- When a nightclub singer is forced to take refuge from the mob in a convent, she ends up turning the convent choir into a soulful chorus complete with a Motown repertoire, until the sudden celebrity of the choir jeopardizes her identity.
- Deloris Wilson (Whoopi Goldberg), a black woman who has chosen the stage name Deloris Van Cartier, is a Reno, Nevada lounge singer, she, the lead in a girl trio, in which she also chooses and arranges the music and choreographs the shows. She is a wisecracking, showy woman who has always loved music. She, however, only has her current job being hired by her married lover, Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel), to sing in his casino's lounge. She learns of Vince's true business as a gangster when she walks in on him killing one of his employees who wronged him. As a witness to the murder, Deloris goes on the run to the police, Lieutenant Eddie Souther (Bill Nunn), who has long been running an operation to get enough evidence to put Vince behind bars, this murder, which could be the metaphorical nail in Vince's coffin. However, Vince has put a contract out on Deloris' life to prevent her from testifying against him. As such, Eddie has to hide her until the trial, which will be at least two months. Where Eddie chooses is St. Katherine's, a poor Catholic parish and convent in a tough neighborhood in San Francisco. The convent's Mother Superior (Dame Maggie Smith) reluctantly takes Deloris in, that reluctance as Deloris is not anywhere near being close to looking or acting like a typical nun. Furthermore, the Mother Superior does not tell any of the sisters Deloris' true identity or the real reason for her being at St. Katherine's. With the Mother Superior cloistering the sisters behind the convent walls to pray for the salvation mostly of down and out of the neighborhood while keeping the sisters safe from harms of the outside world, there is an immediate and continual clash of wills between her and Deloris. Deloris, as renamed Sister Mary Clarence, does have an effect on two of the sisters, Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy), a perpetually perky woman, and Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena), who always feels left behind in whatever is happening in life. The clash between Deloris and the Mother Superior leads to the Mother Superior restricting Deloris to one task at the convent, one that leads to good and bad changes at St. Katherine's, the bad most specifically in potentially leading Vince and his associates to Deloris. Those changes also bring the battle of wills between Deloris and Mother Superior to a head, unless each can see the positive in what is happening in relation to their life at the convent.—Huggo
- This movie is about a Reno, Nevada lounge singer named Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg), who witnesses her mobster boyfriend, Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel), killing an employee. She is then hidden in a convent under a witness protection program. She soon makes friends with the nuns, especially Sister Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena), Sister Mary Lazarus (Mary Wickes), and Sister Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy). After the Mother Superior (Dame Maggie Smith) catches Deloris going out to a bar in the night followed by Mary Robert and Mary Patrick, she orders her to join the church choir, only to find her coaching the choir and turning them into swingin' singin' sisters. The choir proves to be a big success with the surrounding neighborhood, but will Deloris' boyfriend track her down.—Chantel Cotterell <ynnahc@msn.com>
- Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg) is a singer who wants to make it big. She is having a romance with a guy named Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel), but when he won't leave his wife, she breaks up with him. Afterwards, she witnesses a murder which was ordered by Vince. Deloris runs to the police who say she must stay in hiding for a while. However, this hiding place isn't an old run down house, or a caravan no, it's a convent. Deloris' new identity is Sister Mary Clarence. However, Deloris doesn't just sit around all day in the lifeless, boring convent, no she goes clubbing and makes friends with the nuns. She also turns the dull, lifeless choir into a hip one, which makes the church more popular with young people. However how long will it be before knowledge of this choir and Deloris reaches Vince?—x_ baby angel
- Reno, Nevada lounge singer Deloris (Whoopi Goldberg) witnesses a mob murder and the cops stash her in a nunnery to protect her from the hitmen. The Mother Superior (Dame Maggie Smith) does not trust her, and takes steps to limit her influence on the other nuns. Eventually, the singer rescues the failing choir and begins helping with community projects, which gets her an interview on television. This alerts the mob to her whereabouts, and the chase is back on.—Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>
- The film opens at St. Anne's Academy, a California Catholic school in 1968, where a young girl named Deloris Wilson is scolded for wisecracking and disobeying rules. The setting then changes to the present day, where Deloris Van Cartier is a lounge singer working in a casino called The Moonlight Lounge, located in Reno, Nevada run by her boyfriend, Vince LaRocca, a mobster. After Deloris witnesses Vince executing a chauffeur, Vince orders his men Joey and Willy to kill her too. Deloris flees Vince's casino to the local police station where Lieutenant Eddie Souther suggests she testify against Vince if he can be arrested and tried, but for now, she should go into witness protection until the time comes.
Deloris is taken to St. Katherine's Roman Catholic Church in a seedy run down neighborhood of San Francisco, where Souther suggests she disguise herself as a nun. Both Deloris and the Reverend Mother object, but are convinced by Souther and Monsignor O'Hara to go ahead with it. Deloris becomes a nun and is given the name "Sister Mary Clarence". Mary Clarence objects to following the simple lives of the nunnery, but comes to befriend several of the nuns, including the forever jolly Sister Mary Patrick, quiet and meek Sister Mary Robert, and the elderly deadpan Sister Mary Lazarus. After sneaking into a nearby bar, Mary Clarence is punished by Reverend Mother and put into the choir, which she has seen to be dreadful. The choir nuns, having heard "Sister Mary Clarence" has a background in music, elect her to take over as choir director, which she accepts, and she rearranges them to make them better singers. At the Sunday Mass, the choir sings perfectly before going into a gospel and rock and roll-infused performance of "Hail Holy Queen".
The Reverend Mother is infuriated, but Monsignor O'Hara is thrilled as the music brought people in off the streets. The choir cleans up the neighborhood and wows church-goers with their music, with Souther eventually attending a performance of "My Guy" (appropriately rewritten as "My God"). Eventually, O'Hara announces to the choir that Pope John Paul II is to visit the church to see the choir himself. Reverend Mother decides to hand in her resignation since her authority has been unintentionally undermined, but Mary Clarence offers to leave in her stead, to which the Reverend Mother disagrees. Detective Tate, a police officer on Vince's payroll, finds out where Deloris is and contacts Vince, who sends Joey and Willy out to grab her. Souther realizes Tate's betrayal, has him arrested, and flies to San Francisco to warn Mary Clarence, but she is kidnapped by Vince's men. The nuns, led by the Reverend Mother risk their lives by going to Reno to save Mary Clarence. Meanwhile, she escapes Vince and his men, leading to a chase around the casino until the nuns find her and try to sneak out. Vince, Joey and Willy confront the nuns, but are unable to bring themselves to shoot Deloris while she is in a nun's habit, and Souther bursts in, shoots Vince in the arm, and has the men arrested. The film ends with the choir, led by Deloris, singing before the Pope "I Will Follow Him", earning a round of applause that is led by the Pope and Reverend Mother. The end credits reveals Deloris' secret life as a nun was sold to the media and has become a sensation.
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