Aimee Semple McPherson (2006)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

Richard Rossi

Writer:

Richard Rossi (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Sometimes the greatest battle is between flesh and spirit.

Plot:

A feature film about the life of Aimee Semple McPherson, the famed evangelist of the 1920s.

Plot Keywords:

Healing | Charlie Chaplin | Faith | Christian | Character Name In Title

Cast

Mimi Michaels	...	Aimee Semple McPherson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Laura Anderson	...	Leita Mae
Carl Ballantine	...	Realtor in China
Teres Byrne	...	Minnie Kennedy
Kiera Chaplin	...	Myrtle Ste. Pierre
Barbara Kerr Condon	...	Sister Maria
Angela de Malignon	...	Speakeasy dancer
Etienne Eckert	...	Emma Shaffer
Joe Gonzalez	...	Ralph Jordan
Charles Gorgano	...	Asa Keyes
Melissa Greenfield	...	Louise Weick
JoAnn Green	...	Waitress
Rance Howard	...	James Kennedy
Charles Hoyes	...	Harold McPherson
Anjenique Hughes	...	Sister Susannah
Rex Kerr	...	Bartender
Brandy Maddox	...	Rosalee
David Mattey	...	The Enforcer
Obren Milanovic	...	Blind Man
Michael Minor	...	Kenneth Ormiston
Chad Nadolski	...	Robert Semple
Roy O'Reilly	...	Judge
Louis Pastore	...	Barker
Linda Pitak	...	Speakeasy Dancer
Joshua Rossi	...	Rolf McPherson
Karis Rossi	...	Roberta Salter
Richard Rossi	...	David Hutton
Sherrie Rossi	...	Juror
Laurie Shaw	...	Reba Crawford
Jenny Tallent	...	Sister Jane
Randy Toews	...	Defense Attorney
Suzanne Tsai	...	Aimee's Chinese Housekeeper
Jose Vega	...	Mexican Man
Selah Victor	...	Lulu
Laura Voethe	...	Mrs. Brooks

Also Known As:

Sister Aimee: The Aimee Semple McPherson Story (USA) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements, brief language and smoking.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

Richard Rossi Productions

Trivia:

The scene where Emma, (Etienne Eckert), hysterically tells Aimee's mother she is missing, was shot in one take by Richard Rossi with a hand-held camera because Etienne Eckert just suffered an accident, injuring her ankle. Richard Rossi cleaned her wounds and blood with hydrogen peroxide, and suggested she put her hysteria into the scene. The bandage on her ankle is the bandage Richard Rossi put on her real wound.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When the D.A. gives his opening statement in Sister Aimee's trial, there is a large map on the wall behind him that clearly says, "Kern County, California." Her trial took place in Los Angeles County. Richard Rossi was given free use of a courthouse in Bakersfield (Kern County) by a judge who was kindly disposed toward the project and allowed free shooting on a Saturday.

Quotes:

David Hutton: I'll show Sister Aimee heaven all night long.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Disappearance of Aimee (1976) (TV)

An engaging passionate biographical film

Bravo to Richard Rossi, producer, director, and writer of 'Aimee Semple McPherson' who also plays a leading role in his film. This remarkable drama based on the real life of the 1920's Pentecostal Evangelist, is a 190 degree turn away from today's glossy commercial film making status-quo. Aimee's life from teens to 40's is compellingly delivered by 21 year old, MIMI MICHAELS, Rossi's casting coup. The young intriguing actor is a rare if not all but extinct breed among her contemporaries. Her performance ascribes to no trappings of the twenty-something blonde pop-culture actors flooding the film market these days. Entirely unselfconscious, she is a unique blend of intelligence, sensitivity, and emotional dexterity. The real-deal classical actor gives us an unaffected 24carat 'Aimee,' exposing the complexities of her psyche, longings, frustrations and doomed attempt for personal happiness, with deft subtlety. Michaels keeps her work fresh and inspired with artfully delicate gestures baring Aimee's instability. It doesn't take us long to fall in love with the mixed-up, naughty, but well intended Aimee. James Kennedy, Aimee's mild mannered father, oft emasculated by his wife, is played by veteran, RANCE HOWARD with wisdom, warmth and tenderness. The chemistry between this father and daughter will be recognized by loving girls and daddies alike. The honesty and comfort Howard and Michaels shared together discloses a relationship that could only be divined as altruistically between Aimee and her Heavenly Father. When Aimee and her controlling mother Minnie, played discerningly by TERES BYRNE

take the screen, again familial chemistry was strong and volatile as well.

When the aggressive mother and Aimee lock horns we all sit a little more rigidly. CHARLES HOYES as Harold McPherson shows his metal as Aimee's woebegone husband in his futile competition with Jesus; or Aimee's calling to do His work. Other notable performances were given by Aimee's closest disciples, Emma and Reba played by ETIENNE ECKERT and LAURIE SHAW.

Although sustained by Mimi Michaels Magnetism, the current 2 hour plus version requires a good half hour chop if it is to see the light of day at the independent film festivals. The story line strays a bit afield in the last half hour but generously returns us to a three tissue ending. In this unpretentious film, purest Richard Rossi has, it seems, almost innocently produced a genre to be followed; making his 'A.S.M.' a reminder that the independent cinema is a great escape from the glossy mega-million dollar manipulative Hollywood flicks. R. Hughes Los Angelos