Directed by:
Glenn JordanScreenplay:
Bill C. DavisCinematography:
Donald PetermanCast:
Jack Lemmon, Željko Ivanek, Charles Durning, Gloria Stuart, Talia Balsam, Jerry Hardin, Louise Latham, Lois De Banzie, Noni White, F. William Parker (more)Plots(1)
Jack Lemmon stars in Mass Appeal as a popular Los Angeles parish priest, who has retained the good will of his parishioners by cracking jokes and never taking a stand on crucial matters. Enter young seminarian Zeljko Ivanek, whose rebellious reputation threatens to earn him an expulsion. Lemmon is expected to bring Ivanek around to the Church's "party line," but the younger man resists the older man's advice--quite loudly at times. The audience is fully aware that, by film's end, Ivanek will have converted Lemmon instead of the other way around, but the sheer joy of watching two superb actors at work transcends the story's predictability. Mass Appeal was based on a play by Bill C. Davis, and produced by none other than the widow of McDonalds mogul Ray Kroc. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Jack Lemmon
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
JFK (1991)
The Apartment (1960)
Željko Ivanek
Yugoslavia
Best movies:
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Dogville (2003)
Charles Durning
USA
Best movies:
The Sting (1973)
Tootsie (1982)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Gloria Stuart
USA
Best movies:
Titanic (1997)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933)
Talia Balsam
USA
Best movies:
Mass Appeal (1984)
The Cake Eaters (2007)
Conviction (2010)
Jerry Hardin
USA
Best movies:
The X-Files – File 6: Master Plan (1996) (video compilation)
The X Files: One Son (1999) (video compilation)
Honkytonk Man (1982)
Louise Latham
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Columbo (1971) (series)
Mass Appeal (1984)
Lois De Banzie
UK
Best movies:
Tootsie (1982)
The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)
Mass Appeal (1984)
Noni White
Best movies:
Mass Appeal (1984)
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
The Man Who Loved Women (1983)
F. William Parker
USA
Best movies:
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Lost Highway (1997)
Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (series)
Alice Hirson
USA
Best movies:
If Tomorrow Comes (1986) (series)
Being There (1979)
Mass Appeal (1984)
Ann Nelson
USA
Best movies:
Airplane! (1980)
Mass Appeal (1984)
The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Helene Heigh
USA
Best movies:
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Easter Parade (1948)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
John C. Becher
USA
Best movies:
The Wrong Man (1956)
The Man Who Wasn't There (1983)
The Odd Couple (1968)
John Vargas
USA
Best movies:
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Mass Appeal (1984)
Perfect Couple (1998)
Suzanne Kent
Best movies:
Mass Appeal (1984)
Middle Men (2009)
History of the World: Part I (1981)
R.J. Williams
USA
Best movies:
Mass Appeal (1984)
A Man of Passion (1989)
Windmills of the Gods (1988) (TV movie)
Maggie Gwinn
Best movies:
La Bamba (1987)
Mass Appeal (1984)
Out of Bounds (1986)