pniemeyer-47222 Marjoe Gortner was a child preacher. He came from a family of evangelists, and was performing marriage ceremonies and traveling the country telling congregations to give up their money to Christ before he was old enough to shave. As a teenager, he gave up that life for a while, then returned to it as a young adult because he needed the money. This film profiles him in those latter days of his preaching career, as he recounts his troubled childhood and exposes the tricks of his trade to the documentary crew.Marjoe cuts a fairly sympathetic character for somebody who made a living manipulating gullible people into thinking that Jesus could heal their cancer. His body language while addressing the flock is closely modeled after Mick Jagger's, and after this film was released, he became an actor and had a decent run on Hollywood's B-List. Nowadays, he produces celebrity charity events. So his story is not without hope, but there are times at which this film verges on dark comedy, as Marjoe sells people again and again on the patently un-Christian notion that they can simply buy their way into Heaven.For the record, when a man asked Jesus what he must do to be saved, he said, "Sell all your possessions. Then come follow me." The evangelism industry is still alive and well in America, which makes this film as relevant as ever. I feel for Marjoe. I hope that some of his followers might have eventually realized that what you do outside of church matters more than what you do in church. Highly recommended.

MartinHafer "Marjoe" is an exposee apparently orchestrated by the evangelist, Marjoe Gortner, as a way to say goodbye to this life by tossing a figurative Molotov Cocktail into the traveling evangelist profession. He had begun his ministry at age 3 and worked in it, off and on, many, many years. With this film, he is declaring his independence and walking away from that life.I thought it was a very fascinating but ill-focused film. Instead of talking about his fascinating life (which I wish we'd heard far more about in the film), much of the documentary shows Marjoe preaching at various venues--and there is way, way too much footage of this and the apoplectic reactions of many in his audience. It was interesting (especially for someone not too familiar with the Pentecostal movement)--but so much in the film seemed repetitive and slow. Because of this aspect alone, I am a bit surprised that this documentary won the Oscar in this category.I think there is a lot people can take out of this film. Of course, there is some great first-hand information about the hucksters in the traveling evangelism business, but I also thought it was interesting to see these Pentecostal services in action as they are FAR removed from mainstream Christianity. Some might also just see it as a broad attack on Christianity and religion--thought I didn't take that from the film. Probably in light of my background in the mental health field, I thought the film was a great portrait of a very charismatic sociopath. I noticed that although Marjoe did this film to expose the industry, they sure showed him counting a lot of money! Later, he says how it's all fake and says he is sorry for deceiving people...though he did not, I notice, refuse to take all the people's money or offer to give any of it back! As a result, I was appalled by Gortner, as he seemed to be saying he was turning over a new leaf---yet still swindling people in the process--and probably laughing at them! I would love to have heard him explain this and when someone in the film asked him if he was a con-man (which, of course, he was) he didn't actually answer the question! This is, I think, the point that the film SHOULD have focused on--but as Gortner seemed to be running the production, this angle was not explored further. I would really love to see a followup film to both see where he is today and to explore his life and the way he used others. Interestingly, although he has given up this old life, he still seemed to have a strong need to be liked and to be the center of attention in this film--so maybe there is less difference between his old life and the new! Maybe Marjoe the professional actor of the 1970s and 80s isn't that much removed from the evangelist!Worth seeing but quite flawed in its style and lack of clear focus.

tedg Sometimes a film has such a powerful effect, via such a subtle and esoteric method that you wonder if the filmmaker knew what she was doing.Superficially, this is an expose of a dirty business. It works at that level, because it has so many elements in it that have a cultural momentum of their own:— Fundamentalists are all low class nut jobs who take solace in superstitious nonsense.— Preachers are all con men who use fear and solace, lies and charisma to tease dollars, sex and loyalty out of these goobs.— But the music is often good enough for us to want to be there; the energy is often mesmerizing and mass orgasm is not to be sneered at.But scratch the surface only a tiny bit, and it is hard to know who is conning whom. Our hero is as smoothly glib when in the outer performance as in the inner ones. There is scant difference in how he cajoles us into a story, one that makes no more sense than the one he is exposing. In fact, the magic of this is that there is heavy tension between these two stories. One is a story about an earnest preacher, saving people in performances where he reveals the truth and empowers souls. The other, well it is the same with less strutting. One enfolds the other.We've seen that before. But never have I seen it coming from, initiated and presented by a single soul. No, two should in one body, each believing the other to be an interloping demon. Joe fights Mar . Profound stuff that should be seen before you shape your own story and performances.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

lambiepie-2 I saw this film on the now gone "Z" Channel in Los Angeles in the early 80's. At that time, I knew "of" Marjoe from when I was a kid watching TV. I didn't know his name, but his face and the really tense overacting he always did. Now I figured out why. It was sad for me to see what people do to their children under the guise of something...here it was religion. This documentary is NOT to show you "religion is bad" or "folks in religion are crooks" but just like in everything else in this world, there are the few that make a bad name for everything. Here, you see it in the manipulation of a child. I was stunned watching this. A must see documentary for all.And let me add... its been 15 years since the wonderful "Z" Channel went off the air in the Los Angeles area and now with hordes of pay movie channels, not ONE has come to the level of "Z" showing all kinds of programming of movies, documentaries, international films, animations etc. I say that because I haven't seen Marjoe come up, as well as alot of others but they run the SAME films over and over again like none other were made! Take a note pay movie programmers and show these films again.