Original subtitles

GOD'S ANGRY MAN

DR GENE SCOTT TELEVANGELIST

A FILM BY WERNER HERZOG

This is Dr Gene Scott live from his TV studio

in Glendale near Los Angeles.

"When I yell," he says, "I want to be heard."

"God's honour is at stake every night.

"This is not a show. It's a feast.

"A feast of a fading religious experience."

His show, one of many religious broadcasts on American TV,

is a veritable one-man show,

apart from the occasional musical interlude.

The singer is Jake Hess. The younger lad is his son.

Dr Scott is a controversial figure,

constantly at odds with believers, officials and courts.

He's usually embroiled in up to 70 lawsuits at once.

Charges against him range from embezzlement of funds,

to defamation, extortion and tax evasion.

Scott runs three television stations

in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hartford, Connecticut.

He's live on screen between eight and ten hours every day.

The telephone numbers of his stations

are often displayed on screen for his audiences.

"Four and a half years in front of these cameras

have taught me a lot.

"Every time we have a great, exciting victory at our religious festival,

"it's tougher at the next festival. That must not happen tonight.

"I turn to you and some of you have not missed a single show

"in four and a half years."

"Sometimes I kid that most of the media in the USA

"say that people worship the great God 'Two sides'.

"If they're down on the beach reporting that the sun's rising,

"they'll always add a little line saying that it didn't.

"I don't have a bland audience. They're either for me or against me.

"At first they thought I was a madman.

"But I always take a firm stance

"no matter what subject is under discussion."

"So I polarize people because I take a stand.

"Some people say

"they've been waiting to hear exactly what I have to say.

"Other people want to go through the TV screen

"and pound me on the nose."

"If I take a stand, I can guarantee how most people will react to me."

- Have you ever been threatened? - "Often."

Could you tell us about one of the incidents?

"The authorities in New England decided to seize our property

"and subject it to tax,

"stating that we were a TV station and not a church.

"I barricaded myself in for 48 hours. It was raining and snowing.

"The street outside was blocked.

"Young people lay across the path

"and the sheriff arrived to seize our property.

"I had a table set up for Holy Communion and said,

'They'll have to climb over that to get in.'

"The sheriff couldn't get through.

"And to save face he took the coward's way out.

"They drove to a town ten miles away

"and occupied our broadcasting offices.

"They were empty apart from a poor diabetic man.

"I've had doors kicked in, I've been threatened.

"I've had to travel with bodyguards."

"Things got really ugly during those tax battles.

"People didn't properly understand the essence of my message.

"They thought I was against the unions or the homosexuals.

"I became a target.

"My shows are broadcast late at night

"and some late-night viewers are pretty whacked out.

"That's why I'm never alone."

"We're here today to give our friends an idea

"of what our son was like growing up.

"Firstly I'd like to say that he's been a wonderful son to his father and I.

"We couldn't have wished for a better son."

"One of the fellas on the staff here said to me,

'We want you to tell us something really nasty he did.'

"He was about two years old.

"I was making icing for a chocolate cake.

"He was always excited when I made chocolate cake.

"He reached up to the cake, on his tiptoes

"and stuck his finger in the cake.

"So I slapped his hand, he fell to the floor and started to scream.

"He wanted to hold his breath until his face got blue.

"He turned completely blue. I whirled the cold water faucet open.

"It wasn't long before he started breathing again."

"While he was getting his PhD at Stanford University,

"he'd come home at weekends to help me with the church work.

"He was struggling with something. He'd somehow lost his faith.

"And then he was reborn, as I'm sure you've heard

"when he talks about his faith and the resurrection.

"I think he's proud of his dad as his dad is proud of his son."

"May I say one more thing?"

"Our son is the kind of person ordinary people can understand.

"Sometimes people study and then talk right over folk's heads.

"Our son has his feet on the ground.

"I remember a time when he was in seventh grade

"and his teacher sent me a little note with his report card.

"His report card was all As.

"And the note said, 'Do you know that you have a genius for a son?'

"So we're very proud of our son."

Scott broaches his regular evening theme - money.

He asks to be supported

as the Philippians supported Paul the Apostle.

"As long as I can walk face-to-face with the Lord

"I don't mind putting my faith in you."

"But I'd keep the government out of this church.

"I'm asking again for that vote of confidence tonight.

"I think I'm the only pastor in the world

"who gets his vote in the form of weekly checks.

"We're under fire. The papers are spreading lies.

"I've told you we'll be here until Jesus comes, and we will."

"15 minutes went by. I have a message here like many others.

'Darling, because Dr Scott asked us to,

'I've been trying to get my call through for five minutes.'

"We don't have enough telephones tonight.

"So I'm going to extend it into the next hour."

"I'll give you another 15 minutes to decide what to do for the next year.

"And there's more coming in. Here's 360.

"Pledges for a year.

"2400.

