The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

Fenton Bailey
Randy Barbato

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

She'll make a believer out of you

Plot:

A documentary look, mostly through the eyes of Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, at her rise and fall as a popular televangelist with husband Jim Bakker...

Plot Keywords:

Christianity | Televangelist | Religion | Independent Film

Awards:

3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

RuPaul	...	Himself (Narrator) (voice)
Tammy Faye Bakker	...	Herself
Virginia Fairchild	...	Herself - aunt
Johnny Grover	...	Himself - brother
Jim Bakker	...	Himself
Lori Graham Bakker	...	Herself
Mel White	...	Himself
Tammy Sue Bakker-Chapman	...	Herself
Jamie Bakker	...	Himself
Roe Messner	...	Himself
Charles E. Shepard	...	Himself
Marvin Brooks	...	Himself - doctor (as Dr. Marvin Brooks)
James Albert	...	Himself
Pat Boone	...	Himself
Jim J. Bullock	...	Himself
Greg Gorman	...	Himself
Roz Music	...	Herself
Steven Chao	...	Himself
Jeff Walker	...	Himself (as Pastor Jeff Walker)
David Warren	...	Himself - Evangelist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Phillip Bloch	...	Himself
Richard Dortch	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jerry Falwell	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jessica Hahn	...	Herself (archive footage)
Pat Robertson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Oral Roberts	...	Himself (archive footage)
Roseanne	...	Herself (archive footage)

Directed by
Fenton Bailey
Randy Barbato

Produced by
Fenton Bailey	....	producer
Randy Barbato	....	producer
John Hoffman	....	producer: Cinemax
Harry Knapp	....	executive producer
Sheila Nevins	....	executive producer
Gabriel Rotello	....	associate producer
Thairin Smothers	....	associate producer

Original Music by
James Harry

Cinematography by
Sandra Chandler

Film Editing by
Paul Wiesepape

Production Management
Harry Knapp	....	executive in charge of production
Eduardo Magaña	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Robert Corbett	....	post audio mixer
Albee Gordon	....	sound
Stacy Hruby	....	sound
Virgil Kanne	....	sound
Terry Losardo	....	sound
J.L. Myers	....	sound
Grady Price Jr.	....	sound
Peter Thomas	....	sound
Janet Urban	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Kevin Celi	....	additional camera
Scott Franse	....	additional camera
Richard Oliphant	....	assistant camera
Don Windsor	....	additional camera

Editorial Department
Mike Rysavy	....	assistant editor

Music Department
James Harry	....	music producer

Other crew
Samantha Bickley	....	researcher
Damien Breen	....	production assistant
Donald Brunell	....	production team
Ace Eastman	....	production team
Nicole Flowers	....	production accountant
Tiffany Flynn	....	puppeteer
Russell Frazier	....	titles
Tyler M. Hall	....	production assistant
Johnny Kim	....	consultant: beauty product (as Derek Kim)
Mike Kuldanes	....	production team
Rob Lundy	....	production team
David Magdael	....	publicist
Madeline S. McEneney	....	production associate
Roger Nead	....	tape librarian
Edward Rohwedder	....	researcher
Kenny Tallier	....	puppeteer
Max Thompson	....	production team
Sean Williams	....	chyron operator

Thanks
Dan Weaver	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Cinemax
• FilmFour
• World of Wonder

Distributors

• Lions Gate Films

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content.

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Company:

Cinemax

Quotes:

Jim Bakker: With your donation of $500, I will send you this beautiful rice patty baby!

Movie Connections:

Features "The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show" (1996)

Best of The Year

In a year where its easier to form a ten worst list than a ten best list, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale landscape of formulaic, uninteresting, and generally BAD productions made by the Hollywood machine.

But, "Eyes" is more than simply the recent Biography of Tammy Faye on the big screen. No no no! "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" tells a solid story about a family's reversal of fortune, and one woman's really hard struggle through a life which is far from being complete. And the best (or worst, depending on who you are) part is, its a true story. There aren't any plots to "buy in to" or any storylines that make you go "huh?".

For the most part, the story is very first-person, although Drag Queen Ru Paul Charles helps us along in times when the story needs that next advance.

Its a documentary which reads more like a movie... and, as one IMDB reviewer has already said, you laugh, you cry, you NEED the waterproof mascara.

The filmmakers, whilst it appears at time are getting their kicks out of putting Tammy Faye on the big screen, are (for the most part) sincere in their telling of the tale. They treat Tammy Faye with dignity, but also acknowledge a certain "kitsch" there is to the whole PTL saga.

Whether you love her, hate her, or are totally uninterested in her, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" will bring you closer to Tammy Faye, and provide golden nuggets of insight in to who she really is as a person. In the end, you leave feeling ashamed... she's no different than anyone else, trying to carve out their mark in the world. And if you feel that, if you can immerse yourself in split-seconds of guilt throughout the film, the filmmakers have accomplished their goal. She is no longer an enigma... she is human. She is, Tammy Faye.

10/10