Evangelist's son criticizes film about Graham's life
Some scenes are inaccurate or 'greatly embellished,' he says
"My father's life has been documented in many ways and I have always appreciated those who painstakingly sought to tell his story accurately," Franklin Graham said in a statement posted Monday on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Web site, www.billygraham.org.
His spokesman, Mark DeMoss, said Tuesday that Graham put out the statement not to hurt the film — "he doesn't care if people see it." Rather, he worried that some pastors who have agreed to host preview screenings in their churches were under the mistaken impression that the movie was somehow authorized by the BGEA. DeMoss said that Billy Graham, now 89 and living in Montreat, N.C., has not yet seen the film.
Asked Tuesday which scenes Graham objected to, DeMoss offered what he called "two simple examples ... producers would refer to as creative license."
In one, the young Billy Graham faints at the hospital when told wife Ruth has given birth to their first child, GiGi. In fact, Graham was not at the hospital when GiGi was born; he was in Alabama, preaching. The other scene DeMoss mentioned shows Billy Graham and wife Ruth tossing a baseball back and forth. "Actually, that's not something they would have done," said DeMoss.
But according to Billy Graham's autobiography, "Just As I Am," the scene may not be so off the mark, though the real Jones' ire appeared to be caused by Graham's decision to leave Bob Jones College for Florida Bible Institute.
In his short, but sharp, posting about the movie, Franklin Graham also faulted the film for not sharing what he calls his father's passion to preach the Gospel.
"He felt there was not sufficient treatment of his father preaching, and when he was preaching, it was watered down," DeMoss said.
The movie, filmed in and around Nashville, Tenn., covers Billy Graham's teenage years in Charlotte and his time at college and as a new, sometimes awkward preacher. Scenes show him courting his wife, Ruth, receiving Christ at a 1934 tent revival in Charlotte and giving a few early sermons in a fire-and-brimstone style.
In the movie's climax, Graham conquers any doubts about his faith in the Bible by telling God he will never question what's written in the Scriptures.
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