ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

HotToastyRag Imagine putting Sister Sarah from Guys and Dolls and Bill Starbuck from The Rainmaker in a movie together. You'll pretty much get Elmer Gantry. A charismatic conman comes to town, and tries to convince Sister Sharon (no, I'm not kidding) that he's just as evangelical as she is.I like both Jean Simmons and Burt Lancaster, but I didn't end up liking Elmer Gantry. Neither one of them had to try for their performances; it was as if they were called begrudgingly for a remake of their earlier films and they didn't bother attending rehearsals because they didn't need to. Every one of Burt's grandiose speeches could have been rattled off in The Rainmaker, and every reserved expression of Jean's could have been found in the dailies of Guys and Dolls. Why make the movie at all? Two reasons: to give Burt Lancaster a make-up Oscar (from The Rainmaker, From Here to Eternity, or Come Back Little Sheba) and to give Shirley Jones an against-type Oscar.For some reason, Shirley Jones wasn't happy being the Queen of Musicals. If I'd become enormously famous for Oklahoma and Carousel, I wouldn't bite the hand that fed me. I would be grateful and continue to play nice girl roles. Many, many actors don't feel the same way, and some of them are rewarded with Oscars. Shirley played a prostitute in Elmer Gantry, and her famous line, "He rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!" won her an Academy Award, even though she was far from convincing as a hooker.As you can tell, I really didn't like this movie. If you love Shirley Jones and want to see her play Lulu the prostitute, you can watch this one, but there's really no other reason why you'd watch this instead of a Guys and Dolls/The Rainmaker double feature.

grantss Good drama that had the potential to be one of the greats.The setup for this movie was interesting, and made you think there was a clear, focused message coming as some stage. The movie was set up to rail against religion as a business, how some people use religion for their own ends, and how easily people can be manipulated in the name of religion. There was also an opportunity to look at the influence of the media.However, from a point the movie lost focus. The snake-oil salesman turned out to have redeeming qualities, turns out religious organisations can do some good, the bs-printing newspaper printed the truth for once...It's as if the writer and director pulled their punches. Rather than a damning expose of certain religious organisations, it is a story of a man, a man with good and bad qualities. No particular message in the end, and very disappointing in that respect.Still made for an interesting story, just not anywhere near as brilliant as it could have been.Mesmerizing, powerful performance by Burt Lancaster in the lead role. There's a fine line between powerful acting and over-acting. Lancaster comes close on several occasions, but doesn't cross it. He well deserved his Best Actor Oscar.Solid support from Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy and Shirley Jones. Jones won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Lulu Bains. Not sure it was THAT good a performance, but she sure did look good delivering it...

SnoopyStyle It's the prohibition era. Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a slick traveling salesman who is a boozer and a dog hound. He is a born salesman well versed with the bible. He is so good that it is hard to tell the difference whether he's sincere or lying. He is one haunted by his checkered past and his immorality. He is taken with Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) who runs revival meetings. She's a true believer. He badgers her until she allows him to preach. He becomes so successful that he becomes indispensable to Sister Sharon's roadshow. Bill Morgan sees thru Elmer and tells Sharon that in 1917 he was expelled from the seminary for seducing the deacon's daughter. She ignores the warning and they become a great success in the big city. Then his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones) who is now a prostitute.Burt Lancaster gives such a big performance. It is so big that it always has a tinge of falsehood. His laugh is so outrageous that it plays both sides of the divide. It's this big performance that is so memorable. Jean Simmons is the perfect compliment. She is the embodiment of purity of spirit. Burt definitely deserves his Oscar win. I can see some people taking offense from the depiction of religious revival. However I see a great role model in Sister Sharon. It's also a tale of salvation for Elmer Gantry.

Syl Burt Lancaster's Oscar Winning performance in the title role was well-worth the accolades. He really shines as a tarnished, immoral salesman who spends Christmas at a bar and leaves with one of the ladies during the Great Depression in the heartland. As the film progresses, we learned of Elmer Gantry's past especially his own previous desire to be a minister/preacher. Elmer Gantry is as lost as those who followed in the tent revivals that swept the country during hard times. He manipulates his way into Sister Sharon Falconer (played brilliantly by the late Jean Simmons who should have won an Oscar for her performance in this role). The film is beautifully visual and as Elmer Gantry's past comes haunting again to tarnish the tent revival and watch Gantry and Sister Sharon fall again. Shirley Jones won an Oscar for best supporting actress in her role as the woman who can bring Gantry down. I think she does a brilliant job but I wished that she had more speaking moments. Still the supporting cast is brilliant as well. It's a first rate film!