06/2001
Rating:
Not Yet Rated
Run Time:
146 min.
Distributor(s):
United Artists
Production Co.:
United Artists
Director(s):
Richard Brooks
Genre(s):
Drama
Themes:
Religious Zealotry, Cons and Scams, Members of the Clergy
Tone:
Cynical, Humorous, Literate, Talky, Witty, Wry, Stirring
Keywords:
con/scam, corruption, deception, evangelism, exploitation, extramarital-affair, journalism, prostitute/prostitution, salesperson, stars [celebrities]
Setting:
small town,south
Time Period:
1920s
Language:
English
Status:
DVD

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