Marjoe (1972)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

disgusting, overrated, pointless

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This documentary is really mind blowing. This is the kind of film that many people only dream about. It is so refreshing to see and hear a very articulate, smart, and brave man uncover some of the true evils in the world that, in his life, mostly exist in the religious sector. This is a man who has been put through all them and has lived to tell the tale and get his voice heard. It's a shame that not many people have seen or heard about this film, especially considering that it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. This is the kind of film that you only wish more people would have seen or listened to. The documentary is about an ex-child evangelist preacher who in his spare time speaks to a documentary crew about his tortured childhood and his life afterwords and what tricks his parents used to promote him as a miracle. This man, Marjoe Gortner, was a victim and this film shows him standing up, not only for himself, but for all the people of the world who are forced to behave accordingly to please god and be a good Christian. It's quite intense to see this man expose all of this stuff to the public, and at the same time be so charismatic about it. But this is all just to get his point across a world that is asleep to these evils. It is amazing how powerful it is to just call someone a sinner just because of what they believe, but to call somebody a sinner just because they are trying to help people into bettering themselves, it just seems very wrong. This is a man who wants to be heard. He wants a better life, and this documentary exposes his true feelings to the public. The reason why these people do these things to children is obviously because they believe that they are the most manipulable and therefore would be the easiest to corrupt, but this film not only proves them wrong.

I saw this in a theater when it was brand new. In 1972, it wasn't a new idea to do a movie about evangelism which is seamy, but in 1972, the idea of reality documentary was quite novel. (Think of "An American Family" -- a chronical of the Loud family done about the same time) The movie was well received. Marjoe Gortner received quite a bit of critical praise for the technical aspects associated with the movie as well as his acting ability. Marjoe got quite a bit of the "good" stuff in the movie by telling people he was filming a documentary -- the people didn't know the parts where they talked about how to do some scamming would also be in the final cut.As a result of this expose, Marjoe was offered a significant role in the 2-hour kickoff to the Kojak series. He played a nervous rapist-murderer.

I was fortunate to have a liberal minded college professor who showed this documentary in my freshman Religious studies course. Throughout, and after the viewing my classmates and I could not help but laugh at the TRULY strange character Marjoe is (the 70's garb helps). Some of us outright cracked up. Others were offended. He is so glib about bilking the masses. You find yourself sitting back at some point in the flick and saying, "See, I told you." Charisma is awesome and it is rarely seen as strong as Marjoe possesses it.

Filmed before the televangelism phenomenon, this film, part biography, part expose, details the rise, fall, and self-exposure of Marjoe Gortner, a one-time child evangelist who became a church tent preacher. This film details the seamier side of what Gortner calls "the religion business", and even earned Gortner a number of death threats.A rare find, if you can locate it, but a worthy viewing.