Sister Act | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Emile Ardolino |
Produced by |
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Written by | Joseph Howard |
Starring | |
Music by | Marc Shaiman |
Cinematography | Adam Greenberg |
Edited by |
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Production
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Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. |
Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $31 million |
Box office | $231.6 million |
Sister Act is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Joseph Howard. Featuring musical arrangements by Marc Shaiman, the film stars Whoopi Goldberg as a Reno lounge singer who has been put under protective custody in a San Francisco convent of Poor Clares and has to pretend to be a nun when a mob boss puts her on his hit list. Also in the cast are Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makkena, Mary Wickes, and Harvey Keitel.
One of the most financially successful comedies of the early 1990s, grossing $231 million worldwide, the film was rated #83 on Bravo's The 100 Funniest Movies list.
It spawned a 1993 sequel, entitled Back in the Habit, and a musical adaptation that premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, in 2006, and opened at the West End's London Palladium with previews from May 7, 2009. The musical then opened on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre in April 2011, with previews beginning March 24, 2011.
The film opens in 1968 at St. Anne's Academy, a California Roman Catholic school, where a young girl named Deloris Wilson is scolded by Sister Immaculata (Lois de Banzie) for wisecracking and disobedience. The setting then changes to the present day, where Deloris (now going by the surname Van Cartier) is a lounge singer in a 1960s-themed act called The Ronelles (a parody of The Ronettes), who sing at The Moonlite Lounge of the Nevada Club in Reno, Nevada, run by her boyfriend, the mobster Vince LaRocca. After Deloris walks in on Vince having his chauffeur Ernie executed for betrayal, Vince orders his two henchmen Joey and Willy to kill her as well. Deloris flees Vince's casino to the local police station where Lieutenant Eddie Souther suggests she testify against Vince if he can be arrested and tried, but for now, she should go into witness protection until the time comes.