Saving Grace
Video release poster
Directed by	Robert M. Young
Written by	Robert M. Young Richard Kramer David S. Ward (as Joaquin Montana) Tom Conti
Based on	the Novel by Celia Gittelson
Produced by	Herbert F. Solow
Starring	Tom Conti Fernando Rey Erland Josephson Giancarlo Giannini Donald Hewlett Patricia Mauceri Marta Zoffoli Edward James Olmos
Cinematography	Reynaldo Villalobos
Edited by	Peter Zinner
Music by	William Goldstein
Production company	Embassy Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	May 2, 1986
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$18,209

Saving Grace is a 1986 comedy-drama film directed by Robert M. Young, produced by Herbert F. Solow, and starring Tom Conti, Giancarlo Giannini and Edward James Olmos. It is based on a novel by Celia Gittelson with screenplay by Richard Kramer and David S. Ward under a different name.

It was the last film to be distributed by Embassy Pictures.

Plot

A year after his election, a youthful pope (Conti) longs to be involved in ordinary people's lives again, as he was when he was a priest.

During an audience, the Pope communicates with a young deaf mute girl whose village has no priest. Accidentally locked out of the Vatican, the Pope travels to the small impoverished and demoralized village, his identity concealed by his beard growth. He realizes that the people need to rebuild a dilapidated aqueduct but, more importantly, that they must regain their community spirit and self-sufficiency. Without expertise and, initially, only the help of some street-wise orphans, he starts construction. All this is watched skeptically by a mysterious neighbour and opposed by local thugs led by Ciolino (Olmos) whose ill-gotten gains depend on the village remaining overly dependent on outsiders.

Production and release

The movie was shot in Italy: in the cities of Rome, Mantua and the ghost town of Craco.^[1]

Saving Grace premiered in the United States on May 2, 1986, and in the Philippines on April 11, 1987.^[2]

Critical reception

Walter Goodman of The New York Times said, "There's no more engaging actor around than Tom Conti, but not even he, with the assistance of such notables of international moviedom as Giancarlo Giannini, Erland Josephson and Fernando Rey, can lift Saving Grace out of its slough of sentiment."^[3]