Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #40: Elmer Gantry, 1960

Jim Lefferts: You look like a man who could use a drink.

Elmer Gantry: You know somethin', Jim? There oughta be a law against drinkin'.

Jim Lefferts: There is. Prohibition.

Elmer Gantry: That's against sellin', not drinkin'.
Jim Lefferts: Amen.

Elmer Gantry, 1960

Director: Richard Brooks
Writer: Richard Brooks, from the novel by Sinclair Lewis
Cinematographer: John Alton
Producer: Bernard Smith for Elmer Gantry Productions (Richard Brooks' company)
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, Shirley Jones

Why I chose it
As an Academy Award nominee from 1960, and an adaptation of one the  early 20th century's most provocative novels, this one just grabbed more of my attention than any other potential films. 

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a small-time con man during the Prohibition era, who as an itinerant salesman finds he can win sell anyone almost anything, even religion, with his speaking abilities and charisma. He wanders into a traveling Revivalist show headlined by "sister" Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a lovely, sincere preacher who has the gift of connecting with rural folk and converting them to an active, evangelical Christianity. At first resistant to Elmer's charms, Sharon recognizes his gift for preaching even if he crosses boundaries of propriety, but then begins to fall for him. Their burgeoning relationship is threatened by both his past involving another woman (Shirley Jones) and his ambition, which also threatens the existence of their troupe.

Elmer Gantry (Lancaster) wows a rural crowd of the faithful with his
fiery preaching.

Production Background
The success of Elmer Gantry owes much to producer/director/writer Richard Brooks. He was intrigued by the 1927 Sinclair Lewis novel, and decided to adapt the first half of it to the big screen, although with reportedly significant alterations to some of the main characters. Burt Lancaster was cast after it was originally reported that Brooks had considered Montgomery Clift for the lead role. Brooks had already worked with Lancaster, having written two of his earliest films: The Killers (1946) and Brute Force (1947) Lancaster made the character of Gantry his own, even incorporating the "slide" moves of baseball player-turned evangelist Billy Sunday. As for Brooks, he married his leading lady, Jean Simmons, shortly after production wrapped.

The film did well upon release, earning over three times its $3 million production budget at the box office. The film also won three Academy Awards: Best Actor for Burt Lancaster (his sole Oscar win), Shirley Jones for Best Supporting Actress, and Richard Brooks for Adapted Screenplay. The film was nominated but did not win for Best Picture and Best Score (André Previn).

In an interview available here, Shirley Jones revealed that she had a major crush on Burt Lancaster when she was growing up, and covered her walls with his posters. About Elmer Gantry Jones said that Lancaster was a great help to her on set, and then the day they both won Oscars for their portrayals was the proudest day of her career.

Sister Sharon Falconer (Simmons) turns to call out Jim Lefferts (Arthur Kennedy),
the perpetually doubting news reporter out for dirt.

Some other notable film-related events in 1959 (from Filmsite.org):

• Alfred Hitchcock received his fifth and last nomination as Best Director for Psycho (1960). His four previous nominations (all losses) were for Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), and Rear Window (1954).
• The talented scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, received full credit for writing the screenplays for Preminger's Exodus (1960) and Kubrick's Spartacus (1960), thus becoming the first blacklisted writer to receive screen credit. In 1960, Trumbo was finally reinstated in the Writers Guild of America. This official recognition effectively brought an end to the HUAC 'blacklist era'. 
• Although the tradition of embedding 5-pointed pink stars in the sidewalk ("the Hollywood Walk of Fame") along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street was established by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1958, it wasn't until February 9, 1960, that the first star to be unveiled was awarded to actress Joanne Woodward.
• Director Jean-Luc Godard's low-budget, mostly improvised A Bout de Souffle (1960, Fr.) (Breathless), his first feature-length film, became the cornerstone film of the French New Wave, with startling jump cuts and bold visuals shot with a hand-held camera on location. It paid homage to B-gangster films with star Jean-Paul Belmondo, in the role of a young hoodlum, modeling himself on Humphrey Bogart. 

My Random Observations

• Jean Simmons had quite the range. It seems that she was especially good at saintly young evangelists, considering her role here and as Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls (1955). Nevertheless, she has no problem attracting (and keeping) eligible young rogues in both films. But she's the opposite of saint in the ironically titled Angel Face (1953)- while her face is cherubic, she's one of the most "fatale" of all "femmes" in film noir.

Simmons as Sister Sharon Falconer calling on the Lord.

Simmons as the femme fatale Diane Tremayne in Angel Face

• The controversial nature of the film prompted an extensive on-screen warning prior to the opening titles of the film. Considering that the film did not mock religion or faith, per se, but rather pulled the curtain back on the hypocrisy of some of its practitioners, these warnings seemed at least quaint, at most completely unnecessary. Of course, charismatic preachers taken to task for fleecing their flocks is old news today. I've not read the novel, but what I've learned is that the themes there are more powerful social commentary than those translated into the film.
  

• The attraction that Elmer displays toward charismatic religious practices is really not explained. The only explanation that I'm left with that he just enjoys hamming it up and being the center of attention. This tendency is shown early in the film where he joins a group of Black worshippers and belts out gospel songs.

• The bug-eyed leering of Lancaster does get a bit tiresome.

Typical visage of Lancaster as Elmer Gantry.

• Shirley Jones was a revelation. Sadly, I have to admit that I'm familiar with her only as the Mom in The Partridge Family, and to a much lesser extent from her star turn in Oklahoma! Here, she perfectly captures the cynicism and anger of a still young woman who was taken advantage of by a man and as a result is leading a dissolute life. Her Oscar was well deserved.

Shirley Jones as Lulu Bains, contemplating the revenge she'll take
on Gantry.

Where to Watch
The film can currently be streamed for free for DirectTV subscribers, and is available on DVD/Blu-Ray.

Further Reading
Read the original review of the film in the New York Times here. And don't miss this insightful piece on TCM.com describing more of the film's backstory and the career of director Richard Brooks, and this one on the American Film Institute site here.