I've had a VHS copy of "Glory! Glory!" for years and it's become valuable (copies selling for over $35 on eBay!). The movie is pretty cheesy but entertaining.
Spoiler alert---- Rev. Dan Stuckey is the elderly, charismatic minister of the Church of the Community of Christ TV ministry. When he conks out due to a stroke, his earnest son, Bobby Joe (Richard Thomas) takes over the ministry, guided by the ministry's business maven, Lester (James Whitmore). The problem is, Bobby Joe is incredibly boring and uninspiring and contributions dry up to the point where the ministry is in danger of folding.
Praying for inspiration, Bobby Joe is seemingly led to a roadhouse where Ruth (Ellen Greene), a slutty, foul-mouthed, coke-sniffing, bed-hopping singer is fronting the band. Inspired, Bobby Joe asks her to be on his show and re-write her songs to reflect a Christian sensibility. Ruth only cares that she'll be on TV. What happens is that she becomes an international sensation and "The Sister Ruth" show is the biggest thing on TV. Along the way she snorts coke, beds Bobby Joe (and about everyone else), has an abortion but then seems to have a genuine conversion and becomes a real faith healer. She's torn though between her cynical private life and her virtuous public persona. Bobby Joe meanwhile is continually compromised into fornication, looking the other way when she has an abortion, to the point that he resorts to blackmail to save the ministry, egged on and tempted in all of this by the elderly Lester who wants to keep the money rolling in, no matter what the moral cost.
The music in this movie is first-rate and I'm surprised that the songs didn't cross over to become Christian music hits. The acting in the movie is generally excellent but Ellen Greene's acting is just very wooden to me. She had been a Broadway star before this movie in "Little Shop of Horrors" in which she played Audrey (also in the movie version). Her acting isn't up to the same caliber as Richard Thomas and James Whitmore. Whitmore steals every scene he's in but Richard Thomas is excellent, too. I'm glad to see a couple other reviewers singling out my favorite character in the movie, Vincent, the huge, thuggish ex-con who is Lester's henchman. What work does he do for the ministry? "Anything that needs doing. . ." and so if you need cocaine, if you need to find a discreet abortionist, if you need to find actors who will participate in fake healings and keep their mouths shut, you call Vincent. George Buza plays Vincent and is an unforgettable presence in this movie. I loved that guy.
Spoiler alert---- Rev. Dan Stuckey is the elderly, charismatic minister of the Church of the Community of Christ TV ministry. When he conks out due to a stroke, his earnest son, Bobby Joe (Richard Thomas) takes over the ministry, guided by the ministry's business maven, Lester (James Whitmore). The problem is, Bobby Joe is incredibly boring and uninspiring and contributions dry up to the point where the ministry is in danger of folding.
Praying for inspiration, Bobby Joe is seemingly led to a roadhouse where Ruth (Ellen Greene), a slutty, foul-mouthed, coke-sniffing, bed-hopping singer is fronting the band. Inspired, Bobby Joe asks her to be on his show and re-write her songs to reflect a Christian sensibility. Ruth only cares that she'll be on TV. What happens is that she becomes an international sensation and "The Sister Ruth" show is the biggest thing on TV. Along the way she snorts coke, beds Bobby Joe (and about everyone else), has an abortion but then seems to have a genuine conversion and becomes a real faith healer. She's torn though between her cynical private life and her virtuous public persona. Bobby Joe meanwhile is continually compromised into fornication, looking the other way when she has an abortion, to the point that he resorts to blackmail to save the ministry, egged on and tempted in all of this by the elderly Lester who wants to keep the money rolling in, no matter what the moral cost.
The music in this movie is first-rate and I'm surprised that the songs didn't cross over to become Christian music hits. The acting in the movie is generally excellent but Ellen Greene's acting is just very wooden to me. She had been a Broadway star before this movie in "Little Shop of Horrors" in which she played Audrey (also in the movie version). Her acting isn't up to the same caliber as Richard Thomas and James Whitmore. Whitmore steals every scene he's in but Richard Thomas is excellent, too. I'm glad to see a couple other reviewers singling out my favorite character in the movie, Vincent, the huge, thuggish ex-con who is Lester's henchman. What work does he do for the ministry? "Anything that needs doing. . ." and so if you need cocaine, if you need to find a discreet abortionist, if you need to find actors who will participate in fake healings and keep their mouths shut, you call Vincent. George Buza plays Vincent and is an unforgettable presence in this movie. I loved that guy.