Elmer Gantry (film)
Encyclopedia
Elmer Gantry is a 1960 drama film
about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks
, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name
by Sinclair Lewis
and stars Burt Lancaster
and Jean Simmons
.
Lancaster won an Academy Award for his performance, as did co-star Shirley Jones
.
The movie presents fewer than 100 pages of the novel, deleting many characters and fundamentally changing the character and actions of female evangelist Sharon Falconer, played by Simmons. The story's use of a female evangelist bears a resemblance to true-life Sister Aimee Semple McPherson
.
) is a hard-drinking, fast-talking traveling salesman with a charismatic personality. He is drawn to the road show of Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons
) and is immediately attracted to the saintly revivalist.
Gantry soon cons his way into Sister Sharon's good graces and joins the troupe as a fiery preacher. Gantry and Falconer develop what her manager calls a "good cop/bad cop
" routine, with Elmer telling the audience members that they will burn in Hell for their sins and Sharon promising salvation if they repent.
The group makes its way out of exclusively provincial venues and into Zenith, Winnemac
, a larger city. Falconer eventually admits to Gantry that her real name is Katie Jones and that her origins are humbler than she publicly admits. Falconer also becomes Gantry's lover and loses her virginity
to him.
Gantry's on-stage antics draw the attention of a big-city reporter, the skeptical Jim Lefferts (Arthur Kennedy
). Lefferts is shown to be torn between his disgust for religious huckster
ism and his genuine admiration for Gantry's charm and cunning. The two men begin a public feud which increases the notoriety of both.
The success of the Falconer-Gantry team is mired by Lulu Baines (Shirley Jones
), a former girlfriend of Elmer's who fell into disrepute and became a prostitute when her affair with Gantry ruined her standing in her minister father's eyes.
Gantry, acting as a moralist, unwittingly invades the brothel
where Lulu works. With police and media in tow, he sends the prostitutes out of town. Lulu proceeds to frame Gantry out of revenge for this and out of jealousy for his relationship with Falconer.
Lulu blackmails him. Falconer is asked to bring $25,000 in exchange for the negatives of incriminating pictures. Falconer brings the money, but Lulu refuses to accept; it is unclear why she has had a change of heart.
Lulu had at first offered Lefferts the exclusive story of Gantry's sexual indiscretion, but he refused, shrugging the pictures off as merely proof that Gantry is as human as anyone else. Later, when an angry mob threatens Gantry at the tent revival
following the publication of the incriminating photos in another newspaper, Lefferts fights in Gantry's defense.
Lulu joins the congregation at this tent revival and is a witness to Gantry's humiliation. As she watches the mob curse Gantry and smear him with eggs and other produce
, she is emotionally shaken and flees the scene.
Lulu returns to the brothel, which is now in a dilapidated state from Gantry's publicity stunt. Her pimp, who with the photographer had helped frame Gantry, is there to collect the $25,000. Lulu tells him she did not take Falconer's money, whereupon he beats her. Gantry comes to Lulu's rescue. He disposes of the pimp and apologizes to Lulu, who then publicly confesses to having framed Gantry.
Elmer returns to Sharon on the night her new tabernacle opens. He wants them to live like a more normal couple. Sharon is unable to give up her soul-saving ventures, though, and insists that she and Elmer were brought together by God to do His work. Sharon then tragically dies in a fire at the tabernacle, unable or unwilling to see past her own religious zeal when the place is engulfed in flames.
Deeply saddened by Sharon's death and having reached something of a moral awakening, Elmer decides to stop evangelizing, quoting from the Bible: "When I was a child, I understood as a child and spake as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things."
All compositions by André Previn
.
for Best Actor
(Burt Lancaster), Best Supporting Actress
(Shirley Jones) and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
(Richard Brooks). It was also nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
and Best Picture
.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and occasional film producer.-Early life and career:...
, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 and published by Harcourt in March 1927.-Background:Lewis did research for the novel by observing the work of various preachers in Kansas City in his so-called "Sunday School" meetings on Wednesdays. He first worked with William L...
by Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
and stars Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
and Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
.
Lancaster won an Academy Award for his performance, as did co-star Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
.
The movie presents fewer than 100 pages of the novel, deleting many characters and fundamentally changing the character and actions of female evangelist Sharon Falconer, played by Simmons. The story's use of a female evangelist bears a resemblance to true-life Sister Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church...
.
Plot
Elmer Gantry (Burt LancasterBurt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
) is a hard-drinking, fast-talking traveling salesman with a charismatic personality. He is drawn to the road show of Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
) and is immediately attracted to the saintly revivalist.
Gantry soon cons his way into Sister Sharon's good graces and joins the troupe as a fiery preacher. Gantry and Falconer develop what her manager calls a "good cop/bad cop
Good cop/Bad cop
Good cop/bad cop, known in British military circles as Mutt and Jeff and also called joint questioning and friend and foe, is a psychological tactic used for interrogation....
" routine, with Elmer telling the audience members that they will burn in Hell for their sins and Sharon promising salvation if they repent.
The group makes its way out of exclusively provincial venues and into Zenith, Winnemac
Winnemac (fictional state)
Winnemac is a fictional U.S.state invented by the writer Sinclair Lewis. His novel Babbitt takes place in Zenith, its largest city...
, a larger city. Falconer eventually admits to Gantry that her real name is Katie Jones and that her origins are humbler than she publicly admits. Falconer also becomes Gantry's lover and loses her virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
to him.
Gantry's on-stage antics draw the attention of a big-city reporter, the skeptical Jim Lefferts (Arthur Kennedy
Arthur Kennedy (actor)
Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage" especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway.- Early life and education :Kennedy was born John...
). Lefferts is shown to be torn between his disgust for religious huckster
Huckster
A huckster is a seller of small articles, who tricks others into buying cheap imitation products and then bargains them as if they were the real thing...
ism and his genuine admiration for Gantry's charm and cunning. The two men begin a public feud which increases the notoriety of both.
The success of the Falconer-Gantry team is mired by Lulu Baines (Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
), a former girlfriend of Elmer's who fell into disrepute and became a prostitute when her affair with Gantry ruined her standing in her minister father's eyes.
Gantry, acting as a moralist, unwittingly invades the brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
where Lulu works. With police and media in tow, he sends the prostitutes out of town. Lulu proceeds to frame Gantry out of revenge for this and out of jealousy for his relationship with Falconer.
Lulu blackmails him. Falconer is asked to bring $25,000 in exchange for the negatives of incriminating pictures. Falconer brings the money, but Lulu refuses to accept; it is unclear why she has had a change of heart.
Lulu had at first offered Lefferts the exclusive story of Gantry's sexual indiscretion, but he refused, shrugging the pictures off as merely proof that Gantry is as human as anyone else. Later, when an angry mob threatens Gantry at the tent revival
Revival meeting
A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held in order to inspire active members of a church body, to raise funds and to gain new converts...
following the publication of the incriminating photos in another newspaper, Lefferts fights in Gantry's defense.
Lulu joins the congregation at this tent revival and is a witness to Gantry's humiliation. As she watches the mob curse Gantry and smear him with eggs and other produce
Produce
Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced goods and, not limited to fruits and vegetables . More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. In supermarkets the term is also used to refer...
, she is emotionally shaken and flees the scene.
Lulu returns to the brothel, which is now in a dilapidated state from Gantry's publicity stunt. Her pimp, who with the photographer had helped frame Gantry, is there to collect the $25,000. Lulu tells him she did not take Falconer's money, whereupon he beats her. Gantry comes to Lulu's rescue. He disposes of the pimp and apologizes to Lulu, who then publicly confesses to having framed Gantry.
