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When it opened in theaters in 1972, The Cross and the Switchblade received a positive review in The New York Times, while other film critics ripped it apart.

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More than a quarter of a century later, the film continues to sell steadily on video. In addition, dubbed in 30 languages, it continues to deliver on the big screen the compelling story of David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz through its distribution by World Film Crusade in 150 countries. Over the years, it's estimated the movie has been seen by 50 million people.

Actor and singer Pat Boone, who played Wilkerson, continues to be "astonished" at how the film is still impacting people's lives. But he's more surprised that it was ever made in the first place.

Reading a copy of the book while flying to a concert, Boone "got goose bumps" as he read it. He thought there was a movie in this "29th chapter of the Book of Acts."

Tracking Wilkerson down by phone, Boone asked him if everything he had read was true. Wilkerson was shocked.

Boone recalls, "He asked me, 'Do you think I would write lies?' He didn't seem keen on discussing anything further with someone who didn't believe him."

It took a lot of talking by Boone to convince Wilkerson to consider making the movie. " He had been taught movies were really an instrument of the Devil," Boone remembers from their face-to-face meeting. "It was strongly discouraged if not outright forbidden to go to movies, and here I was talking to him about making one. I didn't have a lot of confidence that this movie would ever get made." Finally Wilkerson agreed.

Walking New York's mean streets with Wilkerson helped Boone prepare for the role. "I found myself bursting with the same compassion [for the lost]," Boone says.

According to Nicky Cruz, filming the conversion scene had an eternal impact on Erik Estrada—the actor playing him. "I witnessed to him and asked him if he wanted to give his heart to Jesus," Cruz says. "He said yes, but he only wanted to do it one time—at the rally. I said, 'This isn't acting; this is for real.' But he did have a real experience with Jesus."

Cruz is currently discussing a movie version of his autobiography, Run Baby Run. In the meantime, The Cross and the Switchblade continues to find new audiences. As John Gibson of World Film Crusade says, "There is no such thing as an old movie to a person who hasn't seen it."

Condensed from Charisma (February 1998), © 1998 Strang Communications. Used by permission.

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