Main Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger, Tammy Grimes
Release Year: 1979
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Director Stanley Kramer ended his career with this absorbing drama, adapted from the play by Milan Stitt and based on a real-life event from 1927. Dick Van Dyke stars as Father Rivard, an intellectual priest in a small, impoverished mining town in the state of Washington. A lonely man with low self-esteem, Rivard is depressed by the arduous and dreary lives of his flock, until the arrival of Sister Rita (Kathleen Quinlan), a bright, spirited young nun who joins his parish to teach at its school. Rita appreciates Rivard on a level that few others in the community can, and soon the priest falls in love with her. But when Sister Rita is murdered, Rivard's infatuation is revealed and the love-struck priest is put on trial. Only Rivard's housekeeper, Mrs. Shandig (Maureen Stapleton), knows the truth about Sister Rita's death. Kramer broke up the staginess of his source material by structuring The Runner Stumbles (1979) into three acts that unfold not sequentially but simultaneously, revealing Rivard's developing relationship with Rita, his prison stint, and his murder trial all at the same time. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
Those who feel that the films of Stanley Kramer are more interested in getting a message across than in obeying the niceties of cinematic drama will not have their minds changed by The Runner Stumbles, a late Kramer work that lays things on a bit heavily. An interesting choice, however, has been made in the manner in which the screenplay has been shaped, jumbling the sequence of events from its traditional three-act structure into a succession of flashbacks that manage to keep the viewer guessing. Ultimately, though, the gimmick wears thin and the staginess of the original material still seeps through; combined with the ponderousness of the material, this helps to keep the film from ever becoming the intellectual yet moving drama it wants to be. The blame certainly doesn't rest with the cast, as Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, and (especially) Maureen Stapleton all contribute finely honed portraits that manage to rise above the stereotypes that threaten to drag their characters down. This Runner definitely stumbles, but the cast keeps it from falling. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Beau Bridges - Toby; Allen Nause - Prosecutor; John Procaccino - Amos; Sister Marguerite Morrissey - Sister Immaculata; Zoaunne Le Roy - Sister Martha; Don Riley - Maurice; Ted D'Arms - Sheriff; Kendall Kay Munsey - Louise; Casey Kramer - Marie; Jim Doyle - Matt Webber; Katharine Kramer - Sophie; Bill Dore - Judge; Jock Dove - Dr. McNabb; Larry Buck - Fire Chief; Billy Jayne - James
Credit
Craig Huston - First Assistant Director, Stanley Kramer - Director, Frank Kramer - Director, Pembroke J. Herring - Editor, Melvin Simon - Executive Producer, Ernest Gold - Composer (Music Score), Alfred Sweeney - Production Designer, Laszlo Kovacs - Cinematographer, Stanley Kramer - Producer, Melvin Simon - Producer, James Pilcher - Sound/Sound Designer, Milan Stitt - Screenwriter, Milan Stitt - Play Author
The film is set in 1911 at a Roman Catholic parish in a rural town in Solon, Michigan. Sister Rita (Kathleen Quinlan), a young nun, arrives at the parish to help run the church school. When the parish’s two elderly nuns contract tuberculosis, Sister Rita is forced to move into the rectory that is home to Father Rivard (Dick Van Dyke), the parish priest. The close proximity between the two begins to set off gossip and suspicions, to the point that a monsignor from the diocese (Ray Bolger) comes to give Father Rivard a talking-to. The gossip turns out to be correct, as the priest and the nun confess their love for each other. However, their declaration of emotion leads to tragedy.[1]
Reception
The Runner Stumbles opened to mixed-to-negative reviews. Janet Maslin, writing in The New York Times, complained: “The movie's ethics are...so hazy, and its attention to religion so perfunctory, that it almost seems as if this were a story about something else that had been transferred, as an afterthought, to a Church setting...Mr. Kramer treats the film's religious questions as afterthoughts, and too often achieves a dispirited, noncommittal tone.”[2]
Roger Ebert, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, considered the film to be “a little silly,” but added that “in its relentlessly old-fashioned way, "The Runner Stumbles" has a sort of dramatic persistence: It's not great, but it's there.”[3]Variety criticized the film for being “presented in such a way that, at times, it appears like the best of the old-fashioned 1940s tear jerkers complete with overly lush sound track.”[4]
The Runner Stumbles was not commercially successful and it turned out to be the last film directed by Stanley Kramer. The film had a brief VHS video release, but to date it has not been released on DVD.
UK Premiere (Theatre)
On Wednesday 21st October 2009, 'The Runner Stumbles' had its UK Premiere at 'The Crescent Theatre' in Birmingham. It was the first time the play had been performed outside of America. The play was presented by the Birmingham School of Acting Theatre Company and directed by Lise Olson with Music by Andy Ingamells, Lighting by Jo Dawson, Sound by Charlie Horne and Designed by David Crisp. The play runs at 'The Crescent Theatre' in the Ron Barber Studio until Saturday 24th October 2009.
The original UK cast:
Father Rivard: Phil Duguid-Mcquillan Sister Rita: Jenny Palmer Mrs Shandig: Katie Salt Toby: Olly Arnett Monsignor: Kevin Varty Prosecutor/Amos: Adrian Banks Erna/Louise: Joy Mcdermott
