The Immanuel Baptist Church youth group plans to put on quite a show over the next several days.
Members of the group are sponsoring the film “The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry” Friday through Thursday at the Illinois Centre 8 in Marion — and they are encouraging area residents to come see the movie.
“It’s a very good film,” said Mike Neal, one of the leaders of the youth group. “There’s a great twist in the movie. Like ‘Fireproof’ and ‘Facing the Giants,’ this film is very much along the Christian line of movies.”
The PG-rated film stars Gavin MacLeod — better known to TV audiences as Seaman Joseph “Happy” Haines on “McHale’s Navy,” news writer Murray Slaughter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and Captain Merrill Stubing on “The Love Boat” — along with Jansen Panettiere and Robert Guillaume, who played Benson DuBois on TV’s “Soap” and “Benson.”
According to a teaser from the Web site, www.sperrymovie.com: “Best buddies Dustin (Panettiere), Albert (Frankie Ryan Manriquez) and Mark (Allen Isaacson) are 12-year-old boys looking forward to a summer of fun in 1970. When Dustin mows the lawn of 75-year-old Jonathan Sperry (MacLeod), a man he has seen at church, a unique friendship develops. What happens the rest of this summer is something Dustin and his friends will never forget!”
Neal said the Immanuel Baptist youth became interested in the film through a pastor they knew from camp.
“We saw that he was sponsoring this movie at his church, so we looked at the trailer,” Neal said. “We had been asking, ‘How in the world do we spread the Word differently?’ Then we made some contacts with the Marion theater.”
The group had to guarantee ticket sales of $4,000 in order to bring the movie to Illinois Centre 8.
“The youth group had an extra $2,000,” Neal said. “We told them we could buy some flat-screen TVs and get some games, we could take a trip or we could spend some of the money to get the movie here.”
Neal and several area pastors screened the film last week.
“It’s very well done,” Neal said.
Immanuel Baptist youth group members have not yet seen the movie, but they — as well as local residents and those throughout Southern Illinois — will be able to do so over the next seven days.
Or possibly longer.
“The movie is going to run a week. We know that,” Neal said. “If the Friday, Saturday and Sunday sales are good, then it will run another week. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
Showtimes for “The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry” are 3:50 p.m., 6:40 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. Friday through Thursday. Tickets are available at Immanuel Baptist Church, 516 N. Main St., Benton; Illinois Centre 8, 3107 Civic Circle Blvd., Marion; or online at www.fandango.com.
“Ten percent of whatever we bring in is going to charity, and we will contribute it to Can’s Can,” Neal said.
Can’s Can, directed by Greg Poole, gives to local ministries — including school supplies, clothing drives and, most recently, shoe collection for The Night’s Shield, Poole noted.
Benton, Ill. —
