Lilies of the Field (1963) on Netflix
Homer Smith, a handyman, pulls in at an Arizona desert farm for water and finds nuns from East Germany. Mother Maria Marthe, their superior, thinks God sent him to build a chapel.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.5/1015,606 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Homer Smith is out of work and driving west. His car overheats, and he turns in at a farm in the Arizona desert to ask for water. A small group of Catholic nuns from East Germany lives there. Their superior, Mother Maria Marthe, is strict, and the nuns know only a little English. They call him Schmidt. He agrees to repair their roof even though they cannot pay, and Mother Maria Marthe is certain God sent him to build them a chapel.
Cast
- Isa Crinoas Sister Agnes
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Lilies of the Field (1963)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sidney Poitier became the first African-American actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, and only the second African-American Oscar winner overall, after Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind in 1939.
- Jester Hairston wrote the gospel arrangement of "Amen" used in the film and arranged the vocal parts, and he also dubbed the vocals for Sidney Poitier, who was tone-deaf.
- The film was shot primarily on a ranch owned by the family of Linda Ronstadt on the northern edge of Tucson, and the church doors seen on screen were borrowed from the Chapel in Sasabe, Arizona, carved by local Tucson artist Charles Bolsius.
