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Elmer Gantry
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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780792849155
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0792849159
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Languages: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 MonoFrench (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 MonoFrench (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
MPN: D1001582D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 06, 2001
Running Time: 147 minutes
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: July 07, 1960
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Editorial Review:
Brothers and sisters, can we get a witness for this woeful tale of saints and sinners? Burt Lancaster earned his only Oscar as the wide-smiling, glad-handing, soul-saving charlatan Elmer Gantry, a salesman who turns his gift for preaching into a career at the pulpit. Climbing on board the barnstorming evangelical tour of revivalist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a true believer in the Aimee Semple McPherson mold, Gantry declaims, invokes, and sermonizes his way to the top until a former flame-turned-prostitute (Shirley Jones in an Oscar-winning performance) threatens to reveal his dark past as a womanizer and con man. Lancaster harnesses all his physical vigor and natural charisma for this role, literally throwing himself into his preaching with the vigor of an acrobat and the sing-song delivery of a gospel singer--he even brays like a hound to show the Holy Spirit within him. Gantry is a showman, pure and simple, and while he doesn't fool true-believer Sister Sharon, he gives her a few object lessons in playing the crowd. Director Richard Brooks, who also took home an Oscar for his screenplay (adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel), creates a rousing drama both on and off the pulpit, and provides fine roles for an excellent supporting cast, including Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, John McIntire, and singer Patti Page. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Elmer "where are ya now, when we need you" Gantry
Ah yes, when men were men, and Burt Lancaster was the best of all possible men! He has always breathed a quality of three-dimensional life into the characters that he portrayed that made him almost mythical. But clearly this was one of Burt's best acting performances. The man embodied sheer brilliance.
In one scene Elmer (Burt Lancaster) walks into an all black Church, takes a place in the pews and starts singing "I'm On My Way" with the rest of the parishioners. Everyone stops singing... ... Read More
Rating:  - Great Singular Performance by Lancaster
Burt Lancaster is great in this movie, but everything else in the
movie is merely average. Shirley Jones steals some scences but
she is only in the movie for a very short period of time. The movie
is a long watch and becomes a bore whenever Lancaster is not
center stage. I recommend reading the book which is an all time classic
and covers more of Gantry's life giving him more depth then the movie.
This is one movie that would greatly benefit from a modern day ... Read More
Rating: - "People are all the same in one thing. They're all afraid to die and they want you to save them."
Elmer Gantry doesn't need a lightshow, radio mikes or his own TV channel, he creates his own energy and carries all before him with a gift of the gab that can turn any situation to his advantage. Phoney as a two-dollar bill and first seen drinking, womanising and fighting in that order, Gantry is a crude, vulgar showoff with a vocabulary that belongs in an outhouse who goes from selling vacuum cleaners to selling religion in a travelling revival show. Worming his way under her guard to become bad cop to Jean ... Read More
Rating: - Give Me That Old Time Religion
Can a man be a drunk and a womanizer and still love Jesus? Can a man love Jesus and still be a drunk and a womanizer? Those of us who have known the burden of fundamentalist guilt can feel a little envious of Elmer Gantry whose conscience seems to be as leathery as Bill Clinton's. François de la Rochefoucauld once said: "Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue." If Elmer Gantry were introspective enough to think about it he would certainly agree.
Played by Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry ... Read More
Rating: - Amazing and Relevant
I'd avoided this movie for decades and I'm kicking myself for not watching it sooner. It's brilliant and amazingly relevant for today. The script is great, the performances are first-rate and Burt Lancaster is mesmerizing. I couldn't take my eyes off him. And I think I re-wound my Tivo 10 times to keep re-watching the early scene when he walks into the African American church and sings. Please watch this movie. It deserves an even bigger audience.
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