Marjoe (1972) on Netflix

PG19721h 28mBiography Documentary

Ordained a preacher at four, Marjoe Gortner was a revival sensation across the American South. In his late twenties he tours the tent circuit again, a non-believer, with a documentary crew.

Netflix3.4/5
IMDb7.4/101,949 votes
Rotten Tomatoes100%

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Plot summary

Marjoe Gortner was ordained at the age of four and preached across the American South from 1949, drawing crowds as a child. His parents collected large sums from his appearances. The novelty faded, and at sixteen he left the ministry. Years later he returned to preaching as a way to earn a living, though he did not believe what he preached. In his late twenties he decided to quit the revival circuit and let a documentary crew film his last tour, which took place in 1971. The cameras follow him through revival meetings in Los Angeles, Fort Worth, Detroit and Anaheim, where he prays over congregations, and he speaks to the crew about the methods evangelists use to move people.

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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Marjoe (1972)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

The distributor kept Marjoe out of most Southern cinemas even as the film drew heavy press, fearing how audiences in the Bible Belt would react to a documentary exposing evangelist trickery.
The Oscar-winning documentary went missing for decades until its negative turned up in a New York City vault in 2002; the Academy Film Archive preserved it in 2005 and the IFC Center screened the restoration that November.