Review of Elmer Gantry (1960) by Jake B — 14 Jul 2009

Burt Lancaster stars in the title role as a charmingly loud and lascivious travelling home appliance salesman who enjoys preaching the word of the Lord as a hobby. When he attends a revivalist tent meeting led by Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), he cons his way into the fold and begins to deliver his own fire-and-brimstone sermonizing to the followers.

Sister Sharon sees Gantry for exactly what he is, but is convinced he has been sent by God to do his work for her. Or perhaps it's just that she finds him so irresistably charming. It is suggested in the movie that Sister Sharon convinces Gantry to give up his booze and women and lead a clean lifestyle.

It's also suggested Gantry is a true believer in the Lord, a little rough around the edges, perhaps, but one of God's flock nonetheless. In this respect, the movie hardly condemns the narrow-mindedness of the fundamentalist, but it does present a side and allows the audience to form it's own opinions.

Gantry shows us the birth of tentshow revivalism, the prohibition-era "one nation under God" narrow-mindedness of the day. Elmer openly mocks the Theory of Evolution (just like everyone else did at the time) and accuses those who write negative press about his church of being "atheists".

It's not class warfare Gantry wages from the pulpit, but intellectual warfare. He frequently makes reference to the fact that he, like his followers is simple and uneducated (placing this as if it were a virtue) and mocking those who speak "big words" and attend Yale and Harvard.

It's a cheap tactic in any time period (sorry Sarah Palin), and is probably the most telling tactic exposed in the movie. This could be the Jim and Tammy Faye Baker story. While the performances are good, at two and a half hours, the movie drags, and it drags at the point (threats of blackmail and infidelity) where it's should generate the most intensity.

Add to that a tacked-on dramatic ending, and you have a pretty disappointing film.