Cartoonish portrayl

people seem to forget that there are people in real life who act cartoonish or over the top all the time. this character being what he was, it only makes sense that lancaster choose to play it as big as he did.

I am a Catholic and I was raised in a Catholic church. It seems to me that a lot of the people complaining about his over the top performance has never set foot in any other type of church then a Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran etc. church. What Lancaster did with his performance is no different then what goes on in a lot of store front churches, Baptists Churches and churches in big cities and the south. I am almost positive his performance is based on many of these preachers and ministers. And I am not talking about faith healers, or made up churches, like the Church of What's Happening Now on the Flip Wilson show. But regular Sunday services in many organized religious denominations which is just as valid a religion as Catholicism of Episcopalian. And many of these ministers have PHd's.

I find people who were not raised in those type of churches and have not been exposed to other religions have a very skewed vision about what happens in other people's churches. And they seem to have a very superior attitude about it too. They seem to feel uneasy because it takes them to a type of church they are not familiar with. But believe me a lot of churches like the Catholic church is suffering in enrollment because a lot of people would like to see more life in their mass's. I am seeing a lot of parishes have charismatic masses because of this. And also believe me when I say the people who are use to going to Sunday services that last for a few hours or have ministers similar to Lancaster's are just as uneasy in Catholic churches. My boyfriend who is a Baptist went to my grandfathers funeral and could not believe were were not returning to the church after the service was over because it was so short to him. I have heard complaints about being bored to death etc, so it goes both ways.

SO Lancaster was not over the top, his portrayal was not cartoonish, which is one of those underhanded sense of superiority insults. What it does show is that a lot of people lack exposure of other religions when I hear that critique about his performance. I usually do not dispute people's contrary opinions, but they are wrong. Simply because his performance was realistic of what a lot of ministers and preaches do during service. And from some I have seen he was holding back. If they said he was hammy, or they just did not like it fine. Lonesome Rhodes the Andy Griffith character in the movie A Face on The Crowd was based on those down home minsters too. Two very similar roles, and both very good. Only Lonesome was more contemptible IMO. I don't know why Griffith did not get a Oscar for it.

Lancaster was great in the role. Sometimes you have to compare apples to apples. And when he played "Robin Hood" in the Flame and the Arrow he was great. And when he played many many characters you always know who he was. Check out Come Back Little Sheba or Vera Cruz. Thank god he's no Kevin Costner.

"The more you know. The more you know you don't know."
Benign Mastronardy - HS Chemistry Teacher