The Rainmaker (1956)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Joseph Anthony

Writers:

N. Richard Nash (screenplay)
N. Richard Nash (play)

Release Date:

13 December 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Thriller | Western | Comedy

Tagline:

It's about the magic that makes a woman beautiful when she's wanted by a man!

Plot:

Lizzie Curry is on the verge of becoming a hopeless old maid. Her wit and intelligence and skills as...

Plot Keywords:

Rainmaker | Drought | Rain | Spinster | Con Artist

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Bill Starbuck, aka Bill Smith, Bill Harley, Tornado Johnson
Katharine Hepburn	...	Lizzie Curry
Wendell Corey	...	Deputy Sheriff J.S. File, Three Point Texas
Lloyd Bridges	...	Noah Curry
Earl Holliman	...	Jim Curry
Cameron Prud'Homme	...	H.C. Curry
Wallace Ford	...	Sheriff Howard Thomas (Three Point, Texas)
Yvonne Fedderson	...	Snookie Maguire, Jim's Girl (as Yvonne Lime)

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:12 | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (PCA #18257) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S

Filming Locations:

Kanab, Utah, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Elvis Presley took his first screen test for this movie, and he stated in a March 1956 interview that this would be his big screen debut. In an interview two months later, he stated that although he was offered a role in this film, he felt he could not do the character justice, and Paramount was working on another script for him. At the time, the new film was untitled, but this was soon released as Love Me Tender (1956)

Goofs:

Continuity: After Starbuck shows up at the Currys' house, H.C. and Noah are playing a game of checkers. They start the game with H.C. playing red and make a few moves, then the phone rings. After the call, the game has reset to the beginning, and H.C. is playing black.

Quotes:

Noah Curry: We don't believe in rainmakers.
Bill Starbuck: What DO you believe in mistah? Dyin' cattle?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Evolution: The Evolutionary Arms Race (#1.4)" (2002)

The Maid And The Mountebank

When The Rainmaker came to Hollywood it was decided to get a couple of movie star names with some box office draw to replace the Broadway leads of Darren McGavin and Geraldine Page. The Rainmaker ran for 164 performances in the 1954-1955 season on Broadway and got good critical notices.

Paramount wisely retained the services of playwright N. Richard Nash to do the screen version and he very nicely expanded the play which on Broadway was set in the Curry parlor to include all kinds of outdoor scenes. But the biggest thing they did was signing Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn as the leads.

Hepburn plays somewhat against type, though not apparently so. She manages to successfully hide her Bryn Mawr speech and does do well as a mid western spinster. The last time Kate went middle west it was for Alice Adams over 20 years before.

But Lizzie Curry is no silly little girl like Alice was. She's an educated woman, a little too smart for most of the town folk where she lives. She intimidates them with her education. In fact she's being unfairly contrasted with Yvonne Lime who plays a silly flirt that her younger brother Earl Holliman is stuck on.

Into her life comes Starbuck who says he can make it rain for $100.00 of Curry money that father Camerone Prudhomme forks over, much to older son Lloyd Bridges's objections. As Starbuck, Burt Lancaster is in dress rehearsal for his Oscar winning role as Elmer Gantry five years later. Lancaster gives Hepburn the great romance she's been seeking and needs in the same manner he wooed Sister Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry.

My favorites in The Rainmaker are Hepburn's two brothers, Holliman and Bridges. Holliman in fact got a Golden Globe Award and young Earl more than held his own against this experienced group of veteran players. He's not terribly bright as he was in a whole lot of his early roles, but Earl has a good heart. Bridges is this control freak of a brother to whom the father has ceded much authority in the family and the running of their ranch. Cameron Prudhomme is the only one from the Broadway cast appearing in the film.

Rounding out the cast are Wallace Ford and Wendell Corey as the sheriff and deputy who are both on Lancaster's trail and who the Currys try desperately to fix their sister up with. Corey has a few issues of his own to resolve however.

Katharine Hepburn got one of her Best Actress Academy Award nominations for The Rainmaker, but she lost to Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia. The Rainmaker holds up very well for today's audience. After all, every family has some member they're trying to see happily wedded.