Plot & Details
Plot
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.
MPAA Rating:
Not Yet Rated
Genre(s):
Drama
Run Time:
146min.
Theatrical Release Date:
08/21/1997
DVD Release Date:
03/06/2001
Distributor(s):
United Artists
Director(s):
Starring:
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]
Language:
English
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