"1200. 240.

"2400, and so on.

"Even up to 12,000 dollars in one go."

"Keep calling. The lines may be busy, but don't stop calling."

"Now we're going to hear 'The Four Statesmen'."

"The lyrics go,

'Lord, oh Lord, I want to go to Heaven.'

"900. 3600.

"1800. And so on.

"Here's another check for over 12,000."

"Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul."

"Thank you, Lord, for bringing me home."

"We're approaching a quarter of a million dollars in 36 minutes.

"We'll go another 45 minutes

"and see if we can't get over a quarter of a million."

"This could be a million dollar night."

"3600 dollars. 1200.

"Wait a minute, Joe. Bring those back."

"We've already crossed the quarter of a million.

"And now we want to try for 300,000.

"In exactly 45 minutes.

"All it takes is another 50,000 dollars."

"You've seen me on television.

"That occupies about 30 hours a week live.

"And like any other pastor I preach to my parish on Sundays.

"I'm the elected president of a 2000-strong parish

"and hold quarterly board meetings.

"I attend meetings, I'm responsible for the vice presidents.

"I'm a delegate and pastor at another church.

"It's located in northern California with 9400 members."

"I have to deal with the mail load. I give spiritual guidance.

"I visit sick people."

"The people shouldn't feel neglected by their pastor,

"but my father's still active and can help me out."

"I run a mausoleum in Berkeley.

"The mausoleum provides this limousine and also my salary.

"The churches run a publishing house

"which owns a lot of subsidiary businesses.

"A real estate firm, a travel agency, and other operations."

"The travel agency is relatively inactive now.

"We used to run teaching tours of Bible lands every year."

"if you want joy, come to Jesus."

"If you want peace, come to him."

"if you want happiness, come to Jesus. Come to him."

"For the last four and a half years I've been doing a little less.

"I've stood between three and ten hours live in front of the camera.

"During the last year, I've been able to take Wednesday or Thursday off.

"But that's very recent."

"So I work non-stop, anywhere from three to ten hours,

"except for Sundays."

"On Sundays I hold two live services, each lasting two and a half hours.

"Plus sometimes a three to five hour television festival."

"I'm in the celluloid world of Los Angeles.

"I probably have the widest audience of actors and people in the industry.

"They can't believe what they see.

"For them, standing in front of the camera means you're acting."

"One of the magazines locally summarised it like this.

'Scott's raw anger every night has something refreshing about it.'

They say,

'Here's another poor son of a bitch with the same problems as us,

struggling for survival, ' and they identify with that.

"Everything else they see on TV

"creates an artificial environment at home.

"They see how I fight tooth and nail to save my organization.

"And how I struggle against the same obstacles they face.

"Pressure from the government, lack of understanding and ridicule.

"You go through life and try to fend off the flak.

"I do it in front of the camera every night."

"I'd like to be..."

"Let me tell you what makes me happy.

"Get me on a jet

"heading for a town 8,000 miles away where nobody knows me.

"I'd like to go somewhere

"without having this constant life and death struggle."

"I'm too good to be really bad and too bad to be really good.

"Actually I'd like to do some hellish things."

"I can't walk by a guy kicking a dog

"without going up to him and kicking him in the ass.

"This gets me into constant trouble with the authorities, like I am now.

"I can't let the church down."

"I don't like this struggle. Many people think I look for challenges.

"But the challenges come looking for me.

"And I spend my life like a surgeon

"who is always called out for the most hopeless cases.

"My dream would be to lie on a beach, read books and do exactly what I like.

"I'm always running away from the experience

"of being a pastor's son.

"From what people expected of me.

"I dream of a time when this church is no longer burdened by debt.

"Where I'm voted out in a vote of confidence

"so I can go to Australia with a clear conscience,

"become a professor at Plato University

"and go outback and hunt rocks.

"That's probably exaggerated, but it's what I'd actually like to do.

"To get away from this mess."

- Would you like your own house? - "Yes, very much."

- Would you like to have children? - "Yes, I'd like that very much.

"That would be the greatest joy in my life.

"I never talk about it in public.

"I'm so disgusted by religious organizations

"who show orphans to collect money.

"Before I came here, I supported three orphanages

"as part of my church duties.

"I can't have kids of my own.

"I'm sterile.

"I had mumps when I was 19.

"I've adjusted to it all my life.

"I made up for it with the orphan kids.

"In an orphanage in Brazil I once picked up a sandwich

"a kid had dropped on the floor.

"And he looked at me and said in Portuguese,

"'He's my Daddy.'

"I love kids. Kids and dogs seem to like me.

"And as long as that's the case, I feel safe."

Dr Scott has appealed for donations again,

but his audience is less forthcoming this time.

"I will not be defeated tonight," he says.

"Five telephones are available.

"And one person has the key."

"Not one more word tonight

"until that thousand comes in."

