Leap of Faith (film)

Steve Martin, in rare non-comedic turn, plays Jonas Nightengale, a cynical con man who makes his living as a travelling revivalist preacher. When his convoy breaks down in a depressed small town in Kansas, Nightengale decides to set up his revival there, over the protests of the local sheriff, who sees through his act and wants to protect the town. He has little trouble winning over the local population, but starts to find himself affected by their naive faith.

It was adapted into a Broadway musical, which earned unfavorable reviews from critics but still earned a Tony nomination for Best Musical.

"Jane: You really don't care about anything but yourself, do you? Jonas: Oh, Jane, I never pretended I did."
 * Cold Reading: Jonas is an expert at this. It's a big part of his miracle act.
 * Celebrity Paradox: Meat Loaf plays one of the support crew for the revival show. In one scene, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is clearly heard playing over the radio.
 * Establishing Character Moment: Nightengale gets one in the very first scene when his bus is pulled over for speeding, without registration or insurance. He casually starts chatting with the cop and cold reads him. He figures out that the cop is divorced and taunts him about it until he gets arrested. He also figures out the cop has an estranged daughter (and even guesses her name). He convinces the cop to reconcile with his daughter, and walks away free. The cop even makes a donation.
 * Fair Cop: The sheriff is played by a young Liam Neeson.
 * Freudian Excuse: We find out that Jonas was abandoned by his mother when he was a child and stood on a street corner for three days waiting for her to return (this is implied to be the source of his disillusionment with God). Jane points out that, given his past, being a quasi-dishonest preacher is hardly the worst thing he could be doing.
 * Gospel Choirs Are Just Better: Nightengale's "Angels of Mercy" are a key part of the show.
 * Ironic Echo: "What difference does it make as long as you get the job done?"
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nightengale consistently claims that he only cares about his own interests, but he's careful to only say things that bring comfort. He seems to be deeply troubled when it's suggested that he might actually be hurting someone, but refuses to admit it.


 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: The whole revival show was a deliberate take on televangelist Peter Popoff, who used similar tactics to fake miracles in his show.
 * Phony Psychic: A variant on this. Jonas presents himself as a Christian preacher, and claims his readings are miracles. In fact, they're based on a combination of spies, signals, cold reading, placebo effects and a lot of flash and drama.
 * Preacher Man: An interesting variation. Jonas is an unapologetic con man, implied to be an atheist who does his act for the money. On the other hand, he's bringing a good show to a remote town and sharing a lot of worthy sentiments, and so feels he isn't hurting anyone (at least at first).
 * Refuge in Audacity: See the Establishing Character Moment entry.
 * Scam Religion: Nightengale knows perfectly well that he's only a Con Man, but that doesn't stop people from having faith.
 * Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Will, the local sheriff, spends the whole film trying to protect his community from being taken in by a con man. Even Nightengale seems to respect him.