I'm a huge fan of Burt Lancaster. He was one the best actors, for me maybe even the best one. But his Oscar performance here is just way over the top.The movie is too long, didn't age well and seems to go nowhere. The big mistake is that warning at the beginning. It confused me, and probably others too, because it's clearly pro-Christianity and against revivalists, but then it doesn't decide if Elmer is a conman or a good man. Did he believe what he was preaching or was he only acting? If acting, what for? Just for the love of the evangelist woman?! For money? The movie never decides what kind of person Elmer actually is.A crowd comes to the tend to disturb the service, but when the evangelist woman starts to pray they all instantly get on their knees and pray with her, forgetting that they went there to mock her. She even healed a man, but we don't know if the movie shows this as something good or evil.And then there is this reporter, who is an atheist, and yet he goes to every sermon and is fascinated by the evangelist woman. He also never really draws a line.I really wanted to like this movie but its woolly message makes it weak.

I love it when the hucksters get their comeuppance, and as the title character Elmer Gantry, Burt Lancaster takes it to the shysters and con-men in all his flamboyant glory. The picture launches a direct broadside against the revival movement of the 1920's and those who would 'be the first to shake 'em up Jesus'. Lancaster is appealingly effective in his role as con-man, hustler, liar, thief and clown, a crude and vulgar show-off according to William Morgan (Dean Jagger). A single glance at revivalist preacher Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) and Gantry insinuates himself into her congregation as the wayward messenger, a step up from bar room philosopher and itinerant alcoholic and womanizer.With present day progressives firmly entrenched in their war on Christianity and organized religion, it's interesting to take this half century step back in time and see how that era took it's unsubtle mocking of fundamentalism mainstream. There's a dichotomy though, Sister Falconer is genuinely entrenched in her faith and dreams of her own church one day. Gantry initially views her as simply another one of his romantic conquests, but is sharp enough to realize that the traveling religious sideshow can be a profitable business in it's own right. Preacher Gantry has the true believers swooning in their seats and the local churchmen eager and ready to capitalize on the resurgence of their congregations. Why is it that Edward Andrews is always the perfect choice for a character like George Babbitt? He can do them in his sleep.I first saw this film many years ago when the only television broadcast availability was in black and white, and I can't help think that the story might have been more effective if made in that format. The characters here had just too many shades of gray to be conveyed otherwise. You know, I just had a thought. Instead of colorizing old films, how about taking ones like this and redoing them in glorious black and white. "Elmer Gantry" would be a perfect candidate.

We love retro fashion and design because there's beauty and a touch of irony in nostalgic simplicity. If I want a mindless good time in film land, there's nothing like a trip to the past that never existed. I'm thinking of Doris Day singing over daisies and the like. But wait, there's more ladies, I bring you Elmer Gantry, circa 1960. This film really breaks the mold, I mean not moldy at all, in fact disturbingly current in it's profile of a man living by his wits alone who scores big time when he discovers the path to success through exploiting the town folks religious beliefs.Elmer Gantry is a shady traveling salesman who happens upon a revival meeting. When he sees the beautiful evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer filling the tent up with paying sinners, a light bulb goes off. Forget farm tools, religion is the plastics of 1920′s America. There's a point where you start to believe that Elmer will go straight. Alas, he can't escape his womanizing past with the reappearance of Lulu Baines, the bawdy bad girl he can't forget.There's so much going on here. Elmer Gantry was based on a novel by Sinclair Louis. We've got Shirley Jones in her Oscar winning role as Lulu Baines. Yes, that Shirley, the Partridge Family mom. Remember now, it's 1960 and Lulu describes a scene saying, "he rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps." Oh yeah, and "you're amusing and you smell like a real man"

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!