THE APOSTLE, Robert Duvall (1997) / The gospel according to a sinner

After Sonny, an eccentric Pentecostal preacher, learns that his wife is having an affair, he beats her lover into a coma and flees the state of Texas. Hiding out in the small town of Bayou Boutte, Louisiana, Sonny takes on the name "Apostle E.F." and opens a new church with the help of a retired pastor. Battling his personal demons and injecting new life into his congregation, Sonny dates a radio station receptionist and searches for peace in his new life, looking to find the road to redemption.

Written and directed by Robert Duvall
Produced by Steven Brown and Rob Carliner
Starring Robert Duvall, June Carter Cash, Farrah Fawcett, Miranda Richardson, and Billy Bob Thornton
Cinematography: Barry Markowitz
Edited by Steven Mack
Music by David Mansfield
Release dates: 6 September 1997 (Toronto IFF), 19 December 1997 (U.S.), 23 May 1998 (Cannes)
Running time: 2h 14m

HOW THIS WORKS
Rent or stream The Apostle and view it during the week. (Find out where you can do that on [JustWatch.com](http://justwatch.com/) or TV.Movie.) Give us your RSVP, then join us for conversation this Saturday 3/7 at 7:20p. A Zoom link for that conversation will appear on the upper right of this page once you RSVP. First-timers must sign up by Friday 3/6 in order to ensure being admitted.

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Two weeks ago, we said farewell to Robert Selden Duvall, whose career in movies, on stage, and in television spanned 70 years, earning him respect and accolades in every corner of the entertainment industry. Duvall compiled 131 credited movie roles, amounting to over 180 screen credits total. Director Bruce Beresford marveled at his "ability to completely inhabit the person he's acting. He totally and utterly becomes that person to a degree which is uncanny." Vincent Canby of the New York Times presaged that praise in 1980, calling Duvall "one of the most resourceful, most technically proficient, most remarkable actors in America today ... He may well be the best we have, the American Olivier." Duvall died at age 95, and we thought it fit to remember him by reviewing The Apostle, the project of his own invention, one closest to his heart.

Given the way his name is splashed all over the credits of this film, you might be led to conclude it's the vanity project of a Hollywood celebrity. Not so. The seeds that grew into The Apostle were planted by Duvall's decades-long fascination with the power and art of Pentecostal preaching, first sown some thirty-five years before the film was made. In 1962, Duvall spent time in Hughes, Arkansas, doing research for his role in an off-Broadway play. Strangely yet inexorably, he found himself being drawn into the rhythms of this unique expression of worship. The effect on him was profound and enduring. “People could barely contain the joy of their faith,” Duvall recalled in 1998:
"Their faces were alive with it, imbued. Folks were on their feet, singing praise and clapping, shouting to God! The air crackled with the Spirit. It was nearly impossible to be a mere observer. I wanted to sing and shout with them. I couldn’t explain it, but I knew the people in that church had a gift, a story to share. Somehow, someday, I would tell that story."

Eventually, in 1984, Duvall drafted a script, but couldn't find a studio willing to produce it. Executives viewed a film about a deeply flawed Pentecostal preacher as a low-profit, high-risk venture with little commercial appeal. At last, after 13 futile years shopping his concept, he decided to finance and direct the film himself, spending $5 million to bring The Apostle to the screen. What kept Duvall believing and persisting in the project was that "good feeling" thirty-five years gone. ''There was a certain simplicity and understanding. And also the feeling of the folklore. Preaching is one of the great American art forms. The rhythm, the cadence. And nobody knows about it except the preachers themselves.''

As far as authenticity and cultural resonance go, The Apostle made a name for itself, and still holds it almost thirty years later. Following a discussion with Harvard Divinity School faculty led by theologian Harvey Cox after a private screening, Cox declared "It's the most explicit treatment of evangelical religious sensibility I've seen. One is stunned by Duvall's performance. But beyond that, it is a film about sin and redemption, something Dostoevskian, deeply theological, not churchy. It's in-your-face theology." Scenes of Black and white congregants sitting side by side may take some viewers by surprise, but that's not at all unusual among Pentecostal pews. Some of the leaps taken by the plot will seem jarring to those not saturated with that sensibility. But the imperatives of soul-saving, especially in crisis, will never be unconvincing to those who are. No matter how odd or off-putting, the Apostle E.F. and his struggle for redemption are never less than fascinating, and it's impossible to turn away.

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TRAILER, RATINGS, EXTRAS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQe1Kehx110

Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer 88%, based on 50 reviews
Metacritic: Metascore 83 (universal acclaim), based on 28 reviews, "Must See"

For inhabiting the role of Euliss F. "Sonny" Dewey, Duvall gained the fifth of his seven Academy Award acting nominations and the third for Best Actor, an award he'd won in 1983 for playing alcoholic country singer Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies.

The soundtrack album, including songs by Lyle Lovett, Patty Loveless, and contemporary Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman, won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album.

All his life, Duvall remained close friends with fellow California-born actors Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, whom he had known since their years as struggling actors. In 1955, Duvall roomed with Hoffman in a New York City apartment while they studied together at the Playhouse, and around the same time shared accommodations with Hackman while working odd jobs such as clerking at Macy's, sorting mail, and driving a truck.

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BLURBS & ATTITUDES
An effortlessly complex portrayal that relishes the contradictions and complexities of someone capable of both exalted and debased behavior, a shape-shifter it is possible to be fascinated, repelled and compelled by, all at the same time. ∞ Manohla Dargis, L.A. Weekly

Duvall's direction of a mix of professional and nonprofessional actors, especially in the extended church sessions, is never less than masterful. ∞ Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Duvall must have rewritten the script many times, because it is astonishingly subtle. There isn’t a canned and prefab story arc, with predictable stops along the way. Instead, the movie feels as alive as if it’s a documentary of things happening right now .... Duvall’s screenplay does what great screenwriting is supposed to do, and surprises us with additional observations and revelations in every scene. ∞ Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The best movie ever made about a man of God – which is to say, the most honest and morally the most ambiguous. ∞ David Denby, New York Magazine (Vulture)

It's an unusual, unhurried tour de force – a seamless match of strong artistic vision and physical performance. ∞ Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

The fact that Duvall gives such a glorious performance in The Apostle is likely to distract people from the fact that he has also written and directed a glorious movie – the most vivid and radiantly made of 1997. ∞ David Edelstein, Slate

Duvall's performance is so passionate, so energized, that it's almost eerie: is Sonny acting him or is he acting Sonny? ∞ Daphne Merkin, The New Yorker

Beautifully detailed and deftly structured, every scene in The Apostle logically leads to the next one, each elaborating on the central theme of religious redemption. ∞ Emanuel Levy, Variety

Duvall's unobtrusive direction moves the film at a leisurely pace that lets many scenes build the gentle, pleasing rhythms of small-town Southern life. And the film's church sequences also call for slow, mounting excitement, especially during the remarkable scene where Sonny preaches his heart out, knowing this sermon is liable to be his last. ∞ Janet Maslin, New York Times