Classic Christian Film Month Checks out The Cross and the Switchblade

The Cross and the Switchblade (1970)
It’s tough to watch old films about youth gangs without snickering. West Side Story is a wonderful musical, but watching those tough guys do ballet steps in the marvelous opening scene makes the average moviegoer giggle. Through the years 1970's pioneering Christian film The Cross and the Switchblade has been the recipient of much mockery. Deservingly so.

The first of only three films directed by actor Don Murray (who earned some cult cred by playing Governor Breck in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Bushnell Mullins in the reboot of Twin Peaks.), it tells the true story of a small-town preacher, David Wilkerson, who went to Brooklyn in 1958 to minister to the gangs. Wilkerson served as a technical advisor on the film. (The film opens with a word from the producer warning that you might find this story “unbelievable” but assuring us it’s true.)

In spite of its status as nonfiction, some aspects make for difficult serious viewing now, starting with the casting of Pat Boone as Wilkerson. In many ways, that casting makes good sense. Wilkerson is supposed to look clean-cut and out of place, but with Boone, we’re getting the very personification of clean-cut. The man made commercials extolling the virtues of milk and was known for making rock’n’roll “safe for the young people." He really seems like a nice guy but isn’t the greatest thespian (though there is no greater admirer of his work in Journey to the Center of the Earth than 6-year-old me). Nonetheless (at least according to Wikipedia), Boone worked hard to get David Wilkerson's book made into a movie.

Making his screen debut in this film is Erik Estrada as Nicky Cruz, the roughest of the rough, the second in command of the Mau-Mau gang. It’s difficult for audiences of a certain age to not think of Ponch, the motorcycle officer from the long-running series CHiPs. He went on to play the role of Erik Estrada in movies like Van Wilder and shows like My Name is Earl.

Everything in the film looks much cleaner than one would expect, and the gangs seem much better dressed than I expect. Wilkerson encounters street people with cute names like Little Bo, Bottle Cap, Mingo, Augie, and Big Cat (the leader of the Bishops, the Mau Maus' African American rival gang).

A common complaint about Christian films that deal with a criminal element is that the language is kept pure, and it is rather jarring to hear a gang member exclaim, “Aw, shucks!” The same complaint might be made about films about young thugs (such as Blackboard Jungle) made while the Motion Picture Production Code (the Hays Code) was still in effect. In this film, there's an attempt to give a flavor of rough language in the film. When Nicky asks a fellow gang member why the preacher seems to have picked him out for special attention, his friend responds, “Because you’re the worst, craziest bastard there is. If he can reach you, he can reach anybody.” This “B” word is used at least twice in the film, along with a scattering of “damn”s. This must have come as quite a shot to those who were watching 16mm prints of this film in churches during the seventies, but verisimilitude is still an issue here.

The soundtrack by Ralph Carmichael (who provided the soundtracks for many of Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures) is not very representative of the time or place. It often sounds more like the background music in TV shows like The Brady Bunch or Dragnet, when a “rock” album would be playing at a party (without any vocals).

But fortunately, this blog doesn't exist to review the films, but to review the clergy and churches in films. And the Reverend David Wilkerson (as portrayed in this film, certainly) was a very admirable man. He is literally willing to give the shoes off his feet. The film shows his passion for young people in gangs and on the streets of New York City. He left a comfortable ministry in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, to serve the impoverished youth of New York City. His ministry had an impact on gangs and young people struggling with addiction.

He managed to preach effectively on the streets of New York City (sometimes with, and sometimes without the support of local law enforcement). “I’m just a country preacher 300 miles from home. Is there anything in your life you’d like to change? You got hate sticking out of your eyes. You pretend you don’t want anyone to touch you, but inside you’re crying out for love. Pray with me that the Holy Spirit will come into your heart and make you a new man.” In another street sermon, he says, “May I say something? There is someone who loves you very much, He knows about the drinking and the marijuana and He knows what you’re looking for when you’re playing with sex. You guys talk about getting high, He’ll get you high but He won’t let you down.”

He clearly assures the gang members, addicts, and homeless that they are loved by Jesus.

We also see Wilkerson accepted (and housed) by a Hispanic church fellowship when they discover he has been sleeping on the streets of New York in his car. They are quite surprised to find him, “What miracle brings such a fine young man to our troubled streets?” asks the pastor. That same congregation takes in a young woman, Rosa (Jacqueline Giroux), to detox from her heroin addiction.

