Given, too, that the film's production was 1960, we can say that "Elmer Gantry" does not reflect the current, 21st century, state of religious fundamentalism in America. He joins up with Mrs. Evans Riddle, who teaches New Thought, a Westernized version of Indian religion. Ill lead you safely through the flames! When Elmer tries to make her escape, she pushes him away. Thanks to Stacia Kissick Jones and her movie review blog She Blogged By Night for the above, noted here: http://shebloggedbynight.com/2012/the-laughing-devil-in-his-sneer-brother-loves-travelling-salvation-show. | It also underscores what Lewis saw as one of the greatest dangers in American societythe tendency toward excess not only in religion but also in production, consumption, patriotism, and the proliferation of institutions . Though it makes its position on for-profit religious functions clear from the very beginning of the film, it attempts its critique in a fair manner. Can there ever have lived a clergyman with Elmers astonishing range of vices: his chronic insincerity, his hypocrisy, his lust, his overweening ambition, his cynicism, his appalling behavior to his family? He urges Elmer to become a minister. He became known in the 1920s for his books that satirized the spartan materialism and intolerance that He ends up as a minister in the Episcopal church. ." Elmer Gantry Elmer Gantry Script Yet at the fire, it is Sharon who is heroic. There are several other minor characters who are introduced with no apparent purpose other than to serve as victims of the authors anti-religious inclination. WebElmer Gantry. Like ordinary mortals, she is often weary. But a grand jury investigation found that McPherson had spent a pleasant month in Mexico with a married man from her church. In Zenith, Elmer meets Bishop Toomis, a prominent figure in the Methodist Church. Like Matthew Arnold, whose thinking Lewis often paralleled, Lewis maintained that Hebraism has too much prevailed over Hellenism and that what is needed is more sweetness and light (Elmer, with his black hair and black eyes, is, of course, the enemy of light). Bell, a Black youth who had recently transferred out of Central to the High School for Recording Arts, was on Centrals campus to visit one of his former teachers. He also notes that the more bizarre and irrational the experience, the more the evangelists value it, but he leaves the reader in no doubt about the contempt with which he views such phenomena: once occurred what connoisseurs regard as the highest example of religious inspiration. B. Gantry is portrayed as a smooth talking but frustrated salesman, struggling to make a living. Ad Locust is a traveling salesman for the Pequot Farm Implement Company who befriends Elmer on the train to Monarch. Elmer Gantry Elmer is so infatuated with Sharon that he gives up smoking and drinking for her. Elmer She turns to healing the sick not because she has a gift or a calling for it but because it is more profitable than mere evangelizing: the whole evangelist business was limited, since even the most ardent were not likely to be saved more than three or four times. Elmer Gantry, like Arrowsmith, is an account of career development. It may be that the essential lesson which Lewiss experience of America taught him was that the barriers to education, self-discovery, and fulfillment were formidably guarded by exploiters and cranks: thus his anger; thus his satire. He speaks in many big cities and acquires a new secretary, Hettie Bowler, with whom he has an affair. Now dont you go explaining! Lewis made the point that Protestantism has nurtured America in the same way it has nurtured Elmer. As the film progresses, we learned of Elmer Gantry's past especially his own previous desire to be a minister/preacher. Dooley argues that the novel fails because it is not a realistic portrayal of religion, and it lacks sufficient wit and humor to compensate for its unfairness. But occasionally Lewis tries to endow him with a soul, as in the incident of his conversion at Terwillinger College. There have been five adaptations of the novel. date the date you are citing the material. (205) 348-6010 When the pious Eddie leaves the room, all they want to talk about is sex. As Elmer (Burt Lancaster) is a saleman with a powerfully persusive tongue who joins up Sister Sharon Falconer (glamorous Jean Simmons) along with her colleagues , Sister Rachel (Patti Page) , William L. Morgan (Dean Jagger) touring grass-roots evengelist circus during the depressed twenties . Elmer wants to marry her but she says she is too old for marriage (she is thirty-two, three or four years older than Elmer) and she must also remain free to devote herself to her missionary work. Modern, yet extreme examples of this include ISIS, a violent terrorist organization that is somehow able to recruit privileged teens from Western countries, and the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, which used liberal ideology to attract minorities and young people. Webthe return nicholas sparks ending explained; Nach Altersklassen. He meets Elmer on a steamer home from Europe and invites him to lecture on behalf of Napap. Elmer starts his career as a Baptist and then joins up with a charismatic but equally unprincipled female revivalist preacher. A typical picaresque narrative chronicles the exploits of a rogue, an immoral