Elmer Gantry (1960) ft. Shoot the Flick
- Thomas Duncan
- Jul 2
- 4 min read
Guests:
Cast:
Richard Brooks, Writer/Director
John Alton, Cinematographer
Andre Previn, Music
Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry
Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon Falconer
Arthur Kennedy as Jim Lefferts
Dean Jagger as William L. Morgan
Shirley Jones as Lulu Bains
Patti Page as Sister Rachel
Edward Andrews as George F. Babbitt (credited as Ed Andrews)
John McIntire as Rev. John Pengilly
Hugh Marlowe as Rev. Philip Garrison
Background:
Elmer Gantry was released on June 29, 1960.
On a budget of $3 million, it would roughly gross $5.2 million to be the #8 film of 1960.
The film was well received by critics at the time and would go on to be nominated for 5 Oscars: Best Picture and Original Score while winning Best Actor (Lancaster), Supporting Actress (Jones), and Adapted Screenplay (Brooks).
Elmer Gantry currently holds a 94% among critics on RT, and a 3.8/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: Based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry's story follows the titular character (Burt Lancaster), a charismatic but morally dubious traveling salesman who uses his charm and persuasive skills to infiltrate the world of evangelical revivalism. He joins forces with Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a passionate preacher, and together they build a thriving religious movement. However, Gantry's past and his self-serving nature threaten to unravel everything, leading to dramatic consequences.
Did You Know:
A highly controversial novel in its day, no studio initially wanted to finance the film. Nevertheless, when he first learned that Richard Brooks was interested in adapting his novel, Sinclair Lewis told him that he should change it significantly, advising him to read all the criticisms of the book and use them as a way to improve on it. To keep word from leaking out as to how the novel would be adapted to the screen, only the film's six major stars were given access to the complete screenplay.
Pat Hingle originally landed the title role in the film, but before filming began, he became caught in a stalled elevator in his apartment building. He lost his balance while trying to crawl out and fell 54 feet down the shaft. He sustained massive injuries, including a fractured skull, wrist, hip and leg, and several broken ribs. He also lost his little finger on his left hand. Hingle spent much of the next year relearning how to walk and was forced to give up the part in order to recover from his horrific injuries.
In an effort to appease the Hays Code, a number of changes were made to omit controversial aspects of the book. In the original novel, Gantry was an ordained minister, but since the Code was against negative portrayals of priests, this element was entirely omitted.
Babbitt complains about how there's a Catholic running for US president. Since the story is set in the 1920s, this implies that the candidate is Al Smith, Governor of New York, who ran multiple times in the 1920s and became the Democrats' nominee in 1928. But for audiences watching this film during its 1960 release, Babbitt's anti-Catholic remark carried extra meaning, because John F. Kennedy was running that year (and got elected as the first Catholic president).
Burt Lancaster intended the film as an attack on Billy Graham.
Director Richard Brooks did not want Shirley Jones for the role of Lulu Bains, but Burt Lancaster insisted. As a result, Brooks gave Jones no direction in the filming of a very difficult scene. Brooks eventually admitted to her that he couldn't see anyone else in the role. Shirley Jones's Oscar-winning performance in this film is her only Academy Award nomination.
Best Performance: Burt Lancaster (Gantry)/Jean Simmons (Shara)
Best Secondary Performance: Jean Simmons (Shara)/Arthur Kennedy (Jefferts)/Shirley Jones (Lulu)/Richard Brooks (Writer/Director)
Most Charismatic Award: Burt Lancaster (Gantry)/Jean Simmons (Shara)
Best Scene:
On the Train
Gantry's First Sermon
In the Newspaper Office
Corrupting Katie Jones
Blackmailing Gantry
Rotten Tomatoes
Final Revival
Favorite Scene: In the Newspaper Office/On the Train
Most Indelible Moment: Final Revival/Corrupting Katie Jones/Rotten Tomatoes
In Memorium:
N/A
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Elmer Gantry: Love is the morning and the evening star.
Lulu Bains: Oh, he gave me special instructions back of the pulpit Christmas Eve. He got to howlin' "Repent! Repent!" and I got to moanin' "Save me! Save me!" and the first thing I know he rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!
Elmer Gantry: You're a $5 textbook; me, I'm a two-cent tabloid newspaper.
Elmer Gantry: Are we going to make a touchdown for Jesus Christ?
Elmer Gantry: I have here in my pocket - and thank heaven you can't see them - lewd, dirty, obscene, and I'm ashamed to say this: French postcards. They were sold to me in front of your own innocent high school by a man with a black beard... a foreigner.
Jim Lefferts: You look like a man who could use a drink.
Elmer Gantry: You know somethin', Jim? There oughta be a law against drinkin'.
Jim Lefferts: There is. Prohibition.
Elmer Gantry: That's against sellin', not drinkin'.
Jim Lefferts: Amen.
Elmer Gantry: I was accosted by three painted women. Your streets are made unsafe by shameless, diseased hussies, rapacious pick-pockets, and insidious opium-smokers.
Elmer Gantry: Sin, sin, sin! You're all sinners! You're all doomed to perdition!
George Babbitt: Besides, I'm for a free press, for free enterprise... and for whatever the hell the other freedoms are!
Elmer Gantry: I did run out on you back there in Kansas, didn't I?
Lulu Bains: It's nobody's fault. Except maybe my old man's.
Elmer Gantry: Ever hear from him?
Lulu Bains: Once, last Christmas. The letter said "Daughter, read 1st Kings, Chapter 21 Verse 23." I looked it up. It said "And the dogs in the street shall eat Jezebel." My old man and his Bible.
Elmer Gantry: Praying's the cheapest first-rate medicine I know.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 3
Impact/Significance: 6.13
Novelty: 7.13
Classic-ness: 8.38
Rewatchability: 5.75
Audience Score: 8.4 (81% Google, 87% RT)
Total: 38.79
Remaining Questions:
Where does Gantry go from here?
Why was Lulu in love with Gantry?
What did Rachel need to tell Gantry?
Was Sharon actually a faith healer?
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