The end credits note that Wilkerson went on to found Teen Challenge, an organization that continues to help people deal with alcohol and drug addictions. (I currently work in this field, and I should note that the organization continues to do fine work.)

So Wilkerson and the churches that support him receive our highest Movie Churches rating of Four Steeples.

Is it just me or does Gil Frazier as Big Cat look a lot like a young Samuel L. Jackson?

In Theaters Now

God's Not Dead 2

When you start out having theological problems with film's title, you can guess there will be more trouble to come. The first film was, of course, God's Not Dead, which is fine. But for the sequel they added a problematic numeral. Because with Twitter and texting, one might look at "2" as "too" and then one wonders who besides God is not dead. However, it is a much better title than God's Not Too Dead.

But what am I doing even discussing the title? We here at Movie Churches aren't reviewing films, let alone titles; we are here to talk about how the Church is portrayed in films.

We certainly aren't here to discuss how films portray the educational system, because if we were we'd have too much to write about with this movie. You see, the protagonist of the film, Grace Westley, is a high school history teacher. We see her giving her A.P. History class a lecture on Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My daughter, who took A.P. History classes, told me there was a problem already with this premise, because an advanced placement class on World History might be studying Gandhi and a class studying United States history might study King... but why would they studying both?

The plot kicks in when a student asks if the teachings and tactics of these two men have any relationship to the teachings of Jesus. The teacher (played by Melissa Joan Hart, Sabrina the Teenage Witch) quotes the Sermon on the Mount. A student records this with a phone, and there is a furor about Christ being brought in the classroom. Again, my daughters, who are much closer to high school than I am, pointed out that a teacher is much more likely to get fired for not mentioning that a major world religion and religious text influenced history, than for mentioning them. That's the kind of question that tends to end up on Advanced Placement exams. The school board in the film is trying to keep the keep any mention of religion completely out of the classroom, when in the real world educational standards require teaching about all the major religions. So the central issue of this film just wouldn't be a thing. The sad thing is that there are many issues of religious freedom and freedom of speech in schools, but this isn't one of them.

But as I said, I'm writing about churches, not schools. I'm also not writing about the judicial system. In the film, the teacher is suspended without pay for mentioning Jesus in class. The teacher's union, of course, has no problem with this. And yet somehow parents of one of the students sue over this issue. And apparently, the school and the parents are somehow on the same side of the case, because there is so much money to be made from suing a high school history teacher who lives with her grandfather (Pat Boone). One would perhaps think this issue would go to arbitration. Instead it goes immediately to a full jury trial, because they must have run out of civil and criminal cases in this part of Arkansas. There are many cases in the courts these days relating to religious freedom, but the film makers would probably have had to deal with complex issues such as same sex marriage or contraception. They might also have had to show the complexity of two sides that have legitimate concerns rather than Good vs. Straw Man Evil.

But, again, I'm writing about churches, not the courts. I'm certainly not writing about the bizarre travel habits of people in the film. For instance, a pastor, Rev. Dave, is in his office. Without notice, his friend from Africa, Rev. Jude, drops by asking if he can stay while he studies for his doctorate. A similar thing happens later in the film when a father travels from China to see his son in his college dorm. Neither of these men bothers to phone, write, or text before traveling over the seas for a visit.

No. I'm writing about the way the church is presented in the film, and, even more mysteriously, the church not seen in the film. As for the church seen, Rev. Dave is back from the first film, and we are still given no indication of what denomination he is a part of or what he does with his day. We do learn that he preaches, because he receives a subpoena from the city to submit his sermons. He refuses. (This may be the basis for God's Not Dead 3. We are given this clue for a sequel in a post credits sequence. About the only way this is like a Marvel Comics film is that it has a post credits sequence.)

More interesting is the church not seen in the film. We never see a pastor visit Grace, even though her life is upheaval because of this lawsuit. We never see anyone from her church visit. The only spiritual support Grace seems get is from her grandfather, Pat Boone. (Grace says her parents weren't Christians, but her grandfather definitely is. Go figure.) Oh, and that student whose parents bring the lawsuit? The girl just became a Christian, yet she already knows all the lyrics of "How GreatThou Art" and goes to Grace's house to sing on her doorstep.

So we're giving the church we see and the church we don't see in this film an average steeple grade of 2. (Here's hoping that if there is another sequel, it will raise the rating to 3.)