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''The Hoodlum Priest'' is a 1961 American
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film by
Irvin Kershner Irvin Kershner (born Isadore Kershner; April 29, 1923November 27, 2010) was an American film director, actor, and producer of film and television. He gained notice early in his career as a filmmaker for directing quirky, independent drama films ...
, based on the life of Father Charles "Dismas" Clark of
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, who ministered to men in prison and men coming out of prison. During his career Fr. Clark earned the nickname "The Hoodlum Priest." The film was entered into the
1961 Cannes Film Festival The 14th Cannes Film Festival was held from 3 to 18 May 1961. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Une aussi longue absence'', directed by Henri Colpi and '' Viridiana'', directed by Luis Buñuel. The festival opened with '' Che gioia vivere'', directed ...
. The movie stars Don Murray who also co-produced and co-wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym Don Deer.


Plot

Father Charles Dismas Clark, a Jesuit priest in St. Louis, dedicates his life to the rehabilitation of delinquents and ex-convicts. By meeting them on their own terms and talking their language, he wins their confidence and their trust. He is primarily concerned with a young thief, Billy Lee Jackson, recently released from the Missouri State Penitentiary. Father Clark helps clear the boy of some trumped-up charges and then gets him an honest job with a produce market. Billy's rehabilitation is further encouraged by Ellen Henley, a young socialite with whom he falls in love. Meanwhile, aided by Louis Rosen, a successful criminal lawyer, Father Clark raises enough funds to open Halfway House, a shelter for ex-convicts readjusting to civilian life. All goes well until Billy's employer fires him for a theft he did not commit. Embittered, he and a friend, Pio, attempt to rob the produce market. They are caught by one of the owners, and he attacks Billy with a crowbar. The panic-stricken boy grabs a gun and kills him. The police chase Billy to an abandoned house, and he hides there until Father Clark persuades him to surrender. Tried and convicted of murder, he is sentenced to death. Before Billy dies in the gas chamber, Father Clark reassures him by telling him of
Dismas The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus ...
, the thief who died on the cross, and of how Christ promised him eternal life. After the execution, Father Clark returns to Halfway House and finds his first client, Pio, drunk and repentant.


Cast

* Don Murray as Father Charles Dismas Clark * Larry Gates as Louis Rosen * Cindi Wood as Ellen Henley *
Keir Dullea Keir Atwood Dullea (; born May 30, 1936) is an American actor. He played astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and its 1984 sequel, '' 2010: The Year We Make Contact''. His other film roles include '' David and Lisa ...
as Billy Lee Jackson * Logan Ramsey as George Hale * Don Joslyn as Pio Gentile * Sam Capuano as Mario Mazziotti * Vince O'Brien as Assistant District Attorney * Al Mack as Judge Garrity * Lou Martini as Angelo Mazziotri *
Norman McKay Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
as Father Dunne *
Joseph Cusanelli Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
as Hector Sterne * Bill Atwood as Weasel *
Roger Ray (actor) Roger Ray Bacusmo Pogoy (born June 16, 1992) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the TNT Tropang Giga of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He has also represented the Philippines national team in international competiti ...
as Detective Shattuck *
William Warford William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
as Assistant District Attorney's Aide *
Willard Capen Willard may refer to: People * Willard (name) Geography Places in the United States * Willard, Colorado * Willard, Georgia * Willard, Kansas * Willard, Kentucky * Willard, Michigan, a small unincorporated community in Beaver Township, Bay C ...
as Extra behind bars in DVD cover


Reception

A.H. Weiler of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "An unrelievedly grim, serious and action-filled case against an uncompromising attitude toward former convicts and capital punishment, it evolves, through an unpretentious, documentary treatment, as tough and persuasive, if disquieting, drama...There is no doubt, however, as to the film's sharp, authentic pictorial look, since it was photographed largely in St. Louis, whose lower depths rise strikingly before an audience. Its cheap saloons, alleys and slums, photographed in newsreel detail by Haskell Wexler, lend polish and support to the fast pace maintained by the director, Irvin Kershner, whose experience stems largely from television."A.H. Weiler, "Don Murray Portrays 'The Hoodlum Priest': Story of Father Clark in St. Louis Is Told Actor Was Co-Author and a Co-Producer" Apr. 3, 1961 https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9502E6D81F3CE13ABC4B53DFB266838A679EDE


See also

* List of American films of 1961


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoodlum Priest 1961 films 1961 drama films 1960s biographical drama films American biographical drama films American black-and-white films 1960s English-language films Films about capital punishment Films about Catholicism Films about Catholic priests Films directed by Irvin Kershner Films scored by Richard Markowitz Films set in St. Louis Films shot in Missouri Films shot in St. Louis United Artists films 1960s American films