Leap of faith movie#
Their performances - and Neeson and Davidovich - provide the movie with a convincing center. Debra Winger, who is not in nearly enough films, does a wonderful job of grounding the movie in reality she sees everything that is happening, has made her compromises with a lot of it, and wonders if enough of her integrity is left to make her a woman worth loving. It's quite a performance, when the spirit takes him and he leaps about onstage, pumping energy into his lethargic audience with show-biz cunning. Story." It's Martin as a seedy, desperate, bright, greedy man without hope. This isn't the sleek, groomed, prosperous Steve Martin we've seen in movies like " L.A. Maybe the ending is seen as open I see it as inconclusive, a cop-out.Īnd yet the movie itself has considerable qualities, among them Martin's performance as Nightengale. I'm not talking about what happens just before the end, but about the way the screenplay never really develops that, never completes the arc of the preacher's character. It's strange, the way this movie opens and builds so strongly, and then has such an unsatisfying ending. "Leap of Faith," directed by Richard Pearce from a screenplay by Janus Cercone, begins as an expose, develops into a social commentary, and ends. He knows the truth about his own miracles, or thinks he does. The boy sees the preacher as a man who can possibly heal his crippled leg. The preacher meets someone in the town, too: a waitress ( Lolita Davidovich) with a crippled young son. He charms her, too, and it's clear that in another time and another place, they could easily fall in love. Where's the harm in that? When the local sheriff ( Liam Neeson) tries to shut down the show because times are hard, the drought is killing the crops, and people don't have money to throw away on con men, it's Winger's job to charm him. People pay their money, and they leave with a few laughs, a few tears, some great music, and maybe a little more hope than they walked in with. Like her boss, she sees the show as good honest entertainment. has back problems." Debra Winger plays the woman backstage at the computer, the wizard of this particular Oz. There's a tiny earpiece in the preacher's ear, so that a backstage helper can whisper instructions: "Woman in red, sixth row aisle seat. What I haven't seen, although I've read about it in court cases, is the way faith healers use computerized databases, informers and overheard conversations to gather miraculous insights into the innocents in their congregations.
Leap of faith tv#
Or is it satire? I've seen faith healers on TV as bizarre as Nightengale, with his prancing, posturing delivery, his show-biz antics, his glittering suits, his backup gospel choir. The role is an unusual one for Martin, who plays it straight (this is not a comedy) and yet satirizes the character at the same time. He doesn't realize it's his personal crossroads. As the movie opens, one of the trucks breaks down with engine trouble, and they pull off into a Southwestern backwater to throw a few unscheduled shows until replacement parts arrive. Steve Martin stars, as a preacher who has conned so many people in so many ways that he hardly knows when he's conning himself.
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