Sister Act (the Musical)

''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American musical crime comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. It also features Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes, and Harvey Keitel.

''Sister Act'' was one of the most financially successful comedies of the early 1990s, grossing $231 million worldwide against a $31 million budget. The film spawned a franchise, which consists of the 1993 sequel '' Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit'' and a musical adaptation, which premiered in 2006. A third film is in development for Disney+.

Plot

In 1968, Deloris Wilson is a young Catholic school student, who does not take her studies seriously and greatly embarrasses her nun teachers while showing an affinity for music.

Twenty-four years later, in 1992, Deloris is a lounge singer in Reno, Nevada, performing as Deloris Van Cartier, in a club owned by her married gangster boyfriend Vince LaRocca. She then receives a shallow gift from Vince, and attempts to return it, only to witness Vince executing an informant. When he sets out to murder her as well, Deloris goes to the police for further assistance. Police lieutenant Eddie Souther places her in witness protection, and brings her to Saint Katherine's Parish, in a run-down neighborhood in San Francisco, for her to hide out in their struggling convent.

Both Deloris, and the head nun of St. Katherine's, Reverend Mother, object to this arrangement, but Lt. Souther, and Monsignor O'Hara, the parish priest, convince them to go along with it, with the added deal that the police will pay the failing convent a good sum of money. Disguised as "Sister Mary Clarence", Deloris initially has difficulty dealing with the rigid and simple convent life, and butts heads with Reverend Mother, but she befriends the other nuns, including the optimistic Sister Mary Patrick, the elderly deadpan Sister Mary Lazarus, and the shy, young Novice Sister Mary Robert. One night, after a poorly attended Sunday Mass—with a lackluster performance from the convent choir led by Mary Lazarus—Deloris decides she needs a break, and she sneaks out to a bar, followed by Mary Patrick and Mary Robert. They are caught by the Reverend Mother, who considers kicking Deloris out, but instead, orders Deloris to join the struggling choir. With her singing experience, Deloris is elected to take over as their director and transforms the choir.

At the next Sunday Mass, Deloris leads the much-improved choir in a traditional hymn of "Hail Holy Queen", then shifts into a combined gospel and rock and roll interpretation. Although Reverend Mother is infuriated, Monsignor O'Hara congratulates the choir for their unorthodox performance as new people were attracted to the service. Convinced by Deloris, he allows the nuns to clean the church and the neighborhood. Their singing and efforts to revitalize the neighborhood attract media attention, and the parish thrives.

Souther chastises Deloris for nearly being exposed on national television as Vince has placed a bounty on her head. She assures him she will try to keep a lower profile, and Souther attends a Mass. The nun's choir continues to amaze parishioners and visitors, especially with a rendition of "My Guy" – rewritten and performed as "My God".

O'Hara informs the convent that Pope John Paul II, having heard of the choir's success, will visit the church. Deloris tells Reverend Mother that Vince's upcoming trial means she will soon leave; the Mother reveals she has resigned as abbess, believing she is no longer useful to the convent as her authority was unintentionally undermined. Deloris tries to convince her to stay and keep the parish thriving as it is, but the Mother retorts that she believes herself too old-fashioned and incapable of doing so.

Souther discovers a corrupt detective in his own department who has given Deloris's location to Vince and rushes to San Francisco to warn her. Vince's men kidnap her and Mary Robert, but Deloris helps Mary Robert to escape. When Mary Robert returns to the convent, Reverend Mother reveals to the nuns that Sister Mary Clarence is Deloris Van Cartier and explains why she had been hiding in their convent. They decide to rescue Deloris, requesting a helicopter pilot to fly them to Reno.

In Reno, Vince orders his men to kill Deloris, but they cannot bring themselves to shoot her while she is dressed in a nun's habit. Arriving at Vince's casino, the nuns find Deloris after she escapes from Vince's men, and they try to sneak out of the casino, but they become cornered by Vince and her men, in the casino lounge. Deloris prepares to sacrifice herself, but Vince's men still refuse to shoot her. Vince himself is hesitant, but he works up the courage to shoot her. His hesitation is just long enough for Souther to shoot Vince in the arm and arrest him and his men.

Thanking Deloris for her actions, Reverend Mother decides to remain as abbess of the convent. Returning to San Francisco, the choir, led by Deloris, sing "I Will Follow Him" to a packed audience in a refurbished Saint Katherine's, receiving a standing ovation from all, including Reverend Mother, the Pope, Monsignor O'Hara, and Lt. Souther. Deloris continues to guide and coach the choir as a touring musical group.

