ELMER GANTRY (1960) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Richard Brooks
Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy,
Shirley Jones, Dean Jagger, Hugh Marlowe,
Patti Page, Edward Andrews, John McIntire
An itinerant pitchman with a carnival hustler's charm and a rare talent for b.s. gives up liquor and women, at least temporarily, when he cons his way into a traveling revival show. Hard-hitting drama based on the Sinclair Lewis novel, with Lancaster in peak form as the seductive, hell-raising Gantry. Trained as an acrobat, with an unerring sense of movement and timing, Lancaster might be the least spontaneous actor in movie history, but it's hard to imagine anybody else taking a serious role this far over the top with such impeccable control. When he exclaims to a tent-show crowd, with a trademark flashing of teeth, that he's "seen the devil plenty of times," he delivers the line with such demonic glee, you believe he's not only made Satan's acquaintance, but enjoyed every sinful second of it. Jean Simmons plays the revival show's star attraction, a character modeled on Aimee Semple McPherson, and the future Mrs. Partridge won an Oscar for her role as a hooker with an old grudge and a plan to exact some serious personal revenge.
Jean Simmons
(1929-2010)
