Elmer Gantry

Overview

In this film, based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis, Burt Lancaster is a fire and brimstone preacher who harangues against sin and warns of the writhing eternal agony in hell. Out of the pulpit, he preys sexually and financially on those who seek his spiritual guidance.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/23/2014
UPC:	0738329139629
Original Release:	0000
Source:	KINO VIDEO
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Sales rank:	24,765

Special Features

On camera interview with actress Shirley Jones; Original theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry
Shirley Jones	Lulu Bains
Jean Simmons	Sister Sharon Falconer/Katy Jones
Dean Jagger	William L. Morgan
Arthur Kennedy	Jim Lefferts
Patti Page	Sister Rachel
Edward Andrews	George Babbit
John McIntire	Rev. Pengilly
Everett Glass	Rev. Brown
Michael Whalen	Rev. Phillips
Hugh Marlowe	Rev. Bill Garrison
Philip Ober	Rev. Planck
Wendell Holmes	Rev. Ulrich
Rex Ingram	Preacher
Joe Maross	Pete
Barry Kelley	Capt. Holt
Jean Willes	Prostitute
Sally Fraser	Prostitute
Dayton Lummis	Eddington, Publisher
Larry J. Blake	Bartender
John Qualen	Sam, Storekeeper
George Selk	Valet
Guy Wilkerson	Clean-Up Man
Milton Parsons	Revivalist
Dan Riss	Speaker
Peter Brocco	Benny, Photographer
Casey Adams	Deaf Man
George 'Buck' Flower	Cheerleader
Ray Walker	Friend
Ralph Dumke	Friend
George Cisar	Friend
Norman Leavitt	Friend
Budd Buster	Actor
Marjorie Stapp	Actor
Harry Antrim	Salesman in Saloon
Sol Gorss	Hobo in Boxcar
Mary Adams Hayes	Salvation Army Worker
Phil Bloom	Cornerman
Paul Bradley	Congregation Member
Claudia Bryar	Religious woman collecting money in opening scene
Mushy Callahan	Boxing Match Spectator
Bing Conley	Man Destroying Revival Tent
Andre Previn	Actor,Composer

Technical Credits

Richard Brooks

Sinclair Lewis

Richard Brooks	Screenwriter
Bernard Smith	Producer
Sinclair Lewis	Screenwriter
Charles Horvath	Stunts
Harry D. Mills	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

This once scandalous adaptation of the trenchant Sinclair Lewis novel may now seem a little dated, but it still has much to recommend it. It pulls few punches in its story of the hypocrisy, materialism, and opportunism at the heart of the evangelical world of Bible-thumping barnstorming revival troupes, an industry that professes to be about spiritual salvation. In the title role, Burt Lancaster moves like a powerful steam engine through the rustic countryside: there's no stopping this man. Gantry is charismatic and enigmatically complex, even if Lancaster is occasionally too much a bull in a china shop to convey his character's subtler motivations. Still, there's no denying his magnetism, which helped Lancaster earn his first and only Academy Award. Jean Simmons offers a more quietly sophisticated portrayal as Sister Sharon Falconer, but it is Shirley Jones, in the flashier role of Gantry's ex-flame and prostitute Lulu, who garnered the Best Supporting Actress nod from the Academy. Some questionable character development in the film's latter stages is overcome by writer/director Richard Brooks's barbed and darkly satirical Oscar-winning script, which also keeps the film from getting bogged down in obvious moralizing, as we are encouraged to love, loathe, and forgive the characters. Brooks' sharp editing and quick pacing are also an important asset in this dialogue-driven 2 1/2-hour film.