Line #3 Film/LeapOfFaith


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/leap_of_faith_1992_poster.jpg]]
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3	A 1992 comedy-drama film directed by Richard Pearce and starring Creator/SteveMartin. Also featured in the cast are Creator/DebraWinger, Creator/LolitaDavidovich, and Creator/LiamNeeson.
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5	Martin, in a rare non-comedic turn, plays Jonas Nightengale, a cynical {{con man}} who makes his living as a traveling revivalist preacher and [[FakeFaithHealer faith healer]]. When his convoy breaks down in a depressed small town in Kansas, Nightengale decides to set up his revival there, over the protests of the local [[TheSheriff sheriff]] (Neeson), who sees through his act and wants to protect the town. He has little trouble winning over the local population, but starts to find himself affected by their naive faith.
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7	It was adapted into a Broadway {{musical}}, which earned unfavorable reviews from critics but still earned a Tony nomination for Best Musical. Director Richard Pearce was a cameraman for 1972 documentary feature ''Film/{{Marjoe}}'', which told a ''very'' similar RealLife story about con man traveling revivalist preacher Marjoe Gortner.
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11	!!''Leap of Faith'' provides examples of:
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13	* ArcWords: "When it is going to rain?"
14	* ColdReading: Jonas is an expert at this. It's a big part of his miracle act.
15	* CelebrityParadox: Music/MeatLoaf plays one of the support crew for the revival show. In one scene, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is clearly heard playing over the radio.
16	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Nightengale gets one in the very first scene when his bus is pulled over for speeding, without registration or insurance. He [[SherlockScan cold-reads the cop's history in the first minute]], [[BreakThemByTalking cuts straight to the heart of his insecurities]], ''gets arrested in the process'', and still convinces the guy to let him go without so much as a ticket. The cop even makes a donation to his ministry.
17	* FairCop: The sheriff is played by a young Liam Neeson.
18	* FakeFaithHealer: The movie is about a cynical fake faith healer who starts to develop sympathy for the people of a small town when he gets stuck there. We get to see some of the behind-the-scenes trickery he uses to make his scams convincing, such as communicating with spies in the audience via hidden radios, and being pretty darn good at ColdReading.
19	* FreudianExcuse: We find out that Jonas was abandoned by his mother when he was a child and stood on a street corner for three days waiting for her to return (this is implied to be the source of his disillusionment with God). Jane points out that, given his past, being a quasi-dishonest preacher is hardly the worst thing he could be doing.
20	* GospelChoirsAreJustBetter: Nightengale's "Angels of Mercy" are a key part of the show.
21	* GreedyTelevangelist: Jonas Nightengale is an evangelist/faith healer who travels from town to town holding revival services and promising miracles. In reality, his "faith healing" is a con, aided by his skill at cold reading and his manager Jane feeding him information through an earpiece to make it seem like he is receiving it directly from God. Things get complicated when an actual miracle happens.
22	* IronicEcho: "What difference does it make as long as you get the job done?"
23	* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Jonas leaving his Ministry is followed by a thundershower, something the drought-stricken people in the area has been begging him for. His leaving was a miracle, and so a real miracle occurs.]]
24	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Nightengale consistently claims that he only cares about his own interests, but he's careful to only say things that bring comfort. He seems to be deeply troubled when it's suggested that he might actually be hurting someone, but refuses to admit it.
25	--> '''Jane:''' You really don't care about anything but yourself, do you?
26	--> '''Jonas:''' Oh, Jane, I never pretended I did.
27	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The whole revival show was a deliberate take on televangelist Peter Popoff, who used similar tactics to fake miracles in his show. The controversial {{Creator/TBN}} faith healer Creator/BennyHinn also influenced Martin's performance as Jonas Nightengale.
28	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Liam Neeson's small-town Kansas sheriff has a distinctly Irish lilt to his voice (though there is an [[OfficerOHara entire trope]] built around the idea of this, with no small amount of TruthInTelevision.
29	* PhonyPsychic: A variant on this. Jonas presents himself as a Christian preacher, and claims his readings are miracles. In fact, they're based on a combination of spies, signals, cold reading, placebo effects and a lot of flash and drama.
30	* PreacherMan: An interesting variation. Jonas is an unapologetic con man, implied to be an atheist who does his act for the money. On the other hand, he's bringing a good show to a remote town and sharing a lot of worthy sentiments, and so feels he isn't hurting anyone (at least at first).
31	* RefugeInAudacity: See the EstablishingCharacterMoment entry.
32	* ScamReligion: Nightengale knows perfectly well that he's only a ConMan, but that doesn't stop people from having faith. He justifies it by giving the people want they want: a really good show with music and special effects, for a ''fraction'' of the cost of a Broadway production.
33	* SpiritualSuccessor: Nightengale acts well as an expy for Professor Harold Hill, aka Film/TheMusicMan. He's a con man selling feel-good sentiments (some of them music-based) to a small town full of people just trying to believe in goodness and morality. He has to hide his crooked past from officials trying to expose him. He even woos a woman who proves resistant to his charms and has a younger brother with a disability.
34	* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Will, the local sheriff, spends the whole film trying to protect his community from being taken in by a con man. Even Nightengale seems to respect him.
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36	!!The musical adaptation provides examples of:
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Context Film / LeapOfFaith