Sister Act was one of the most financially successful comedies of the early 1990s, grossing $231 million worldwide against a $31 million budget. Its success extended to the home video market, and it was the most rented film of 1993 in the United States. The film spawned a franchise, which consists of the 1993 sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit and a musical adaptation, which premiered in 2006. A third film is in development for Disney+.[4][5]
Plot
In 1968, Deloris Wilson is a young Catholic school student, who does not take her studies seriously and greatly embarrasses her nun teachers while showing an affinity for music.
Twenty-four years later, in 1992, Deloris is a lounge singer in Reno, Nevada, performing as Deloris Van Cartier, in a club owned by her married gangster boyfriend Vince LaRocca. She then receives a shallow gift from Vince, and attempts to return it, only to witness Vince executing an informant. When he sets out to murder her as well, Deloris goes to the police for further assistance. Police lieutenant Eddie Souther places her in witness protection, and brings her to Saint Katherine's Parish, in a run-down neighborhood in San Francisco, for her to hide out in their struggling convent.
Both Deloris, and the head nun of St. Katherine's, Reverend Mother, object to this arrangement, but Lt. Souther, and Monsignor O'Hara, the parishpriest, convince them to go along with it, with the added deal that the police will pay the failing convent a good sum of money. Disguised as "Sister Mary Clarence", Deloris initially has difficulty dealing with the rigid and simple convent life, and butts heads with Reverend Mother, but she befriends the other nuns, including the optimistic Sister Mary Patrick, the elderly deadpan Sister Mary Lazarus, and the shy, young Novice Sister Mary Robert. One night, after a poorly attended Sunday Mass—with a lackluster performance from the convent choir led by Mary Lazarus—Deloris decides she needs a break, and she sneaks out to a bar, followed by Mary Patrick and Mary Robert. They are caught by the Reverend Mother, who considers kicking Deloris out, but instead, orders Deloris to join the struggling choir. With her singing experience, Deloris is elected to take over as their director and transforms the choir.
At the next Sunday Mass, Deloris leads the much-improved choir in a traditional hymn of "Hail Holy Queen", then shifts into a combined gospel and rock and roll interpretation. Although Reverend Mother is infuriated, Monsignor O'Hara congratulates the choir for their unorthodox performance as new people were attracted to the service. Convinced by Deloris, he allows the nuns to clean the church and the neighborhood. Their singing and efforts to revitalize the neighborhood attract media attention, and the parish thrives.
Souther chastises Deloris for nearly being exposed on national television as Vince has placed a bounty on her head. She assures him she will try to keep a lower profile, and Souther attends a Mass. The nun's choir continues to amaze parishioners and visitors, especially with a rendition of "My Guy" – rewritten and performed as "My God".
O'Hara informs the convent that Pope John Paul II, having heard of the choir's success, will visit the church. Deloris tells Reverend Mother that Vince's upcoming trial means she will soon leave; the Mother reveals she has resigned as abbess, believing she is no longer useful to the convent as her authority was unintentionally undermined. Deloris tries to convince her to stay and keep the parish thriving as it is, but the Mother retorts that she believes herself too old-fashioned and incapable of doing so.
Souther discovers a corrupt detective in his own department who has given Deloris's location to Vince and rushes to San Francisco to warn her. Vince's men kidnap her and Mary Robert, but Deloris helps Mary Robert to escape. When Mary Robert returns to the convent, Reverend Mother reveals to the nuns that Sister Mary Clarence is Deloris Van Cartier and explains why she had been hiding in their convent. They decide to rescue Deloris, requesting a helicopter pilot to fly them to Reno.
In Reno, Vince orders his men to kill Deloris, but they cannot bring themselves to shoot her while she is dressed in a nun's habit. Arriving at Vince's casino, the nuns find Deloris after she escapes from Vince's men, and they try to sneak out of the casino, but they become cornered by Vince and her men, in the casino lounge. Deloris prepares to sacrifice herself, but Vince's men still refuse to shoot her. Vince himself is hesitant, but he works up the courage to shoot her. His hesitation is just long enough for Souther to shoot Vince in the arm and arrest him and his men.
