Shirley Jones as Lulu Bains in Elmer Gantry

Best Supporting Actress at the 33rd Annual Oscars (1960)

Notable Quote:

“Tell me, how is it some people can only find hate in the Bible?”

Synopsis:

Shady travelling salesman Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) teams up with revivalist preacher Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) to bring people to Jesus … but Hell hath no fury, and Elmer’s past comes back to haunt him when he runs into his ex, Lulu (Shirley Jones).

The character:

Elmer Gantry is, in many ways, a film all about the power of religion to transform people’s lives, for better or for worse. Lulu Bains is an example of the latter. Years before the events of the film, she fucked Elmer, and then got thrown out of the house by her preacher dad, who still occasionally sends her Christmas cards calling her a Jezebel and saying she’ll be eaten by dogs. Charming. She ends up turning to sex work, where some pimp slaps her around, and while she puts on a brave face, she clearly feels cut off and lonely. 

But Lulu gets her opportunity for revenge when Elmer’s revival comes to town: she sets up a honeytrap to retaliate against him, but also to strike a blow against Christianity. And it’s not about blackmail, she just wants to humiliate Elmer. It’s frustrating to her that he fucked her over, and now gets to live successfully, and it’s especially ridiculous because he’s such a religious hypocrite, sermonizing about the sinners around him while he’s a literal conman. It’s satisfying to see her run game on him: this woman deserves a win.

The performance:

To me, Shirley Jones is the mother from The Partridge Family, a show I’ve occasionally seen on some rerun channel. Her persona on that seems sunny and lovely, so Lulu, a vengeful “Jezebel” is a surprising role for her. But Jones seems to understand the clash between her own persona, and her character, and makes excellent use of that dynamic. She brings some of her sweetness to the role, which means that Lulu is charming, rather than off-putting. But she also undercuts that sweetness with a nasty streak. I find the ways in which she both channels and undermines her identity very impressive.  

Lulu is a complicated character to play, as she’s partly a vengeful villain, but also a genuinely torn up ex. We’re never sure what move she’s going to make next, or how genuine she’s being when she interacts with Elmer. Jones has to toe a careful line: she has to project her character’s motives clearly enough that we understand the decisions she makes, while also leaving us in doubt about where those decisions will end up. She navigates this skillfully.

The movie:

Elmer Gantry is mostly a fascinating and fun look at the business of religion: the various ways that it operates to make people money, and the true levels of belief that its purveyors might have. I also love when it delves into the psychosexuality of Christianity; Lulu has this whole rant about how Elmer “rammed the fear of God into her” and the movie is filled with scenes like that. The film does devolve at one point into a sappy romance that tries to make us feel for Elmer because “he’s just a human being who makes mistakes,” even though we’ve seen him act out as a huge hypocrite and con artist for the entire rest of the film, like, I’m not going to be that sympathetic that he’s been accurately exposed. But then the ending is so apocalyptic and epic that I came back on board again.

Was the Oscar deserved?

Yes, Shirley Jones is great!