Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster was born 112 years ago in Manhattan, N.Y., on Nov. 2, 1913. Before Lancaster began his film career in “The Killers” (1946), this World War II veteran worked as an acrobat and sometimes performed his own stunts on-screen. It’s no small feat that Burt acted in television and movies for 45 years before this Oscar/BAFTA/Golden Globe winner passed away in 1994 at the age of 80.
To celebrate the man on his heavenly birthday, enjoy this classic Burt Lancaster triple feature.
“Elmer Gantry (1960) – Burt Lancaster plays the title role, as a con man who talks his way into preaching the gospel with Sister Sharon Falconer’s (Jean Simmons) traveling ministry. Elmer may be “just a hick from Kansas,” but his magnetic, fearless persona attracts wholehearted applause and adoration from wannabe and true believers, as he asks them to “play ball on God’s team.”
Gantry, however, is far from a saint. He regularly drinks, and he’ll leave a one-night stand in the morning and write Merry Xmas on a mirror with her lipstick while she sleeps. Elmer has an affair with Sister Sharon and then reconnects with Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones), a former lover, who complicates his current standing with Falconer and his budding fame.
Director/writer Richard Brooks’ movie won three Oscars, including a Best Actor for Lancaster, Supporting Actress for Jones, and Adapted Screenplay for Brooks, in a production that showcases Lancaster’s leading-man gifts of charisma and drive, as he charms the on-screen players and moviegoers. Will his followers know the truth? Elmer may be flawed, but everyone is a sinner. Can Elmer Gantry have a redemption arc? We want to believe, but either way, the film’s third act will surprise.
“Atlantic City” (1980) – Lou (Burt Lancaster) only knows Sally (Susan Sarandon) as the woman across the way from his Atlantic City apartment. He gazes into her window as she squeezes lemons, catches the juice in her hands, and applies it to her arms, neck, and chest. Their paths soon cross formally, when her shifty, estranged husband, Dave (Robert Joy), gusts into town, and reaches out to Sally and then, surprisingly, Lou.
Lou - an aging, former small-time mob hand - runs numbers in his spare time and reluctantly cares for a demanding, cantankerous widow, when Dave asks him to sell a stolen windfall of drugs. With a new payday, Lou then feels the wind at his back to pursue Sally, a struggling but aspiring card dealer.
Sally’s sturdy, valiant courage meets Lou’s recent burst of nerve in a captivating character study, as director Louis Malle’s film, which garnered five Oscar nominations, frequently features the crumbling, seedy backdrop of Monopoly City. These two damaged souls hope to shake their pasts and gamble on a hopeful future, separately or possibly together.
“Field of Dreams” (1989) – Director/writer Phil Alden Robinson adapts W.P. Kinsella’s novel and knocks it out of the park. This beguiling big-screen baseball experience convinces audiences everywhere that an ordinary Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner), can cut down a significant portion of his corn crops, build a baseball field, and Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) would then return in his Chicago White Sox uniform and play America’s Pastime.
Costner’s Kinsella takes an enormous leap of faith. We follow right along with his convictions, as he dodges bank notices, finds elusive author Terrance Mann (James Earl Jones), and reaches out to Moonlight Graham (Burt Lancaster), a doctor who played in Major League Baseball for just one-half inning and never got to bat.
Acting titans Jones and Lancaster offer outstanding supporting performances for every magical moment of their precious screentime, including Mann’s inspiring baseball speech and Graham’s recollection about his brief stint in MLB.
“They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes, and they’ll watch the game, and it will be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces.” - Terence Mann
“It was like coming this close to your dreams and then (watching) them brush past you like a stranger in a crowd. At the time, you don’t think much of it. You know, we just don’t recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they’re happening. Back then, I thought, ‘Well, there’ll be other days.’ I didn’t realize that was the only day.” - Moonlight Graham
I’m not crying. You’re crying.
