Sister Act

"You took a vow of hospitality for all in need."

"I lied."

Deloris (Goldberg) is a lounge singer in Reno.  She headlines at the Moonlight Lounge, while dating the married owner Vince LaRocca (Keitel).  Things are going well, but he refuses to divorce his wife.  When she goes to confront him and end their relationship, she witnesses his bodyguards Joey (Miranda) and Willy (Portnow) kill the chauffeur.  She runs directly to the police station and agrees to testify against Vince, if Lieutenant Eddie Souther (Nunn) can keep her alive.

Souther sends her to St. Katherine's Parish in San Francisco.  She is expected to live as a nun in the convent for a few months until it is safe to come back and testify.  She is renamed Sister Mary Clarence and immediately clashes with the Mother Superior (Smith), who reluctantly agrees to the arrangement when the police agree to donate money to their struggling church.  As Sister Mary Clarence, her job is to help their choir.  The choir is under the direction of the strict Sister Mary Lazarus (Wickes) and is terrible.  They don't sing at the same pace or key.  Can Deloris transform the choir and survive long enough to testify?


I grew up watching and enjoying this film.  It's a fun, comedy-musical.  I hesitate to call it a musical, since the characters only sing as part of the choir or on a stage/performance setting; no one randomly breaks into song.  The songs featured were originally performed by popular girl groups or are traditional religious songs, but presented as an upbeat all female choir.  The songs are fun and are stuck in your head after the film ends.

The cast is great.  Whoopi Goldberg shines as Deloris.  She is perfectly cast as the sarcastic and lovable Deloris / Sister Mary Clarence.  Maggie Smith is always wonderful and here she is Goldberg's foil as the Reverend Mother (some sites call her Reverend Mother while others call her Mother Superior).  Kathy Najimy is hilarious as the bubbly Sister Mary Patrick.  And Mary Wickes is equally entertaining as Sister Mary Lazarus.  Wendy Makkena is the shy but talented Sister Mary Robert, with a powerful voice (apparently her singing was done by Andrea Robinson).  The rest of the female cast are endearing in their roles.

The film was popular enough to get a sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, with Goldberg, Smith, Najimy, Makkena, and Wickes returning.  It was also turned into a successful musical (story by Glenn Slater and music by Alan Menken).  The show opened on the West End in 2009 with Patina Miller in the lead role.  In 2011 the show went to Broadway, with Miller in the lead and Goldberg as a producer.  Both iterations of the show were nominated for awards (Laurence Olivier Awards, Tony Awards, and Drama Desk Awards), but did not win any.

Sister Act (1992) 100 minutes
Director: Emile Ardolino
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier / Sister Mary Clarence
Maggie Smith as Mother Superior
Kathy Najimy as Sister Mary Patrick
Wendy Makkena as Sister Mary Robert
Mary Wickes as Sister Mary Lazarus
Bill Nunn as Lieutenant Eddie Souther
Harvey Keitel as Vince LaRocca
Robert Miranda as Joey
Richard Portnow as Willy
Rose Parenti as Sister Alma
Joseph Maher as Monsignor O'Hara