The main problem with the film is that inherent to most play adaptations: it's too talky and static, with most of the responsibility for story development left to explanatory dialog.
Comment
11/07/07
The Runner Stumbles (1979)
38
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:8
Fresh:3
Rotten:5
Average Rating:5.4/10
Synopsis: In this drama based on a real-life story, a priest falls in love with a young nun at his parish. When she is murdered, he becomes the prime suspect. Through flashbacks, the film shows the events... [More]
Starring: Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Stapleton, Ray Bolger
Director: Stanley Kramer
Reviews for The Runner Stumbles
1 - 8 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Throughout, the film is paced by fine performances, especially Van Dyke as Father Rivard, Quinlan as Sister Rita and Maureen Stapleton as Van Dyke's housekeeper.
11/07/07
Top CriticDeadly earnestness over Van Dyke's tortured celibacy becomes risible long before the Perry Mason conclusion and a final scene of indescribable bathos.
06/24/06
No review available.
09/27/05
No review available.
07/03/05
Mr. Van Dyke's performance, though extremely sympathetic, is hard to assess. He worries and suffers, but the film finds nothing vital in his ordeal.
05/09/05
Top CriticIn its relentlessly old-fashioned way, The Runner Stumbles has a sort of dramatic persistence: It's not great, but it's there.
10/23/04
Top CriticThe Runner Stumbles is an exceptionally fine film about the exigencies of a religious calling and a critique of the legalism within Christianity.
01/27/04
1 - 8 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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