Monsignor (1982)

Memorable, crazy movie

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

***SPOILERS*** Not too convincing film about a hot shot and well intentioned priest who gets in over his heed in trying to saved his beloved Catholic Church from going bankrupt.The Second World War is soon to be over and the Catholic Church has suffered major financial losses because of it. American priest Father John Flaherthy, Christopher Reeve, comes up with this master plan to save the church but there's just one hitch: It involves the Mafia who's the only one who can make it happen. Getting involved with his childhood friend-from Brooklyn NY- Lodo Varese, Joseph Cartese, a master sergeant in the US Army Father John has Lodo through his Mafia and black market connections sell thousands of cartons of cigarettes from the Vatican commissary, that Father John is the administrator of, for a mark up of over 400%. The very naive Father John thinks that his friend Lodo together with his Mafia boss Don Vito "the Apple" Appolini, Jason Miller, will be as honest about this strange arrangement that he cooked up in secretly saving the church as he is.While all this is going on Father John, using the alias of US Army Lt. Finnigen, gets involved with the not yet confirmed Catholic nun Clara Genevieve Bjold, whom he rescued from getting drenched from a sudden downpour with her fellow nuns while driving his army jeep. In a matter of days the very handsome Father John, or Lt . Finnigen, had the impressionable Clara, who thought that he was a black marketeer, have an affair with him. Thinking that she was involved with a corrupt US Army solider not a Catholic priest, or Monsignor which he was at the time, Clara flipped out when she saw Father John at a ceremony at the Vatican together with his mentor Cardinal Santoni, Fernando Rey, and the Holy Father himself the Pope played by Leonardo Cimino!Father John not knowing what to say later, while in Church praying for forgiveness, let himself have it, by being sapped around,by an outraged Clara who accused him of ruining her, as well as his, life! The relationship between Father John, a CPA before he entered the church, and his good friend Lodo also started to sour with Lodo taking off with some 40 million dollars of the church's money as well as losing over 600 million dollars playing the very speculative currency markets.***SPOILER ALERT*** The mad as hell Don Vito who's money, in connection with the Catholic Church, Lodo also ripped off has a hit put out on him which a tearful Father John begs him to put off. This turned out to be about the only good thing that Father John did in the movie and even that backfired on him!Insulting, especially to Roman Catholics, in how the movie treats members of the clothe by making them look worse then the hoods and gangsters that their shown to be working with. Christopher Reeve as the corrupt Father John is anything but sympathetic in his being so obsessed with both money and sex, as well as power, that whatever good there was in him quickly evaporated within the first ten minutes of the movie. Even though Father John's attempt to save the Catholic Church from going bankrupt was in the end successful his methods were anything but Christ-like. Which made you wonder if, in the movie, with the underhanded and sleazy tactics that Father John used to save it was in fact worth saving at all!

I caught this movie the other night after seeing it many years ago. As a Catholic, movies about the Church don't bother me, they bore me. This film is just a poor film that exploits tired clichés about the Church (the Vatican Bank is run by the Mafia, the Pope, cardinals or anyone who works at the Vatican are corrupt, etc.). It's the equivalent of watching a movie about accountants (of which I am one) and they portray all accountants as boring, unfunny, etc. All this movie does is waste perfectly good film. Compared tothis, Plan 9 From Outer Space should have won an Oscar. Back in the time period of the film, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church would never have worn the expensive suits/street clothes that Christopher Reeve wore. They would not have been allowed. The whole movie was far-fetched. Hollywood loves to portray the Church in a negative light and they did so with this one.

I had never heard of this movie but thought I would spend the 2 hours watching it. I was very disappointed. The acting, including Christopher Reeves was very disappointing. Many times throughout the movie the sound seemed impossible to hear clearly what was being said, so it made the movie hard to follow. I am surprised that the catholic church didn't object to this movie, it paints the catholic church and the Vatican in very poor light. The plot line left much to be desired as well. The entire movie did not fit well.... I believe there was suppose to be time lapses, but they are never explained and it leaves you scratching your head wondering what is going on. This movie is not worth the 2 hours to watch it.

The tag-line for this film begins "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned". And that's not so much being said by the protagonist of "Monsignor" but by the director, actors, writers, best boys, gaffers, caterers and the guys who swept the floor afterwards on this disaster.As the "Monsignor" of the title, Christopher Reeve plays a man who moves his way up through the Catholic church through dubious means - murder, theft, the Black Market during WWII... you know, the usual stuff. And there's even enough time for him to seduce a nun (Bujold)!I know next to nothing about Catholicism, so I cannot say what if any of this kind of activity holds any validity. But what does this mean: that those involved in the Vatican's business affairs are only bookkeepers who work under the guise of religion for otherwise nefarious means? I'd hope not, but this movie seems to think otherwise.Reeve is a good actor, always will be. What he saw in this kind of film is beyond me. Maybe he thought (like Faye Dunaway did in "Mommie Dearest") that something so broad and unimaginably coarse could only be played as a comedy, so why not just go with the flow?And if he thought that, he was right! "Monsignor" has scenes that play as out-and-out comedy; never have you seen so many (unintentional?) sight gags in your life, and the stony faces that permeate this film might make you believe that Buster Keaton must have been a busy man at one time or another.So, "Monsignor" is a bad film, but it's also good for one of those nights when you have a few friends over, a few beers, lots of popcorn and nothing better to do than have a few laughs at someone else's expense.Those involved in organized religion, say.Two stars. Eight if you're an agnostic.