Reviews and Critical Commentary from 1972:

“Promises to be the most talked about movie of the season.  Marjoe explodes on the screen with a magnetic force one rarely encounters.  The result is an all-together mesmerizing film.” --- Kathleen Carroll, New York Daily News

“A wonderful work.  I left Marjoe grateful for an absorbing film and convinced, ironically, that I had been in the presence of a truly amazing grace, a wonder and a mystery.” --- Richard Schickel, Life Magazine

“A terrific movie, a fantastic film, Marjoe is a charismatic real-life young man --- a kind of Mick Jagger-Rudoph Nureyev.” --- Liz Smith, Cosmopolitan

“Well bless my soul, the Reverend Marjoe Gortner, evangelism’s answer to Mick Jagger, is not a figment of some screenwriter’s imagination…[He] is the star of a no-holds-barred documentary that bears his name.” --- Grace Lichtenstein, The New York Times

“Watch the large screen burst into glittering reality.  A striking example of intelligent cinema verite.  It is NOW.” --- Judith Crist, New York Magazine

“I love it!  Absolutely spellbinding.  A fascinating pip!” ---Stewart Klein, WNEW-TV

“It practically annihilates you.  Move over Mick Jagger.” --- Leo Lerman, Mademoiselle

“Marjoe is freaked-out Sinclair Lewis; a funny, brilliant, entertaining and ultimately awesome documentary that strips away the hypocrisy, sham and charlatanism of the religious revival-tent industry and reveals it for the fraud it really is….a charming con artist with red Brillo hair, eel hips and Huck Finn smile who rattles jive talk about salvation, baptism and the Holy host.  Call him Elvis Gantry.” --- Rex Reed, New York Daily News

“Amen.  And right on, Marjoe!” --- Jeffrey Lyons, WPIX-TV

“Not since Spencer Tracey has the screen presented such a spellbinding Jekyll and Hyde.  Marjoe is already a superstar.” --- Paul Zimmerman, Newseeek

“An electric, enthralling picture.” ---Bernard Drew, Gannett Newspapers

“Marjoe is a miracle of a non-fiction film.  More fun than an up, down, or mind-expanding drug.  Marjoe is quite a trip.” --- Robert Friedan, Interview

“Marjoe is both electrifying pop art and savage sociology.  A razzle-dazzle feature.” --- Bruce Williamson, Playboy

“An impressive achievement.  Deceptively hilarious.  An outrageous and ultimately deeply disturbing black comedy.” --- Amos Vogel, Village Voice

“A major look at one slice of Americana, both fascinating and horrifying.  A wild journey into bizarre territory.” --- William Wolf, Cue

“One of the year’s most provocative movies, a tragic-comic study of the worship of style without substance.” --- Joseph Gelmis, Newsday