Cast

;Choir nuns

Production

Screenwriter Paul Rudnick pitched ''Sister Act'' to producer Scott Rudin in 1987, with Bette Midler in mind for the lead role. The script was brought to Disney. However, Midler turned down the role, fearing that her fans would not want to see her play a nun. Eventually, Whoopi Goldberg signed on to play the lead. As production commenced, the script was rewritten by a half dozen screenwriters, including Carrie Fisher, Robert Harling, and Nancy Meyers. With the movie no longer resembling his original script, Rudnick asked to be credited with a pseudonym in the film, deciding on Joseph Howard.

The church in which Deloris takes sanctuary is St. Paul's Catholic Church, located at Valley and Church Streets in Noe Valley, an upper-middle-class neighborhood of San Francisco. The storefronts on the opposite side of the street were redressed to give the appearance of a run-down neighborhood. Filming took place from to .

Though the order of the nuns in the film is said to be a Carmelite one by Sister Mary Patrick, their religious habit is similar in appearance to that of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis (minus the cross). Members of the real-life Order, however, no longer wear their traditional habit.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released by Hollywood Records on June 9, 1992, in conjunction with the film, and contained the musical numbers performed by actors in the film itself, pre-recorded songs that were used as part of the background music, and instrumental music composed by Marc Shaiman for the film. The soundtrack album debuted at #74 and eventually reached #40 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart where it charted for 54 weeks. The album received a Gold certification from the RIAA for shipment of 500,000 copies on January 13, 1993. The album was certified platinum in Australia.

# "The Lounge Medley" ("(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave"/"My Guy"/"I Will Follow Him") — Deloris & The Ronelles
# "The Murder" (Instrumental)
# "Getting into the Habit" (Instrumental)
# " Rescue Me" — Fontella Bass
# "Hail Holy Queen" — Deloris & The Sisters
# " Roll With Me Henry" — Etta James
# "Gravy for My Mashed Potatoes" — Dee Dee Sharp
# " My Guy (My God)" — Deloris & The Sisters
# " Just a Touch of Love (Everyday)" — C+C Music Factory
# "Deloris Is Kidnapped" (Instrumental)
# "Nuns to the Rescue" (Instrumental)
# "Finale: I Will Follow Him ('Chariot')" — Deloris & The Sisters
# " Shout" — Deloris & The Sisters & The Ronelles
# "If My Sister's in Trouble" — Lady Soul

* The singing voice for the character of Mary Robert was performed by Andrea Robinson.

Certifications

Reception

Critical response

The film received a generally positive reception from critics, holding a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Looking for a sweet musical comedy about a witness to a crime hiding out from killers in a convent? There's nun better than ''Sister Act''." Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film 2.5 stars out of a possible 4. He wrote that Goldberg and Wickes both offered humorous performances, but the film overall "plays like a missed opportunity" due to slow pacing and trouble integrating the organized crime scenes into a comedy film. Metacritic gave the film a score of 51 based on the 23 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office

The film was a box-office success, grossing $139.6 million in the U.S. and $92 million in other countries, effectively grossing $231.6 million worldwide, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film worldwide of 1992. It sat at the #2 spot for four weeks, behind ''Lethal Weapon 3'', ''Patriot Games'', and ''Batman Returns'' in succession.

Awards and nominations

The film is also recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
* AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs — Nominated

Controversy and lawsuits

On June 10, 1993, actress Donna Douglas and her partner Curt Wilson in Associated Artists Entertainment, Inc. filed a $200 million lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, their production companies, and Creative Artists Agency claiming the film was plagiarized from the book ''A Nun in the Closet'', owned by the partners. Douglas and Wilson argued that, in 1985, they had developed a screenplay for the book, which had been submitted to Disney, Goldberg, and Midler three times during 1987 and 1988. The lawsuit noted over 100 similarities between the movie and the book/screenplay as evidence of plagiarism. In 1994, Douglas and Wilson declined a $1 million offer in an attempt to win the case. The judge found in favor of Disney and the other defendants. Wilson stated at the time, "They would have had to copy our stuff verbatim for us to prevail."

In November 2011, a nun named Delois Blakely filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company and Sony Pictures claiming that ''The Harlem Street Nun'', an autobiography she wrote in 1987, was the basis for the 1992 film. She alleged that a movie executive expressed an interest in the movie rights after she wrote a three-page synopsis. She sued for "breach of contract, misappropriation of likeness and unjust enrichment." Blakely dropped the original lawsuit in January 2012 to serve a more robust lawsuit in late August 2012 with the New York Supreme Court, asking for $1 billion in damages from Disney. In early February 2013, the New York Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, awarding no damages to Blakely.

Home media

The Region 1 DVD was released on November 6, 2001; however, the disc has no anamorphic enhancement, similar to early DVDs from Buena Vista Home Entertainment

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