Pass the Ammo is a 1987 American comedy film starring Bill Paxton, Annie Potts, Linda Kozlowski and Tim Curry. The film is a spoof of televangelism released right after the real-life scandals related to Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart. The movie's working title during production was ...And Pass the Ammunition, a reference to the phrase "praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."
Contents
Plot
Reverend Ray Porter runs a Pentecostal faith healing and televangelism empire based in Arkansas. Four locals, one of whom was bilked out of her inheritance by Rev. Porter's ministry and another of whom just got out of prison, try to rob Porter's ministry. A series of wrong turns inside the church during the robbery leads Claire, her boyfriend Jesse, Arnold and Big Joe onstage right in the middle of a broadcast, and the four robbers turn what was supposed to have been just a robbery into a hostage situation.
During the hostage negotiations, a series of snowballing scandals involving the ministry come to light. The robbery, hostage taking, and scandal revelations all are broadcast live over satellite television as locals gather in bars to watch. Porter and the robbers develop a rapport that resembles shop talk among thieves as they discuss the best ways of investing stolen money.
The Christian network's producer, a drug-addled electronics wizard named Stonewall, adds minor complications to the ongoings, playing with the images in comical ways that keep the television audience laughing.
The local sheriff, whose duck-hunting trip was interrupted by the incident, seems to sympathize with the would-be robbers. He has to deal with his own moral struggle in trying to enforce the law when his sympathies lie elsewhere. He just wants to see the situation end with nobody getting hurt, and he butts heads with the network's owner and federal agents who demand harsher action.
The owner of the satellite network, G. W. Wraith (loosely based on Jerry Falwell), demands that the National Guard be called in, leading to a siege and an unexpected outcome to the entire situation.
Cast
Bill Paxton as Jesse Wilkes
Linda Kozlowski as Claire
Tim Curry as Reverend Ray Porter
Annie Potts as Darla Porter
Dennis Burkley as Joe "Big Joe" Becker
Glenn Withrow as Arnold Limpet
Leland Crooke as Sheriff Rascal Lebeaux
Anthony Geary as Stonewall
Richard Paul as G.W. Wraith
Paul Ben-Victor as Eddie DePaul
Megan Blake as Cherry
Brian Thompson as Kenny Hamilton
Availability
The film was released on VHS by International Video Entertainment sometime after its theatrical run and later in 1991 by Avid Home Entertainment in the SLP Mode. The film was also released on Laserdisc by Image Entertainment.