Thanking Deloris for her actions, Reverend Mother decides to remain as abbess of the convent. Returning to San Francisco, the choir, led by Deloris, sing "I Will Follow Him" to a packed audience in a refurbished Saint Katherine's, receiving a standing ovation from all, including Reverend Mother, the Pope, Monsignor O'Hara, and Lt. Souther. Deloris continues to guide and coach the choir as a touring musical group. During the closing credits, the group sings a cover of the Isley Brothers' "Shout".[6]
Cast
Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris Wilson-Van Cartier / Sister Mary Clarence
St. Paul's Catholic Church in San Francisco, used in the film as Saint Katherine's
Screenwriter Paul Rudnick pitched Sister Act to producer Scott Rudin in 1987, with Bette Midler in mind for the lead role. The script was brought to Disney.[7] However, Midler turned down the role, fearing that her fans would not want to see her play a nun.[7] Eventually, Whoopi Goldberg signed on to play the lead. As production commenced, the script was rewritten by a half dozen screenwriters, including Carrie Fisher, Robert Harling, and Nancy Meyers.[8] With the movie no longer resembling his original script, Rudnick asked to be credited with a pseudonym in the film, deciding on Joseph Howard.[7]
The church in which Deloris takes sanctuary is St. Paul's Catholic Church, located at Valley and Church Streets in Noe Valley, an upper-middle-class neighborhood of San Francisco. The storefronts on the opposite side of the street were redressed to give the appearance of a run-down neighborhood. Filming took place from September 23, 1991 (1991-09-23) to December 20, 1991 (1991-12-20).[9]
The film's soundtrack was released by Hollywood Records on June 9, 1992, in conjunction with the film, and contained the musical numbers performed by actors in the film itself, pre-recorded songs that were used as part of the background music, and instrumental music composed by Marc Shaiman for the film. The soundtrack album debuted at #74 and eventually reached #40 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart[12] where it charted for 54 weeks. The album received a Gold certification from the RIAA for shipment of 500,000 copies on January 13, 1993.[13] The album was certified platinum in Australia.[14]
The film received a generally positive reception from critics, holding a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Looking for a sweet musical comedy about a witness to a crime hiding out from killers in a convent? There's nun better than Sister Act."[19]Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2.5 stars out of a possible 4. He wrote that Goldberg and Wickes both offered humorous performances, but the film overall "plays like a missed opportunity" due to slow pacing and trouble integrating the organized crime scenes into a comedy film.[20]Metacritic gave the film a score of 51 based on the 23 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[21] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[22]
On June 10, 1993, actress Donna Douglas and her partner Curt Wilson in Associated Artists Entertainment, Inc. filed a $200 million lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, their production companies, and Creative Artists Agency claiming the film was plagiarized from the book A Nun in the Closet, owned by the partners. Douglas and Wilson argued that, in 1985, they had developed a screenplay for the book, which had been submitted to Disney, Goldberg, and Midler three times during 1987 and 1988. The lawsuit noted over 100 similarities between the movie and the book/screenplay as evidence of plagiarism.[26] In 1994, Douglas and Wilson declined a $1 million offer in an attempt to win the case. The judge found in favor of Disney and the other defendants. Wilson stated at the time, "They would have had to copy our stuff verbatim for us to prevail."[27]
In November 2011, a nun named Delois Blakely filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company and Sony Pictures claiming that The Harlem Street Nun, an autobiography she wrote in 1987, was the basis for the 1992 film. She alleged that a movie executive expressed an interest in the movie rights after she wrote a three-page synopsis. She sued for "breach of contract, misappropriation of likeness and unjust enrichment."[28] Blakely dropped the original lawsuit in January 2012 to serve a more robust lawsuit in late August 2012 with the New York Supreme Court, asking for $1 billion in damages from Disney.[29][30] In early February 2013, the New York Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, awarding no damages to Blakely.[31]
Home media
The film was released on VHS on November 13, 1992 by Touchstone Home Video.[32] It proved very successful in the video rental market, and ended up as the top rental of 1993 in the United States.[33] The Region 1 DVD was released on November 6, 2001; however, the disc has no anamorphic enhancement, similar to early DVDs from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.[citation needed] Special Features include the film's theatrical trailer; music videos for "I Will Follow Him" by Deloris and the Sisters, and "If My Sister's in Trouble" by Lady Soul, both of which contain clips from the film; and a featurette titled "Inside Sister Act: The Making Of".[citation needed]
The all-region Blu-ray including both films was released on June 19, 2012, with both films presented in 1080p. The three-disc set also includes both films on DVD with the same bonus features as previous releases.[34]
Musical
A musical based on the film played at The Broadway Theatre in Times Square, Manhattan, beginning in 2011.
The musical Sister Act, directed by Peter Schneider and choreographed by Marguerite Derricks, premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California on October 24, 2006, and closed on December 23, 2006.[35] It broke records, grossing $1,085,929 to become the highest grossing show ever at the venue.[36] The production then moved to the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, where it ran from January 17 to February 25, 2007.[37]
The musical then opened in the West End at the London Palladium on June 2, 2009, following previews from May 7. The production was directed by Peter Schneider, produced by Whoopi Goldberg together with the Dutch company Stage Entertainment, and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast, with set design by Klara Zieglerova, costume design by Lez Brotherston and lighting design by Natasha Katz.[38][39] Following a year-long search, 24-year-old actress Patina Miller was cast as Deloris, alongside Sheila Hancock as the Mother Superior, Ian Lavender as Monsignor Howard, Chris Jarman as Shank, Ako Mitchell as Eddie, Katie Rowley Jones as Sister Mary Robert, Claire Greenway as Sister Mary Patrick and Julia Sutton as Sister Mary Lazarus.[40] The musical received four Laurence Olivier Awards nominations, including Best Musical.[41] On October 30, 2010, the show played its final performance at the London Palladium and transferred to Broadway.[42]
The musical opened at the Broadway Theatre on April 20, 2011, with previews beginning March 24, 2011.[43]Jerry Zaks directed the Broadway production[44] with Douglas Carter Beane rewriting the book.[45] Miller, who originated the role of Deloris in the West End production, reprised her role, making her Broadway debut. She was replaced by Raven-Symoné, also making her Broadway debut. The original Broadway cast featured Victoria Clark (Mother Superior), Fred Applegate (Monsignor), Sarah Bolt (Sister Mary Patrick), Chester Gregory (Eddie), Kingsley Leggs (Curtis), Marla Mindelle (Sister Mary Robert) and Audrie Neenan (Sister Mary Lazarus).[46] The musical received five Tony Award nominations including Best Musical.[47]
The musical closed, in August 2012, after 561 performances.[48]
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