Leap of Faith (film)
| Leap of Faith | |
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Original theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Richard Pearce |
| Produced by |
Michael Manheim David V. Picker |
| Written by | Janus Cercone |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Cliff Eidelman |
| Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
| Edited by |
John F. Burnett Mark Warner Don Zimmerman |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $23.4 million |
Leap of Faith is a 1992 American comedy-drama film directed by Richard Pearce and starring Steve Martin, Debra Winger, Lolita Davidovich, Liam Neeson, and Lukas Haas. The film is about Jonas Nightengale, a fraudulent Christian faith healer who uses his revival meetings, in Rustwater, Kansas, to milk believers out of their money.
Jonas Nightengale (Steve Martin), a faith healer, makes a living traveling across America holding tent revival meetings and conducting purported "miracles". He is helped by his friend and manager Jane Larson (Debra Winger) and an entourage of fellow con artists.
Their bus breaks down in fictional Rustwater, Kansas, a town with a 27 percent unemployment rate that is in desperate need of rain to save its crops. Learning they will be stuck in Rustwater for days waiting for replacement parts to come in for one of the many big trucks of their fleet, Jonas decides, in an effort to cut some of their losses while the truck is being repaired, to hold revival meetings despite the town's small size. Early on Jonas meets Marva, a waitress in a local café. She rebuffs his persistent advances.
Local sheriff Will Braverman (Liam Neeson) is skeptical and tries to prevent his townspeople from being conned out of what little money they do have. First, he engages in some legal harassment, sending all of the city and county inspectors to examine his facilities. After seeing the excessive pageantry of the first show and the counting of money by the team on Jonas' tour bus, Braverman decides to investigate Jonas' past. He learns that Jonas, claiming to have been born in a humble log cabin in the Appalachians, is in fact Jack Newton, a native of New York City. Between the age of 15 and 18 he lived a life of crime, including petty theft and drug possession. Braverman shares this information with the townspeople who have gathered for another tent revival. Jonas storms off the stage, soon returning to successfully spin Braverman's report, leaving the crowd more energized than ever, much to Braverman's exasperation.
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