Elmer returns to Sharon on the night her new tabernacle opens. He wants them to live like a more normal couple. Sharon is unable to give up her soul-saving ventures, though, and insists that she and Elmer were brought together by God to do His work. Sharon then tragically dies in a fire at the tabernacle, unable or unwilling to see past her own religious zeal when the place is engulfed in flames.
Deeply saddened by Sharon's death and having reached something of a moral awakening, Elmer decides to stop evangelizing, quoting from the Bible: "When I was a child, I understood as a child and spake as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things."
Cast
- Burt LancasterBurt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
as Elmer Gantry - Jean SimmonsJean SimmonsJean Merilyn Simmons, OBE was an English actress. She appeared predominantly in motion pictures, beginning with films made in Great Britain during and after World War II – she was one of J...
as Sharon Falconer - Arthur KennedyArthur Kennedy (actor)Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage" especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway.- Early life and education :Kennedy was born John...
as Jim Lefferts - Dean JaggerDean JaggerDean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor...
as William L. Morgan - Shirley JonesShirley JonesShirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
as Lulu Bains - Patti PagePatti PageClara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...
as Sister Rachel - Edward AndrewsEdward AndrewsEdward Andrews was an American actor, one of the most recognizable character actors on television and films between the 1950s and the 1980s...
as George F. Babbitt - John McIntireJohn McIntireJohn McIntire was an American character actor.-Career:The craggy-faced film actor was born in Spokane in eastern Washington State but reared in Montana, growing up around ranchers and cowboys, an experience that would later inspire his performances in dozens of westerns.A graduate of USC, McIntire...
as Rev. John Pengilly - Hugh MarloweHugh MarloweHugh Marlowe was an American film, television, stage and radio actor.Marlowe was born Hugh Herbert Hipple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began his stage career in the 1930s at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. Marlowe was usually a secondary lead or supporting actor in the films he...
as Rev. Philip Garrison - Joe MarossJoe MarossJoe Maross was an American actor who appeared in movies and made guest appearances on many television series from the 1950s to the 1980s. He served in World War II and was stationed in Hawaii....
as Pete - Dayton LummisDayton LummisDayton Lummis. Sr. , was an American actor of film and television who specialized in the genre of anthology and western series, often playing authority figures. From 1959-1960, he appeared as Marshal Andy Morrison in nine episodes of NBC's Law of the Plainsman western, with Michael Ansara and...
as Eddington, newspaperNewspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
publisher - Harry AntrimHarry AntrimHarry Antrim was an actor in vaudeville, film and television.By 1906, Antrim was working in vaudeville. During the early 1930s, he moved to Los Angeles and secured uncredited parts in several films, beginning with 1936's Small Town Girl...
as salesman in a speakeasy - Barbara LunaBarbara LunaBarBara Ann Luna is an American actress with an extensive list of roles in film, television, and shows. Notable roles included Five Weeks in a Balloon and Lt. Marlena Moreau in the classic Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror"...
as a prostitute (un-credited)
Soundtrack
A remastered and enhanced soundtrack was released on CD on August 25, 1998.All compositions by André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
.
- "Main Title" (1:45)
- "Long Distance" (1:38)
- "Mr. Babbitt" (3:15)
- "Lulu's Room" (2:49)
- "Do You Believe" (1:55)
- "Not As My Lover" (1:10)
- "Under The Pier" (3:14)
- "Shall We Gather At The River" (1:43)
- "Kiss Me Goodbye" (4:06)
- "Stand Up For Jesus" (1:16)
- "Elmer And Lulu" (1:25)
- "End Title" (1:35)
- "Orchestral Suite" (2:56)
- "Onward Christian Soldiers (Instrumental)"(1:25)
- "Shall We Gather At The River" (1:43)
- "Stand Up For Jesus" (1:15)
- "I'm On My Way" (Burt Lancaster – Vocal) (2:47)
Awards and nominations
The film won Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Burt Lancaster), Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Shirley Jones) and Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
(Richard Brooks). It was also nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
and Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
.