Ever since the mid ‘80s, Robert Duvall had wanted to produce The Apostle. However, considering every Hollywood studio had declined to take a chance on such an unconventional picture, the film did not adorn the theatres until 1997—when Duvall dug into his own pocket to finance the project.
Writer, director, and star, Robert Duvall, has created a rare and exceptional character study of a truly humble, yet at times troubled, human-being. With Duvall’s energetic sermons and documentary-like direction, The Apostle cradles the ambiance of Say Amen, Somebody; all the while, it grasps its unadulterated originality with a darn-good dose of drama.
The film begins in 1939, as we watch a young Texan boy sit and listen to the Pentecostal praises of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. Fast-forward nearly six decades later and we discover the same young boy – now an aging preacher – named Euliss Dewey (Robert Duvall)—whom everyone calls “Sonny.” Sonny typically spends every waking hour at the mercy of the Lord. Be it leading revivals throughout the Deep South, or cooking up some Southern Gospel gusto for his very own Texan congregation, Sonny takes great pride in his work as an Evangelist.
Because Sonny spends so much time serving the Lord and spreading His Word, his wife Jessie (Farrah Fawcett) justifies her decision to commit adultery with a much younger minister of the faith named Horace (Todd Allen). Sonny becomes aware of the affair, but before he can act on this knowledge, Jessie finds a loophole in the church’s regulations and deprives him of both his church and his job. In a state of bitter rage, Sonny clubs Horace in the head with a baseball bat—leaving his wife’s new man comatose. After attacking Horace, Sonny fakes his death, and flees to wherever the Lord chooses to lead him.
Following a self-baptism and a change of name from Sonny to “The Apostle E.F.,” the distraught preacher arrives in the little town of Bayou Boutte, Louisiana. There, he meets a retired minister named C. Charles Blackwell (John Beasley), who decides to help “The Apostle” start a new church. Together, the two men strive to spread the Christian faith and the power of prayer. As for “The Apostle,” he is on a personal Odyssey for atonement, absolution, and deliverance.
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