but not criminal character who lives by his wits. He is tested by temptation and almost capitulates, but is then wrongly accused by the jilted temptress. Shortly after the publication of Elmer Gantry, H. G. Wells published a widely syndicated newspaper article called "The New American People", in which he largely based his observations of American culture on Lewis' novels. Harry Sinclair Lewis, best known as Sinclair Lewis, was born on February 7, 1885, in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Lewiss version of what passed for religion in the United States of the 1920s brought him threats against his life and gave his name the same rhetorical function in Protestant fundamentalist sermons as that of Clarence Darrow, Darwin, and the devil himself. And when his hero joins the Methodist Church, Lewis takes full advantage of the opportunity to satirize another sect. A more elaborate kind of fantasy arises out of Lewiss belief that formal religion is based on the self-interest of its leaders. Sharon Falconer is a charismatic evangelist who travels around the country holding spectacular revival meetings. He is invited by a group of scholars to go on a lecture tour to oppose religious fundamentalism, but his first lecture, in a city in the southwest, he is interrupted by local toughs. WebWhen hedonistic but charming con man Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) meets the beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a roadside revivalist, he feigns piousness to join Elmer at first returns her affection, and they get married. 4953. WebElmer Gantry. Gantry's entire repertoire is performed with encyclopedic thoroughness and accuracy. Word Count: 916. We see Gantry the narcissistic conman, Gantry the philanthropist, Gantry the flamboyant showman. Tries to give the kid a break. When hedonistic but charming con man Elmer Gantry meets the beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer, a roadside revivalist, he feigns piousness to join her act as a passionate preacher. Lewis preferred the liberal Birkhead to the conservative Stidger, and on his second visit to Kansas City, Lewis chose Birkhead as his guide. Already a member? In creating the evangelist Sharon Falconer, the author presents himself with a bigger, although more complex, target. Lewis attacked it as no more than mass hysteria. Pengilly sees through him with the spiritual eye of an eagle, and asks, Mr. Lulu becomes devoted to Elmer but he gets bored with her. Amoral and relentlessly ambitious, Elmer builds a statewide and national reputation as a fiery preacher who never tires of denouncing vice, while at the same time feeling no need to curb his own vices, particularly adultery. But throughout his career he wonders whether there is any value in his work. It might seem that the last thing in the world Lewis wanted was sympathy for Elmer Gantry, whom he regarded, he told Allen Austin years later, as a hypocrite through and through. Yet he wrote in the Nation in 1928, Actually, I like the Babbitts, the Dr. Pickerbaughs, the Will Kennicotts, and even the Elmer Gantrys rather better than anyone else on earth. Furthermore, he told Betty Stevens that the Babbitts were my children and I wanted to reform them. Traditionalists, therefore, rejected the new approach of liberal theology. Elizabeth Taylor, Best Actress winner for Butterfield 8. But though this satire is perhaps the best part of the book, revivalism is not the only target. Sit down and take in everything this film is offering, you won't be disappointed. The couple abandons their campaign against Elmer and leave A lady runs by Elmer in a blue jacket, and her jacket is on fire. Elmer is forced to agree, but promises himself he will find a way out of the engagement. Elmer Gantry Summary - eNotes.com Lewis married Grace Livingston Hegger in 1914, and they had one son, Wells, in 1917. Source: Bryan Aubrey, Critical Essay on Elmer Gantry, in Novels for Students, Thomson Gale, 2006. because Joness Lulu is a silly, air-spun girl. This has been the hottest school board race Ive seen in 25 years of living in Minneapolis, with lots of conspiracy theories and pearl-clutching. Based on the muckraker Sinclair Lewis' novel, and superbly translated to the screen by Richard Brooks (In Cold Blood , The Professionals, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), this story of huckster-ism by religion is a masterpiece. It is the Morning and the Evening Star. Although most entertaining when Gantry is actually preaching (mainly in the opening half of the film), the intelligent script moves on from it's basic premise (that Gantry is a charlatan) to explore wider questions of the nature of humanity and society. End Like Sharon, she drew huge crowds and practiced faith healing. Elmer loves to preach against immorality but feels no need to be moral himself. You're all doomed to perdition. Is there really a conflict between science and religion, between reason and faith, or can the two live in harmony? Binch stopped gulping his fried pork chops and held out a flabby, white, holy hand.. A fast-talking traveling salesman with a charming, loquacious manner convinces a sincere evangelist that he can be an effective preacher for her cause. He ends up as minister of a large church in a West Virginia mining town. Ive made herby prayer and by having a right to be her!. If there was a soul to be saved - Gantry would save it. Elmer Gantry is a fast talking, hard drinking traveling salesman who always has a risqu story and a hip flask to entertain cronies and customers alike. Lewiss description of the service at which Elmer succumbs is compelling in its evocation of the rampant emotion of the occasion. Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry, lit in stark noirish style by cinematographer John Alton. And she does look sexy in a slip. Elmer Gantry He feels little desire to practice what he preaches. External Reviews Source: Martin Light, Mantrap and Elmer Gantry, in The Quixotic Vision of Sinclair Lewis, Purdue University Press, 1975, pp. But the arts and the sentiments and the sentimentalitiesthey were for Elmer perpetually associated only with the church. Reverend Andrew Pengilly is the old pastor of the Catawba Methodist Church. They also name Billy Sunday. He also forms a Committee on Public Morals, persuades the police to make him a temporary lieutenant, and personally leads raids on the red-light districts. After dinner, the drunken Elmer picks a fight with a man who is heckling Eddie Fislinger, a fellow Terwillinger College student, as he preaches to an outdoor crowd. Over the next few years, he is appointed to larger and larger parishes, eventually to a church in Zenith. Bains promises Elmer that he will make Lulu marry Floyd. Co-stars Jean Simmons and Shirley Jones. Elmer of course towers above everyone else in the novel. In the mid-1920s, Elmer Gantry is a hard-living, smooth-talking traveling salesman who often uses Christian references in his sales pitches to his largely Christian clients. He is immediately attracted to her and also sees her revival meetings as a way to make money. A charming conman pretends to be a preacher and romances a roadside revivalist. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Of course, turmoil closes in on them as their inherent instincts of love overpower their adherence to the Christian principles they attempt to profess. When Elmer is converted, Jim moves out of his room in disgust. Finally, the Elmer Gantry script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the Burt Lancaster movie. Literally, in one case, when the tabernacle catches fire at the end of the movie. There is a definite give and take between Gantry and Falconer and the congregants in Elmer Gantry. Jim Lefferts is Elmers roommate and his only friend at Terwillinger College. WebFull IPTV List channels worldwide With 20000 channels + 40000 Movie and series. According to Mark Schorer, in his introduction to Sinclair Lewis: A Collection of Critical Essays, No novel in the history of American literature outraged its audience so completely, and very few novels in American literature had a larger immediate audience. The book was banned in Boston and other cities and denounced from hundreds of pulpits. A lady runs by Elmer in a blue jacket, and her jacket is on fire. For all that, you also fear for a world in which the influence of modern-day Gantries shows no sign of diminishing. He is so good that it is hard to tell the difference whether he's sincere or lying. Frank finds some shame in being a preacher and longs to prove that he is nevertheless a real man. Not only had he been swathed in theology, but all his experience had been in books instead of the speech of toiling men. President Putin and I agree, Macron said. Kayfabe, or, Why a Scholar of Religion Might Be Interested in Pro Wrestling. These blossoming words, these organ-like phrases, these profound notions, had been rammed home till they stuck in his brain, ready for use. Napap would bring about nationwide censorship of novels, plays, paintings, and movies. Rewrite it from Jims point of view. Stidger introduced Lewis to many other clergymen, among them the Reverend Leon Milton Birkhead, a Unitarian and an agnostic. Elmer will end up using all of these strategies himself, to great success. The merit of this argument is undermined because it is given by Babbitt, not out of caring for the citizens of Zenith, but rather because he stands to gain the most financially from the revival. Burt Lancaster acted in a number of excellent films during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Still, Falconer dies for her beliefs and is shown to fervently believe in God; she clearly wants to save people. Falconer gives of herself throughout the film to help her congregants, often going outside her comfort zone to preach to angry crowds and secure the donations she sees as a necessary evil for the continuance of her sermons. Fired from the ministry after going drinking rather than contacting his new church, he works for two years as a traveling salesman. William's business plan has been for the show to set up in small towns, so it's against his wishes that Sister Sharon, falling for Elmer, agrees to Elmer's plan to set up in the larger city of Zenith, where William feels the that the scrutiny of the cynical urban populace will hurt their brand. And if I could still only be sure about the virgin birth! WebMemorable Moments. Elmer, with the help of T. J. Rigg, turns the tables on her and preserves his career. I am Sharon Falconer now! pat hingle elevator accident [4] One cleric suggested that Lewis should be imprisoned for five years, and there were also threats of physical violence against the author. After various forays into evangelism, he becomes a successful Methodist minister despite his hypocrisy and serial sexual indiscretions.