Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Marjoe (1972)
Director: Howard Smith, Sarah Kernochan
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Marjoe Gortner - the name's an amalgam of Mary and Joseph - began his career as a revivalist preacher at the age of four, broke off in his teens, but returned to the Church some years later, both eyes open and on the make. This documentary reveals that Marjoe really wants to belong to the Deity of Showbiz Rock; each night he preaches the word of the Lord to blue-rinsed motherly matrons who shudder in ecstasy and reach for their purses because he moves so sexily in the name of the Lord. Marjoe talks frankly, even cynically, to the camera about his profession: the gimmicks, the money, the qualms, the hypocrisy involved. Only gradually do we realise that he is manipulating us and the film-makers just as readily as he used his congregations. Marjoe wants to be famous and a star (he did get started, but never really made it). What better way of advertising than in this documentary where he shows himself the Lord's hipster putting down the squares, rejecting preaching and declaring himself up for offer?Author: CPe
Cast & crew
Director: Howard Smith, Sarah Kernochan
Producer: Howard Smith, Sarah Kernochan
Cast: Marjoe Gortner, Sister Allie Taylor, Mrs Ruby Boatwright, the Rev, Ray Boatwright full cast
Duration: 88 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now