When a nightclub singer is forced to take refuge from the mob in a convent, she ends up turning the convent choir into a soulful chorus complete with a Motown repertoire, until the sudden celebrity of the choir jeopardizes her identity.
Deloris Wilson (Whoopi Goldberg), a black woman who has chosen the stage name Deloris Van Cartier, is a Reno, Nevada lounge singer, she, the lead in a girl trio, in which she also chooses and arranges the music and choreographs the shows. She is a wisecracking, showy woman who has always loved music. She, however, only has her current job being hired by her married lover, Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel), to sing in his casino's lounge. She learns of Vince's true business as a gangster when she walks in on him killing one of his employees who wronged him. As a witness to the murder, Deloris goes on the run to the police, Lieutenant Eddie Souther (Bill Nunn), who has long been running an operation to get enough evidence to put Vince behind bars, this murder, which could be the metaphorical nail in Vince's coffin. However, Vince has put a contract out on Deloris' life to prevent her from testifying against him. As such, Eddie has to hide her until the trial, which will be at least two ...Written by
Huggo
On June 10, 1993, Donna Douglas and her partner Curt Wilson in Associated Artists Entertainment, Inc., filed a two hundred million dollar lawsuit against Disney, Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, their production companies, and Creative Artists Agency claiming that this movie was plagiarized from the book "A Nun in the Closet" owned by the partners. Douglas and Wilson claimed that in 1985, they had developed a screenplay for the book. The lawsuit claimed that there were more than one hundred similarities and plagiarisms between the movie and the book and screenplay owned by Douglas and Wilson. The lawsuit further claimed that the developed screenplay had been submitted to Disney, Goldberg, and Midler three times during 1987 and 1988. In 1994, Douglas and Wilson declined a one million dollar offer to settle the case. The judge found in favor of Walt Disney Pictures and the other defendants. Wilson stated at the time, "They would have had to copy our stuff verbatim for us to prevail." See more »
Goofs
When Sister Mary Clarence/Dolores is meeting with the Mother Superior in her office right after the first choir performance in which she is choir mistress a crewmember's hand can be seen trying to get the pigeons to stay on the window sill. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
[in a classroom in 1968]
Nun:
Who can name all the apostles? Yes, Delores?
Little Delores:
John, Paul, George... and Ringo!
[the children laugh]
Nun:
Delores Wilson, you are the most unruly, disobedient girl in this school! Now, I want you to march right up to that blackboard and write the names of all the apostles alphabetically.
[Little Delores walks up to the blackboard and writes "John, Paul, Peter" and "Elvis" in big letters, underlined. The children laugh again]
Nun:
This is enough! You are hopeless, and I wash ...
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
Newspaper and magazine clippings of the nun choir. See more »
Alternate Versions
TBS broadcasts overdub a quick feedback-like squeal sound during the opening musical number to obscure an obscenity, when Whoopi Goldberg's character inserts the comment "You don't give a s--t" as the song "Heat Wave" ends. See more »
Just A Touch Of Love (Everyday)
Written by Robert Clivillés
Performed by C+C Music Factory (as C&C Music Factory)
Courtesy of Columbia Records by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing See more »
TIDBIT - Bette Midler was the original choice for the lead in "Sister Act".
That may have been cute (a Jewish nun?) but in choosing Whoopi, "Sister Act" gives itself a shot in the arm with an incomparable comic talent and insures every scene with Deloris/Mary Clarence is a highlight unto itself.
After witnessing a Mob hit courtesy of her boyfriend (Keitel), casino lounge singer Whoopi hightails it to her local police where a helpful cop (Nunn) puts her in the Witness Protection Program and before you can say "holy, holy, holy", sends her to the last place in the world anyone would think of finding a second-rate lounge singer.
Once the church, nuns and choir music with a Motown beat are all introduced, things pick up steadily. All the nuns are funny (especially Najimy as the eternally sunny Sister Mary Patrick) and there are so many good scenes to be had thereafter (the bar scene, the first choir practice, the blossoming of Sister Mary Robert (Makkenna), etc.), that you can't help but smile, even if you're tired of nuns as a springboard for comedy.
And there's something about the music: the gospel-tinged soul songs like "My God", "I Will Follow Him" and such lift your spirits and are infectious in their own right. The last scene in the movie is quite moving, truth be told, and lets you in on a secret... God moves in mysterious ways.
Amen.
Nine stars. These "Sister"s rock!
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TIDBIT - Bette Midler was the original choice for the lead in "Sister Act".
That may have been cute (a Jewish nun?) but in choosing Whoopi, "Sister Act" gives itself a shot in the arm with an incomparable comic talent and insures every scene with Deloris/Mary Clarence is a highlight unto itself.
After witnessing a Mob hit courtesy of her boyfriend (Keitel), casino lounge singer Whoopi hightails it to her local police where a helpful cop (Nunn) puts her in the Witness Protection Program and before you can say "holy, holy, holy", sends her to the last place in the world anyone would think of finding a second-rate lounge singer.
Once the church, nuns and choir music with a Motown beat are all introduced, things pick up steadily. All the nuns are funny (especially Najimy as the eternally sunny Sister Mary Patrick) and there are so many good scenes to be had thereafter (the bar scene, the first choir practice, the blossoming of Sister Mary Robert (Makkenna), etc.), that you can't help but smile, even if you're tired of nuns as a springboard for comedy.
And there's something about the music: the gospel-tinged soul songs like "My God", "I Will Follow Him" and such lift your spirits and are infectious in their own right. The last scene in the movie is quite moving, truth be told, and lets you in on a secret... God moves in mysterious ways.
Amen.
Nine stars. These "Sister"s rock!