"Do you understand that God's work hangs on 600 miserable dollars?

"And you sit there glued to your chairs.

"How long must I teach you the principles of spiritual warfare?

"30,000 means nothing now."

"22,400 dollars pours in.

"But 600 dollars kills us.

"It has nothing to do with money."

"One person hanging onto a miserable 600 dollars.

"But people who name the cause of Christ

"and sing 'l Surrender All' will let God hang over peanuts."

"What is this but a festival of faith?

"What is faith but hanging on to the impossible?"

"The network ought to be shut down."

"What is Christianity?

"Games, gimmicks, words, massage

"or life and death?

"Last night I said you'd have to tie me down with ropes

"to calm me down.

"Carnal Christians,

"when it gets close to victory, you duck out!

"Husbands and wives out there sitting glued to your chairs,

"I should kick you both in the butt.

"If one of you has fallen asleep in front of the TV,

"someone should jump on your stomach.

"This is war!

"We ought never to bog down.

"Come on, Joe. I won't hit you.

"What? Only 400 to go? Why didn't you do it earlier?

"I don't care what Gene Scott looks like.

"God's honour is at stake.

"There are people that grab a hymn book and promise to go on a great crusade,

"saying, 'I'll go wherever you want,

as long as it doesn't cost me a few measly dollars.'

"Now we're well over. But after I yelled at you!"

Dr Scott, do you have any private wealth?

"No, nothing.

"If you can find any property I own in the world,

"then you can keep it.

"I don't have any real estate, property, stocks or cash.

"No bank account, no house. I own nothing.

"Everything's owned by the church. It pays all my expenses.

"The church can vote me out. It's not some pseudo-operation.

"I'm enough of a realist to know they could do that.

"To appease your curiosity,

"my possessions consist of this black bag.

"No one apart from me is allowed to look inside.

"There's four zippers on it.

"When my friends and relatives send me a birthday card,

"someone else looks at it first.

"I'm never alone. I don't have any privacy.

"This bag is mine."

Can we have a look at what's inside?

"No.

"I hope somebody thinks there's ten million dollars in gold bars in it.

"It gives me dignity to have at least something

"I don't have to expose to everybody.

"Maybe there's dirty socks.

"I hope when I die, government bureaucrats get to me

"and salivate themselves sick getting into this bag.

"It's a kind of joke. It may be my memoirs.

"This bag is all I possess."

"I have a life insurance worth millions payable to the church.

"In fact, I'm worth more dead than alive to them right now."

"I came with a unanimous vote to get this church out of debt,

"but I'm also the guy who goes to jail for it.

"Last February,

"when I refused to give the authorities a list of our private donors,

"I was handed a jail sentence.

"Like a journalist who refuses to name his sources.

"I'm 50 years old and I'm in good health,

"but at night I want to quit sometimes.

"If you ask me if I'm 100 per cent sure of my faith,

"no, I'm not. As a philosopher, I can't even prove I exist."

Do you ever cry? Are you a man who cries?

"Yes, I almost cried a minute ago when you asked me what I dream of.

"This misunderstanding makes me very sad.

"Everybody thinks I'm a fighter, but I hate fighting.

"But if you push me and tread on my principles, I get pretty wild.

"I don't think anyone should be a boss.

"People who want to tyrannize are abusing their authority.

"I don't want to be anyone's boss. I have my own boss in heaven.

"Yes, I cry a lot of times. About once a week, I cry it all out.

"Mostly when I'm on my own.

"I don't think I'm a cry baby, but it just bursts forth.

"And I suppose the thing I cry the most about is misunderstanding.

"I believe I'm the most honest guy on TV.

"I don't use Jesus to peddle lies. I don't use lies to win people over.

"I encourage Christians to be Christians,

"yet I'm the guy being attacked."

- You seem to be very lonesome. - "Yes, sure.

"I mean, who can I have as a friend?

"Every friend is a potential enemy until this work is finished.

"I guess I'm lonesome sometimes,

"but I think I'm more of a loner than I am lonesome.

"I have my staff all around me who I like being around,

"but I don't have any really close friends.

"Yes, I'm lonesome."

Nearly every evening on his programme,

Dr Scott ridicules his adversaries, judges or government authorities.

Here he's mocking the FCC

who want to revoke his broadcasting license.

He brands them as apes

and demonstrates how to hit a bureaucrat on the head.

"Watch his eyes protrude. Look at that.

"Then he starts to squawk."

"The right end is always pointing at the camera."

Dr Scott is giving the FCC a monkey salute.

He's mocking them now.

"We'll Win.

"Now give the FCC their monkey salute. You should see this at home."

"A bureaucrat is already talking to the press.

"That's our government for you."

The song is about a rich man

who refuses to share his wealth with anyone.

When he knocks on Heaven's door,

he's given a rusty old halo,

second-hand wings and a patched up old robe.