The Rain People (1969)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writer:

Francis Ford Coppola (writer)

Release Date:

27 August 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Having discovered that she is pregnant, Natalie Ravenna (Shirley Knight), a Long Island housewife panics...

Plot Keywords:

Football Player | Motel | Housewife | Social Drama | Road

Awards:

1 win

Cast

James Caan	...	Jimmy Kilgannon (Killer)
Shirley Knight	...	Natalie Ravenna
Robert Duvall	...	Gordon
Marya Zimmet	...	Rosalie
Tom Aldredge	...	Mr. Alfred
Laura Crews	...	Ellen (as Laurie Crews)
Andrew Duncan	...	Artie
Margaret Fairchild	...	Marion
Sally Gracie	...	Beth
Alan Manson	...	Lou
Robert Modica	...	Vinny Ravenna

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:AA (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA

Company:

American Zoetrope

Trivia:

When young Spanish Director Sergi Rubió was 18 he was struck by this narrative device when he saw it in the first five minutes of this film. Though he has never seen the film again he has wanted to pay homage to this scene for almost 11 years, in the writing of the Script for Sergi Rubió's Silenci (2007).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope (2004) (V)

Look on the Bright Side....

This early Coppola work is overlong and erratic, but it is not devoid of praiseworthy qualities. The cinematography is excellent and the characters are memorable. James Caan is very convincing as the mentally handicapped hitchhiker. Also, because this film was shot on location all over the Eastern U.S., it offers an interesting, authentic look at America in the late 1960's. The title phrase does not have a significant meaning in the overall story, but only comes up during a conversation between the two lead characters (Caan and Shirley Knight). The way Coppola develops the characters by using short, dream-like flashbacks is very clever. In general, this film is not in the same class as Coppola's later work, but it's a solid character-driven story.