Elmer Gantry is a dramatic movie based on the 1927 book written by Sinclair Lewis. It stars Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry and was released on July 7, 1968. It was nominated for five Oscars, winning Best Actor (Burt Lancaster), Best Adapted Screenplay (Richard Brooks) and Best Supporting Actress (Shirley Jones). http://www.allmovie.com/work/elmer-gantry-15628

Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a former salesman turned teacher in the 1920's who is charismatic but scandalous. As a drunken preacher he manages to get a job with a traveling tent ministry led by Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons). Gantry's vividly charismatic style of preaching that speaks of eternal damnation and judgment, allows the traveling tent ministry to become well known and bring in a good deal of money. They are able to bring in enough money that Sister Sharon is able to realize her dream of building a large tabernacle. These plans become jeopardized when a someone from Gantry's past, Lula Bains (Shirley Jones), a former minister's daughter turned prostitute, appears. Gantry had taken her virginity and she decides she would pay him back by drawing him into behavior that she will have photographed. She hopes this will tarnish Gantry's reputation and draw into question his ability to continue as a preacher.http://www.allmovie.com/work/elmer-gantry-15628

• Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry

• Jean Simmons as Sister Sharon Falconer, nee Katie Jones

• Arthur Kennedy as Jim Lefferts

• Dean Jagger as William L. Morgan

• Shirley Jones as Lulu Bains

• Patti Page as Sister Rachel

• Edward Andrews as George F. Babbitt

• John McIntire as Rev. John Pengilly

• Hugh Marlowe as Rev. Philip Garrison

• Joe Maross as Pete

• Philip OberRev as Planck

• Barry Kelley as Police Capt. Holt

• Wendell Holmes as Rev. Ulrich

• Dayton Lummis as Mr. Eddington, newspaper publisher

"Burt Lancaster on the Bible-thumping circuit, in Richard Brooks's juicy (and considerably watered-down) 1960 adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel. Brooks was the ultimate vulgarizer of serious literature, as his versions of The Brothers Karamazov and Lord Jim made clear; this is somewhat better only because of Lancaster's energetic performance, which won him an Oscar, and a few bits of colorful period ambiance."— Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Readerhttp://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/elmer-gantry/Film?oid=1051434

..."Elmer Gantry," which shocked, amused, confounded, but rarely bored readers back in 1927, has been lifted from the pages of the justifiably controversial novel and impressively transformed into an exciting film. The briskly paced drama of a religious opportunist, his colleagues and his times utilizes the tools of the motion picture in expert fashion."— A. H. Weiler, The New York Times http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C06E7D8123DE333A2575BC0A9619C946191D6CF&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes

"Brooks honors the spirit of Lewis' cynical commentary on circus-type primitive exhortation with pictorial imagery that is always pungent. He also has written dialog that is frank and biting." Variety Staff http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117790676.html?categoryid=31&cs=1