Burt Lancaster acted in a number of excellent films during the late 1950s and early 1960s. "Elmer Gantry", directed by Richard Brooks, is one of his best.
Set in the early 1920s, the film stars Lancaster as Elmer Gantry, a fast talking charlatan and con man who uses his seductive tongue to weasel his way into the church of Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a Christian fundamentalist and female evangelist. Together the duo travel from town to town, setting up massive revival tents and seducing thousands upon thousands of believers.
At its best, "Elmer Gantry" draws parallels between the words of business, entertainment and organised religion. In Brooks' hands, the church's foot-soldiers are more hucksters and crafty salesmen than men and women of God. They're selling a product, tailoring their pitches and pep talks to the wants and needs of the people, and even actively manufacturing desires, phobias and neuroses. Lancaster's character is himself a creepy sales machine who always knows exactly which screws to turn. His product? Himself. Ego-maniacal and craving attention, Gantry will do anything to be at the head of a pulpit.
Burt Lancaster has often been accused of overacting. His character in "Elmer Gantry" is admittedly bombastic and exuberant, but fittingly so. Like an advertising executive on caffene, Gantry is a man of wild gestures and big promises, though there is subtlety and truth in the way Lancaster sculpts Gantry's smiles and the edges of Gantry's eyes. Gantry's facial features are hard, forced and false, all an act designed to seduce. Think of him as a precursor to Paul Thomas Anderson's Daniel Plainview (based on a 1927 Upton Sinclair novel).
"Elmer Gantry" was itself based on less than 100 pages from an ahead-of-its-time novel by Sinclair Lewis (released in 1926). But where Lewis is satirical, edgy, angry, funny and resolutely anti-Christian, Brooks' film is kinder, gentler, ambiguous and scared of offending Christian audiences. Is Brooks' Gantry a believer? It seems so, despite his motivations. Do miracles happen within the film, thereby proving the existence of Christ? Again, it seems so, though the film is ambiguous enough to also suggest the exact opposite. Lewis' stance may have been too militant, even for the supposedly "progressive" 1960s; just another example of how timid cinema can be.
Still, as a watered-down critique of fundamentalism, and even religion in a broader sense, the film works well. It's most sympathetic character is an atheist journalist, played by the great, underrated Arthur Kennedy. Kennedy's character sees through everyone's shams, but empathises with them nevertheless. A key scene involves him writing a newspaper article which shocks readers. Gantry and Falconer are hucksters and racketeers, he writes, selling superficialities in a world in which well-meaning intentions, religion and social goods offer no resistance to vices or social evil. Kennedy's readers support him, until the fast talking Elmer Gantry once again shifts popular opinion. Rather than change people, religion tends to force man to compartmentalise, repress or engage in wanton denial.
The film missteps in its final act, with a fire-and-brimstone climax and an ending which is arguably too sympathetic toward Gantry. Better to portray him as a snake. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Brooks, though, has Gantry redeemed. He's just another soldier answering God's call. The film's best scene? Gantry stepping into an African American church and singing "I'm On My Way To Canaan's Land". The sequence is brilliant, Gantry's words like a threat, his tongue like the tool of Satan.
8.5/10 - Richard Brooks is not well known today, but he directed a number of very good films (think of him as another John Huston). "Elmer Gantry" is one of his best. Worth one viewing.
Set in the early 1920s, the film stars Lancaster as Elmer Gantry, a fast talking charlatan and con man who uses his seductive tongue to weasel his way into the church of Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a Christian fundamentalist and female evangelist. Together the duo travel from town to town, setting up massive revival tents and seducing thousands upon thousands of believers.
At its best, "Elmer Gantry" draws parallels between the words of business, entertainment and organised religion. In Brooks' hands, the church's foot-soldiers are more hucksters and crafty salesmen than men and women of God. They're selling a product, tailoring their pitches and pep talks to the wants and needs of the people, and even actively manufacturing desires, phobias and neuroses. Lancaster's character is himself a creepy sales machine who always knows exactly which screws to turn. His product? Himself. Ego-maniacal and craving attention, Gantry will do anything to be at the head of a pulpit.
Burt Lancaster has often been accused of overacting. His character in "Elmer Gantry" is admittedly bombastic and exuberant, but fittingly so. Like an advertising executive on caffene, Gantry is a man of wild gestures and big promises, though there is subtlety and truth in the way Lancaster sculpts Gantry's smiles and the edges of Gantry's eyes. Gantry's facial features are hard, forced and false, all an act designed to seduce. Think of him as a precursor to Paul Thomas Anderson's Daniel Plainview (based on a 1927 Upton Sinclair novel).
"Elmer Gantry" was itself based on less than 100 pages from an ahead-of-its-time novel by Sinclair Lewis (released in 1926). But where Lewis is satirical, edgy, angry, funny and resolutely anti-Christian, Brooks' film is kinder, gentler, ambiguous and scared of offending Christian audiences. Is Brooks' Gantry a believer? It seems so, despite his motivations. Do miracles happen within the film, thereby proving the existence of Christ? Again, it seems so, though the film is ambiguous enough to also suggest the exact opposite. Lewis' stance may have been too militant, even for the supposedly "progressive" 1960s; just another example of how timid cinema can be.
Still, as a watered-down critique of fundamentalism, and even religion in a broader sense, the film works well. It's most sympathetic character is an atheist journalist, played by the great, underrated Arthur Kennedy. Kennedy's character sees through everyone's shams, but empathises with them nevertheless. A key scene involves him writing a newspaper article which shocks readers. Gantry and Falconer are hucksters and racketeers, he writes, selling superficialities in a world in which well-meaning intentions, religion and social goods offer no resistance to vices or social evil. Kennedy's readers support him, until the fast talking Elmer Gantry once again shifts popular opinion. Rather than change people, religion tends to force man to compartmentalise, repress or engage in wanton denial.
The film missteps in its final act, with a fire-and-brimstone climax and an ending which is arguably too sympathetic toward Gantry. Better to portray him as a snake. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Brooks, though, has Gantry redeemed. He's just another soldier answering God's call. The film's best scene? Gantry stepping into an African American church and singing "I'm On My Way To Canaan's Land". The sequence is brilliant, Gantry's words like a threat, his tongue like the tool of Satan.
8.5/10 - Richard Brooks is not well known today, but he directed a number of very good films (think of him as another John Huston). "Elmer Gantry" is one of his best. Worth one viewing.