Mass Appeal - 1984

An unbelievable surprise. 5 stars. Available on instant NF Jack Lemmon plays Father Farley- a seasoned catholic priest who has life figured out. He knows what to say to this congregation, he knows how to please the monsignor Burke (played excellently by actor Charles Durning- who just passed away this month), he knows how to put people off and cancel appointments but done in a way that they are not offended- in summary he is a polished priest who can play the game as good as anyone. He knows that if he delivers a sermon that doesn't offend anyone, the contributions will continue to come from the parishioners. He also has a drinking problem that people overlook because he is such a lovable guy. In fact his followers provide him the wine! Life changes for Father Farley when he is suddenly given the assignment of mentoring young Mark Dolson- a student in the nearby seminary and a newly made Deacon in the Catholic Church. Dolson is outspoken. Monsignor Burke does not like him at all, and believes he is gay actually. Farley is given the assignment to mentor Dolson for one month, if he can fix him, then Dolson can graduate, otherwise he is kicked out of the seminary right before he would have graduated during his last year. Farley wants to help him and see the light so to speak- he knows he is a rough stone and belives he can fix him. Farley actually asks Burke for a chance to help the student, as Burke is ready to kick him out of school. Farley is overwhelmed with how much Dolson needs to learn, and sets out to teach him the ways of the trade. In the end, Farley is the one that needed to change and Dolson was the vehicle to teach him. This movie makes me think about a lot of things. Youth can be very powerful teachers- they can reach to all kinds of people despite age differences. Think about missionaries in our church. Think about people at work that our young and make a difference. In the end Father Farley must choose to start being honest with himself, and preach from his heart with the risk of losing friends and parishioners, or to continue on playing the game that will keep him safe and loved by all who know him. Basically treading lightly in order not to offend. There were a lot of parallels here for life- the movie used the Catholic Church as the set up- but everything in this movie applies to real life. One of Lemmon’s best performances. The only thing that kept it out of my top 100 list is I would have liked to see a different actor play Dolson- he just did a B job for me. (Zeljko Ivanek is the actor's name)