[1]. He will begin as a preacher in a small town, will enliven it and lift it. Frank suffers from self-consciousness about his occupation; it is the same sense of doubt which Lewis has expressed about the writing career: Frank still resented it that, as a parson, he was considered not quite virile; that even clever people felt they must treat him with a special manner; that he was barred from knowing the real thoughts and sharing the real desires of normal humanity.. It must have been for acting against type, coming off wholesome musical Oklahoma! When she overhears Gantry seducing their pianist, she fires them, but Gantry convinces her to reconsider. Were in the temple of the Lord! It's easy to miss the Katar River restaurant, hidden away in a little industrial strip behind the Lake & Hiawatha shopping center in south Minneapolis. Elmers mind is shallow; he simply does not have the capacity for serious thought about such issues. 73738. If a satirist depicts the object of his satire as based on humbug, advocated by humbug, and defended by humbug, he must employ a great deal of wit and fantasy to prevent his attack from seeming cross-grained and peevish. Leap Of Faith movie review & film summary (1992) | Roger Ebert He welcomes Elmer into the Methodist church. It was on the steamer home that he met and became intimate with J. E. North, the renowned vice-slayer, executive secretary of the National Association for the Purification of Art and the Pressaffectionately known through all the evangelical world as the Napap. Mr. North was not a clergyman (though he was a warm Presbyterian layman), but no clergyman in the country had more furiously pursued wickedness, more craftily forced congressmen, through threats in their home districts, to see legislation in the same reasonable manner as himself. William Donninger Styles is a rich businessman in Zenith. Indeed, why doesnt he? gantry It is the hour! "Elmer Gantry" United Artists Simon received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance as a runaway housewife in "The Happy Ending" (1969), His genius took its chance in mockery, parody, grotesquerie, and excessive performance. In Zenith, when a group of local clergymen meet as the Committee on Public Morals, they reveal a distinct lack of brotherly love amongst themselves: They all detested one another. Im afraid! He replies, Thats damned nonsense! Later he says, Come on now, Clee, show some spunk! Making fun of her, he thinks, Fellow ought to be brutal, for her own sake. Brute, fake, or philanderer, Elmer Gantry seems nevertheless destined for a successful career. At Terwillinger College, Elmer captains the football team. Lewis died of heart disease in Rome, Italy, in 1951. The film is beautifully visual and as Elmer Gantry's past comes haunting again to tarnish the tent revival and watch Gantry and Sister Sharon fall again. Gantry is bored by school, but Shallard is drawn to a professor who eventually confesses his atheism to Shallard. But both the show and their relationship are threatened when one of Gantry's ex-lovers decides that she must settle a score with the charismatic performer. Simulation Theory: How is Religion Part of It? At the end of the novel, Elmer is on bended knee, praying, We shall yet make these United States moral nation! The irony in Elmers last statement underscores the immorality of the kind of enforced morality Elmer has in mind. The ships captain who in the storm took counsel with the orphaned but righteous child of missionaries in Zomballa. The dean sends Gantry and classmate Frank Shallard to pastor a nearby church. The purpose of Napap is to make life conform to the ideals agreed upon by the principal Christian Protestant denominations. This would be accomplished by combining into one association all the moral organizations in Americathe Anti-Saloon League, the Lords Day Alliance, the Watch and Ward Society, and the Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Moralsand then lobbying for legislated morality. And yet Lewiss attitude to his character is a little more complex than this long list of his faults might suggest. , Sinclair Lewis: An American Life, McGraw Hill, 1961, pp. User Ratings She is also an insane perversion of the sanctity of the elect, for she declares to Elmer, I cant sin! In the film, Gantry happens upon one of Falconers revivals being held in a country town. One of the first scenes with Sister Sharon Falconer involves her asking for donations from these people. This is a film that has outlasted its time. He is not a deep thinker and does not really care whether the Baptist doctrines he preaches are true or false. International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, "Elmer Gantry, a Flawed Preacher for the Ages", "The Censorship Crusade: A Story For Banned Books Week | Americans United", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elmer_Gantry&oldid=1142298283, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, A 1970 Broadway musical adaptation, titled. They also decried the growth within the church of the higher criticism, that sought to understand the Bible based on modern methods of scholarship.
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