If there were a competition for the greatest living American actor, I’m sure that devotees of Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, and Robert DeNiro would all make compelling arguments for their candidates. But for my money, the title belongs solely to Robert Duvall, who has been giving unforgettable film performances since his debut in 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”. He’s been honored for his work in films like “Tender Mercies” (Best Actor Oscar- 1983), “The Great Santini (Best Actor Nomination- 1980), “The Godfather” (Supporting Actor Nomination- 1972), “Apocalypse Now” (Supporting Actor Nomination- 1979), and “A Civil Action” (Supporting Actor Nomination- 1998). Additionally, he’s given wonderful performances without Oscar recognition in such films as “M*A*S*H” (1970), “Network” (1976), and even as recently as last year, he deserved a nomination for his work as an elderly hermit in the independent comedy-drama “Get Low”.
The crown jewel of Duvall’s career, however, was another low-budget film, one that Duvall raised the money to make, wrote the screenplay and directed, and gave the performance of a lifetime, as Sonny AKA ‘The Apostle E.F.“ in 1997’s “The Apostle”. In a year of such honored and in some cases over-honored films like “Titanic”, “L.A. Confidential”, “Boogie Nights”, “Jackie Brown“, “The Full Monty”, “Ulee’s Gold”, “As Good as It Gets”, “Mrs. Brown”, and “The Sweet Hereafter”, none has had the effect on me in quite the way Duvall’s film does. Now perhaps, if you were (as I was) brought up with a clearly defined sense of religion, beliefs in God, the Devil, Heaven, and Hell, the film will resonate on levels that may not have the same reaction in other viewers. In any event, a viewer can appreciate the labor of love quality of “The Apostle”, with the knowledge that the film was indeed Duvall’s baby, and that he has an appreciation for the subject matter, unlike many films which take a superior, intellectual pleasure in mocking religion or religious people.
This is not to say that the film is without flaws, but they don’t detract from the success of the picture overall. Though he has directed before, perhaps Duvall was too close to the material to realize that certain shots seem redundant, and certain scenes don’t quite fit the feel of the picture. The locations add much texture to the picture: the dirt roads, croaking bayous, and makeshift roadside churches are as much characters in the film as are the actors, and for the most part, Duvall the director has cast his film well, with a mixture of talented actors and believable, fresh nonprofessionals. Among the known actors, John Beasley does fine, quiet work as Reverend Blackwell, Walton Goggins, long before his career-defining work in television shows like “The Shield” and “Justified”, is a naïve young man who falls under Sonny’s charismatic spell, and Billy Bob Thornton has two scenes as a troublemaking local who falls to Duvall both times, but in completely different ways. The freshest female performances in the film were by the two nonprofessional women that Duvall cast as the friendly-rival queen bees of his church., but the professional actresses were failed unfortunately, either by Duvall the director or Duvall the screenwriter. The late Farrah Fawcett plays Sonny’s unhappy wife Jesse, whose actions set the real story into motion, and, not to speak ill of the dead, but I find it a very flat, lifeless performance. Now, I realize that the character of Jesse has a lot of repressed emotions, and has been unhappy and perhaps even lifeless in her marriage, but I expected to see at least a moment or two of spark from Fawcett. Even more disappointing was the misuse of Miranda Richardson as Toosie, the secretary at a radio station The Apostle broadcasts over. Richardson is a brilliant actress, but here her character is never developed enough beyond a potential love interest for Sonny, and we’re never clear on what her motivations are.
But when the film is in the church, and Duvall is in ‘preacher’ mode, it soars. It has a power, and a realism that touch me to my core. And yes, Duvall is impressive when he’s ‘onstage’ before his congregation, delivering the well-rehearsed monologues of a lifetime of a traveling country preacher. But they never sound rehearsed, and even when we hear snatched of dialogue repeated in different sermons, Duvall still makes them compelling. He’s a bundle of charisma, religion, and control, and yet still has the nerve to play Sonny as a real person, with concerns, troubles, and his own persecutions that he knows will eventually find their way to him. Duvall is just as watchable in the scenes where he’s not preaching, because even in quieter scenes, with June Carter Cash as his loving mother, or Billy Joe Shaver as an old confidante, he’s still in character- but not as a preacher, simply as Sonny.
For many, I suppose the big emotional moment of the film concerns Thornton’s second and final appearance at The Apostle’s church, and it is a scene that gives me a chill; it’s that real, and honest a piece of filmmaking. For me though, it is Duvall’s final sermon, knowing that his past has found him, church building surrounded by the blinking lights of police cars that cuts into my heart. Duvall (as Sonny) knows that this is his final ‘performance’, and so Duvall (as The Apostle E.F.) gives the sermon of a lifetime. And as many times as I’ve seen the film, I never failed to be moved to tears by the scene where a character that has been an enigma during much of the film stands up in his pew. Just writing about it gives me a jolt. It feels too personal, too intimate a thing to be watching, and yet, during my childhood, I frequently saw the same thing happen on many a Sunday morning, and I myself did that on a Sunday morning in the summer of 1980.
The Apostle’s exit is by no means a downer, but rather a triumphant continuation of the journey he’s been on. The roaring sound of his church’s choir calling out their encouragement as he leaves his church for the last time is thrilling, and a final coda over the credits shows that The Apostle is true to himself (as Duvall is true to the character) no matter where he is or what he’s doing. And despite the fact that my personal beliefs, views, and attitudes have changed immensely since that summer of 1980, there is something in this film that moves me. And this my friends, is exactly why I love the movies.
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