Elmer Gantry

Set in 1927, when Elmer is on railway tracks after jumping from a moving train, a 1950s Ford can be seen in the distance.

The straps on Lulu Bains' dress.

The first time we see Lulu, she leans on the back of a chair, a newspaper in her hand, and her right shoulder strap has fallen down.

In the next shot her left shoulder strap is down instead.

Sharon gets into the car, behind the wheel and tells Elmer to get in, which he does, on the passenger side.

In the next shot, the car goes by with Elmer driving.

While Elmer is briefing the staff before the Zenith rally, he refers to an opening "tonight".

In the next scene (presumably, on the same day or later), Jim asks Sharon if she is nervous about "opening *tomorrow* night.

" When Elmer enters Lulu's hotel room, you can clearly see the trip wire that is going to pull the vase off the mantlepiece and scare the cat.

The voice-over of the Battle Hymn of the Republic does not match the video during the Revival.

When Elmer Gantry is shown walking into the town after jumping off the freight train, the billboard advertising Sister Sharon's revival shows dates of Dec 1-12.

A few scenes later in the general store where he looks closely at a wall poster of Sister Sharon, the calendar next to it shows June 3.

The location where Sister Sharon confronts the police captain and fire chief over erecting her tent is purported to be in Lincoln Nebraska.

The opening part of the scene shows mountains in the background.

There are no mountains around Lincoln.

At the newspaper office meeting, Elmer Gantry refers to Christ' miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five fishes and two loaves of bread.

According to the Gospels, it was five loaves and two fishes.

The first time Gantry is in Lulu's room and she is staging the blackmail photos, she puts the money he hands her into the top of the stocking on her right leg while he stands on her right side next to her right leg.

When we are later shown the photograph as published in the newspaper, Gantry is still standing on her right side next to her right leg, but Lulu is inserting the money into the top of the stocking on her left leg rather than her right leg.

The movie is supposed to take place in 1927.

When Lulu is waiting for Elmer, she switches on a small electric bakelite radio on the dresser.

In 1927 there were no electric radios, only large wood battery operated radios.

The small radio she switches on is from around 1938-1940.

Sister Sharon is seen briefly outside a movie theater advertising a film.

The title is not given but the stars names are given as Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres, suggesting that the film is almost certainly _The Sheik (1921)_.

But then in the scene with the newspapers in Sister Sharon's office, the headline on one is about death of Isadora Duncan, suggesting it was sometime shortly after Sept.

14, 1927 (date of her death).

Since Zenith, Neb.

, wasn't exactly in the mainstream, it seems more logical that the movie house was playing an old movie since the first talkie, _The Jazz Singer (1927)_, wasn't released until a month later.

So, the time line would place it in 1927, the year the book first was published.

Approximately two-thirds through the movie, in an outdoor scene where Gantry (Lancaster) is showing reporter Jim Lefferts (Arthur Kennedy) a newspaper headline, Gantry is initially wearing a bow-tie (clearly a clip-on - another goof for 1927), then all of a sudden is wearing a necktie and a vest is added to the suit (obviously, a different suit).

While on the train, when Gantry first talks with Falconer, her hands change position from unseen to folded under her chin.

I hesitated to watch this film as it was almost 2-and-a-half-hours long. However, the film is fast-paced and the performance of Burt Lancaster is brilliant.

Richard Brooks directed Burt Lancaster in this vibrant and cynical story of Elmer Gantry, a glib, hard-living traveling salesman who latches onto a true-believing, fire & brimstone preaching woman named "Sister" Sharon Falconer(Jean Simmons), who has a traveling revivalist church that Gantry, who has a rudimentary knowledge of the bible, and a way with the people, quickly makes his own(with Sharon's approval of course) At first, things go well, but before too long Gantry's past catches up with him when a former love of dubious character(played well by Shirley Jones) pays him a visit, and he is caught in the act of giving money, which threatens the ministry and sets events spiraling out-of-control to the fiery climax.Powerful, supremely well-acted film shows the dark side of a charismatic personality, and those gullible enough to follow them.

Elmer Gantry (Lancaster) is two different people. There's the person he is when it comes to religion and then he is a completely different, very flawed, human being when it comes to everything else.

... this one would have been one of the greatest ever, and would have better withstood the test of time.

I'm going to take the minority view here, although I see I am not alone...just outnumbered.

Burt Lancaster's Ripe Performance seems to Elicit one of two Responses from Fans and Critics. 1)The most Buffoonish, Overblown, Overheated slice of Ham ever to Win an Academy Award, or for that Matter ever put on Film.

Burt Lancaster is brilliant! There's a lot in this movie that will offend evangelicals but it speaks to the human condition.

The first half of this movie makes you think this could be an all-time classic. Burt Lancaster won a much-deserved Oscar for his performance here.

3 Observations on this 1960 drama directed and written by Richard Brooks: first, his derivative screenplay based on the 1927 Sinclair Lewis novel is not the result of new ideas but fundamental changes in the character and actions of female evangelist Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons). Second, the writing defends the Biblical principle that faith in Christ is required for salvation in the very first scene humorously set in a barroom on Christmas Eve and, much later in the brutal scene set in a newspaper publisher's office where the main characters converge after unfavorable front page articles produce wide-spread community backlash against the ministry.