Mass Appeal (film)
Encyclopedia
Mass Appeal is a 1984
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....

 American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 dramedy film
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 starring Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...

, directed by Glenn Jordan. The screenplay by Bill C. Davis is based on his 1980 play of the same title
Mass Appeal
Mass Appeal is a two-character play by Bill C. Davis. The comedy-drama focuses on the conflict between a complacent Roman Catholic pastor and the idealistic young deacon who is assigned to his affluent, suburban parish.-Plot:...

.

Plot

For years, as pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....

 of an affluent, suburban Roman Catholic parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

, Father Tim Farley has maintained a close relationship with his congregation by delivering folksy homilies filled with practical advice and adhering to clerical policies without waver. One Sunday, his sermon is interrupted by seminarian
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

 Mark Dolson, who questions Farley's position on the ordination of women. The older priest charmingly sidesteps the young man but is annoyed that he was placed in an uncomfortable position. This is a man who relies on charm, harmless white lies, and inane jokes when interacting with his parishioners, and he always has been careful not to get involved in controversial issues.

Dolson defends two seminarians expelled after being suspected of engaging in a homosexual relationship. After he is ordained a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...

, frustrated Monsignor
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...

 Thomas Burke assigns him to Farley's parish in the hope the older man will inspire him to toe the line and become more complacent. Although in some ways conservative—he criticizes his sister Liz for her affair with a married man—the young man primarily is a liberal firebrand who is anxious to make changes in the church, whereas Farley prefers study with a bottle of bad tasting drinks and not make waves.

The pastor tries to become a mentor to his new charge, but Dolson ignores the priest's efforts to teach him the necessity of tact. He enrages the congregation with his first, highly critical sermon.

Questions as to why Dolson defended the gay seminarians arise. He confides having spent two years engaging in sexual relations with both men and women, saying he now is committed to celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...

. Farley urges him to keep quiet about his past, but the deacon admits his secret to the monsignor and is expelled.

Farley promises to convince his followers that the church needs liberal thinkers who don't always do things by the book. As soon as he senses he is losing support, however, the priest backs down. Dolson angrily confronts him with a feeling of betrayal, forcing Farley to rethink his position and do the right thing, even if it means the loss of his parish.

Cast

  • Jack Lemmon
    Jack Lemmon
    John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...

     ..... Father Tim Farley
  • Željko Ivanek
    Željko Ivanek
    Željko Ivanek is an Emmy award-winning Slovenian American actor best known for his role as Ray Fiske on Damages. He is also known for playing Blake Sterling on short-lived NBC series The Event and Emile Danko on Heroes....

     ..... Deacon Mark Dolson
  • Charles Durning
    Charles Durning
    Charles Durning is an American actor. With appearances in over 100 films, Durning's memorable roles include police officers in the Oscar-winning The Sting and crime drama Dog Day Afternoon , along with the comedies Tootsie, To Be Or Not To Be and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the last two...

     ..... Monsignor Thomas Burke
  • Louise Latham
    Louise Latham
    Louise Latham is an American actress, perhaps best known for her portrayal of Bernice Edgar in Alfred Hitchcock's film Marnie...

     ..... Margaret
  • Talia Balsam
    Talia Balsam
    Talia Balsam is an American actress.-Early life:Balsam was born in New York City to actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten.-Career:...

     ..... Liz Dolson

Critical reception

Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...

 of the New York Times compared the film to Educating Rita
Educating Rita (film)
Educating Rita is a 1983 film of Willy Russell's play of the same title directed by Lewis Gilbert and stars Julie Walters, Michael Caine, and Maureen Lipman with a screenplay by Russell.-Premise:...

, although she found it to be "is less strident . . . and more prone to dry humor." She added, "The momentum of Mr. Davis's drama and the stars' intensity are enough to sustain interest, even when Glenn Jordan's television-style direction seems excessively bland. The casting of the two key roles works in the long run, but it initially seems a shade off. Father Farley, as written, is rather too self-satisfied and facile for the priesthood, qualities better emphasized in Milo O'Shea
Milo O'Shea
-Early life:He was born and raised in Dublin and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street, along with his friend Donal Donnelly.He was discovered in the 1950s by Harry Dillon, who ran the "37 Theatre Club" on the top floor of his shop The Swiss Gem Company, 51 Lower O'Connell Street...

's stage performance than in Mr. Lemmon's on film, since the character's glibness comes too close to the actor's usual screen persona. And Mr. Ivanek, beginning on a note of intelligence and severity, later has moments of surprisingly callowness, even petulance. But the stars work together very effectively, making the story's progress believable as each of their characters evolves into a better man. Mass Appeal doesn't have to tug too hard at the audience's heartstrings to arrive at its simple and satisfying resolution."
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