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Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man

Play trailer Poster for Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man R Released May 25, 1973 1h 43m Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 1 Reviews 21% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Holmes (Roger E. Mosley) is a hit man working for a mob boss, Martelli (William Smith), as well as a state senator (Michael Pataki). Martelli gives Holmes an undercover assignment requiring him to pretend to be a preacher. As Holmes becomes the Rev. Jason Lee, he finds that he has a knack for speaking to his congregation. Now Holmes must find information about Martelli's competition. However, he begins to discover that his employer is hiding something from him.

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Prentiss Taylor Boston Phoenix Somewhere in the middle of an inebriating stream of blood, poured like the free, flow of cheap wine, someone has worked some roots and conjured up some genuine artistry. Oct 8, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Strange blaxploitation entry about a gangster posing as a priest to do a job but ends up trying to help the community. Roger E. Mosley, TC of "Magnum P.I.", puts in a bit of a flat performance. There are really fun moments here, but there's about half an hour towards the end where the whole thing falls flat as it gets political. I'd say it's a curiosity more than a must-see but blaxploitation fans will find a lot to like. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member I gave this a late night look and was supremely satisfied with the action that it hit the ground running with in the first few minutes...then it gets pretty boring and slow for a good long while, which left me a bit put off with the whole film. It's watchable, but it never truly lived up to the promise of that awesome poster and the first few actio packed minutes. Rental. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member I caught Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man for the first time recently, having not known about it at all prior, and I'm surprised that I'm still awake to talk about it. Like in the description above, the only things notable about it is that it has an early leading role for Magnum P.I. co-star Roger E. Mosley and that it was distributed by MGM. Other than that, there isn't really much to say. It's pretty boring most of the time and doesn't really connect well from scene to scene. You'll probably spend much of its running time trying to figure out what's going on if you can keep up with it without tapping out. It does have patches of violence, weak violence at that, but they are few and far between, being accentuated by long, dreadful scenes that just seem to never end. The lighting and the photography are also pretty bad, which stood out to me immediately. In other words, I'd say this is one you can easily skip. There's not much of a reason to watch it, unless you're a die-hard Roger E. Mosley fan or something, and I'm sure that no one out there is. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Despite a decently original premise, fairly basic blaxploitation fare. Has its campy moments, but the film lacks the style and the cast lacks the charisma that you'd find in the best of the genre, even the music comes off as routine. Not terrible, but pretty forgettable. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member After spraying a man with accelerant in a hotel room, lighting the poor sap on fire and mercilessly watching him plummet 5 stories to his doom, assassin Cyrus Holmes finds out that his victim was actually a minister. Sweet Jesus, Hitman! The honkey who gives him missions, aka "The Man", tells Holmes he must don the cloth, pick up the Good Book, and apply for the now-vacant position to work up influence in the neighborhood. Guess who learns he has malignant Preacher DNA and a rabble-rousing silver tongue? Going from Hitman to Preacherman is easy enough, but when Holmes takes a personal interest in certain troubled kids in his 'hood, the interference of smack-pushing gangsters may prove somewhat life threatening. "Sweet Jesus, Preacherman", when'll you stop with the 'caring' shtick and get back to those ice-cold assassinations? Alas, the hand of Jesus can touch even the hardest streetwise brothers (but not prevent him from getting laid, and may in fact aid in his conquests) in the most unlikely ways. Less unlikely is the inclusion of more villainous whiteys, this time a whack-ass corrupt politician interested in keeping the smack flowing (and keeping the brothers down by extension), never hesitating to hire morons to intimidate the preacher. It's pretty damn boring and routine stuff, with less camp than is required to make most blaxploitation enjoyable and a filmatism even cruder than would be expected. "SJ,P" culminates with a series of fights and a church shootout, all filmed with barely any light at all. The film also fails by not having catchy music or stylish credits. A failure representative of the lowest tier of the genre. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member TC from Magnum P.I. plays a preacher/hitman. William Smith is great as the crime boss, but I would have liked to seen more of him in the film. Fun 70s exploitation flick. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Holmes (Roger E. Mosley) is a hit man working for a mob boss, Martelli (William Smith), as well as a state senator (Michael Pataki). Martelli gives Holmes an undercover assignment requiring him to pretend to be a preacher. As Holmes becomes the Rev. Jason Lee, he finds that he has a knack for speaking to his congregation. Now Holmes must find information about Martelli's competition. However, he begins to discover that his employer is hiding something from him.
Director
Henning Schellerup
Producer
Daniel Cady
Screenwriter
John Cerullo, M. Stuart Madden, Abbey Leitch
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Capitol Cinema
Rating
R
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 25, 1973, Original
Runtime
1h 43m