The Gentleman Bandit (1981 film)

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The Gentleman Bandit
Written byMilan Stitt
Directed by Jonathan Kaplan
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerJohn E. Quill
Running time98 minutes [1]
Production companyHighgate Pictures
Budget$2 million [2]
Original release
ReleaseMay 6, 1981 (1981-05-06)

The Gentleman Bandit is a 1981 TV movie directed by Jonathan Kaplan and starring Ralph Waite. [3] It is based on the real story of Reverend Bernard Thomas Pagano.

Contents

Plot

A priest is accused of armed robbery by various eyewitnesses.

Cast

Production

Until the eve of the first screening, [4] the working title for the film was The Bandit Priest. [5] [6]

The film was based on a true story of the Reverend Bernard Thomas Pagano [7] who was arrested in 1979 for five armed robberies and one attempted robberies. Eventually another man, Ronald W. Clouser, confessed to the crimes. [8] [9]

Writer Milan Stitt spent a week interviewing Pagano, his attorney, friends and parishioners in December 1979. He wrote the script in four days. [2] Pagano, a native of Newark, New Jersey, served five years as a chaplain at the VA hospital in Lyons and East Orange in the 1990s, according to Tom Malek-Jones, the chief chaplain for the facility. [10] Pagano, himself a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, was considered "a valuable asset for his work with veterans of that era and did not seem like a robber", Malek-Jones said. [10]

Filming took place in New York City and Westchester County. [11] It began on 19 January 1981. Pagano himself acted as technical advisor on the film. [2] Pagano later taught theology at Notre Dame High School in Easton, Pennsylvania in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-gentleman-bandit/2030056311/
  2. 1 2 3 Caparella, Kitty (February 11, 1981). "Once notorious priest takes on reel life". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 2.
  3. ↑ Garafola, Peter (February 22, 1981). "Optimism Carries Waite". Mount Vernon Argus. p. 51.
  4. ↑ Marill, Alvin H. (1987). Movies Made for Television: The Telefeature and the Mini-series, 1964-1986. New York Zoetrope. ISBN   978-0-918432-80-3.
  5. ↑ "The Gentleman Bandit (1981)". BFI. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  6. ↑ "The Gentleman Bandit". TVGuide.com. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
  7. ↑ Roberts, Jerry (June 5, 2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   978-0-8108-6378-1.
  8. ↑ Freeman, Mike; Holmberg, David (May 6, 1981). "Questions remain in Pagano Case". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 21.
  9. ↑ Malone, Peter (August 19, 2019). Screen Priests: The Depiction of Catholic Priests in Cinema, 1900-2018. ISD LLC. ISBN   978-1-925872-91-0.
  10. 1 2 Rev. Bernard Pagano, 81; Cleared of Being ‘Gentleman Bandit’ Los Angeles Times . Retrieved May 11, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Ralph Waites portrays clerical bandit". The Ottawa Citizen. April 18, 1981. p. 248.
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