Elmer Gantry

film by Brooks [1960]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

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Article History

Elmer Gantry, American film drama, released in 1960, that was an adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s novel of the same name and featured Academy Award-winning performances by Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones.

Lancaster portrayed the title character, a charlatan evangelist who joins a ministry headed by Sister Sharon Falconer (played by Jean Simmons). He mesmerizes his flock even as he fleeces them to pay for his life of hidden lust and avarice. However, his newfound respectability is threatened by a good-girl-turned-prostitute (played by Shirley Jones), who was seduced by Gantry when she was a teenager and is now determined to exact revenge.

Elmer Gantry was considered sexually provocative for its time, and, although no ratings system was then in place, the studio made it clear that the movie should be avoided by anyone under age 16. The script by Richard Brooks, who also directed the film, was notable for its treatment of hypocrisy and opportunism while avoiding excessive moralizing.