Movies with Catholic priests as characters

by Fr. John Granato  |  04/28/2024  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

Last week we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday. Today, April 28th, is the anniversary of the 18th year of my priestly ordination, the feast day of St. Peter Chanel and St. Louis de Montfort. Reflecting on my priesthood and through coincidence only, I have been watching a few movies with Catholic priests as characters. It got me to think about all the great movies with great performances of actors playing priests.

The three movies I recently watched were I Confess with Montgomery Clift playing a priest falsely accused of murder who knows who the real killer is because the killer confessed to him in the confessional. I also watched one of my favorite movies, Angels with Dirty Faces, where Pat O’Brien pays a boyhood friend to James Cagney. Cagney went to reform school and became a hardened criminal and Pat O’Brien became a priest. The third movie was On the Waterfront, where Karl Malden played a priest helping Marlon Brando on the docks; three great movies with three great portrayals of priests.

There are other movies throughout the years with actors playing priests. Gregory Peck played a priest in The Keys to the Kingdom, and The Scarlet and the Black. William Holden played a priest in the war movie, Satan Never Sleeps, directed by Leo McCarey. McCarey also directed Bing Crosby on his two priest roles, Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s. Going My Way also had the great Barry Fitzgerald in the role of the elderly priest. Ward Bond played a priest in John Ford’s, The Quiet Man. Ford also directed Henry Ford as a priest in the movie, The Fugitive. Pat O’Brien, from Angels with Dirty Faces, also played a priest in two other movies; The Fighting 69th, and Fighting Father Dunne. Another one of my favorites is Charles Coburn who played a priest in John Wayne’s movie, Trouble along the Way. Of course Spencer Tracy also played a priest in Boy’s Town, Men of Boy’s Town, San Francisco and The Devil at 4 O’clock. Max von Sydow and Jason Miller portrayed priests in The Exorcist. Richard Burton played a priest in the awful sequel, The Exorcist II: The Heretic, as well as playing a saintly priest, Thomas Becket, in the movie Becket. Ed Flanders played the priest in Exorcist III, with a small role from great British actor, Nicol Williamson, who played the exorcist in the same movie. James Earl Jones played a priest in the more recent pro-life movie, Gimme Shelter. Robert De Niro played a priest in a few movies; True Confessions, Sleepers, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons played priests in The Mission, and Raul Julia played the saint, Oscar Romero in the movie, Romero. Brendan Gleeson played a fascinating portrayal of a priest in Calvary. And Jack Lemmon played a priest in Mass Appeal. Jack Lemmon is a fantastic actor, and he did a marvelous job in this movie, despite the movie being on a more progressive agenda driven focus.

I’m sure I missed some movies and even television miniseries where the character of a priest plays a major role. And of course there are also many movies especially in recent years, where the priests are portrayed in a very negative light. God bless.