Marjoe (1970)

Marjoe
Directed by Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan
1972/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Marjoe: Can God deliver a religion addict?

In the years before tele-evangelism, preachers like Marjoe Gortner raked in the cash doing revivals.  This documentary exposes the hypocrisy of the business and illustrates its raw power over believers.

Marjoe Gortner was “called by the Lord” to his ministry at age 4 1/2.  His father, also an evangelical preacher, may have assisted the Lord.  At any rate, Marjoe was a gifted no-holds-barred charismatic preacher from a tiny child.  He was performing marriages, to the consternation of orthodox religion, at the age of eight.  He was adept at faith healing and speaking in tongues.

He apparently took a break at some point and came back to the circuit as a young man with rock-star-level gifts to make a crowd break out its change, bills, and check books.  But Marjoe never, even as a child, had the slightest bit of religious faith.  By making this movie Marjoe hoped to break with his old life and perhaps pave the way to a lucrative new one.

This documentary is a nice blend of a lot of things.  We get soul-baring sessions between Marjoe and the crew that provide insights into his life and personality and into evangelist show business.  But it is the actual footage of the revival shows that is really compelling.  Gortner struts around with the posing and attitude of a Mick Jagger and can really work the crowd into a frenzy.  Plus we’ve got a lot of riveting gospel singing to enjoy.  If the subject matter is intriguing, I can recommend.

Marjoe won the Oscar for Best Documentary, Feature.