Elmer Gantry is a 1960 drama film about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis and stars Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons. Lancaster won an Academy Award for his performance, as did co-star Shirley Jones. The movie presents fewer than 100 pages of the novel, deleting many characters and fundamentally changing the character and actions of female evangelist Sharon Falconer, played by Simmons. The story's use of a female evangelist bears a resemblance to... true-life Sister Aimee Semple McPherson. Elmer Gantry is a hard-drinking, fast-talking traveling salesman with a charismatic personality. He is drawn to the road show of Sister Sharon Falconer and is immediately attracted to the saintly revivalist. Gantry soon cons his way into Sister Sharon's good graces and joins the troupe as a fiery preacher. Gantry and Falconer develop what her manager calls a "good cop/bad cop" routine, with Elmer telling the audience members that they will burn in Hell for their sins and Sharon promising salvation if they repent.
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