The Rain People

This film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola prior to The Godfather fame, is a fun look back at the late sixties featuring some good performances by some fine actors and actresses. Shirley Knight is great as the conflicted housewife who hits the road while she struggles with an unexpected pregnancy. James Caan is equally fine as a brain-damaged ex-football player who’s out to visit his girlfriend. She’s the epitome of the status-seeking ingenue with the big hair and frilly dress who no longer has time for dead-end jocks. Robert Duvall is also good as the local motorcycle cop who tries to woo our heroine. But it is Marya Zimmet as the young, bra-wearing-before-her-time daughter of Duvall’s character who is the real scene stealer here. Thankfully for us her only big-screen appearance is in this film and she brings it to a most bittersweet conclusion.

This is the film that Francis Ford Coppola directed just before The Godfather.

Even though this disc cost $10, came in a factory case and the disc appeared factory- the fist image on the screen was the multi-title DVD-R, then the video has the washed out somewhat fuzzy image and the sound limited to voice range only, no dynamic range at all. It's not listed as a DVD-R copy but it sure looks so. Perhaps it's just the original 1969 vintage quality. If I could do over I wouldn't pay $10 for this, I would look for an updated version. Its a good movie but the film audio/video quality is only a bit better than some old black and white or an old drive-in projection. Of course, lucky to find old movies like this on DVD anywhere today. So there's that.

A young woman who doesn't know her own mind leaves disaster wherever she goes. The Rain People is one of those sixties movies, slow and laborious at times; it has nudity and violence, but it is a worthwhile film that will keep you wondering what is going to happen at the end, and then when it does, it forces you to think about it. Plus, Robert Duvall's sizzling portrayal of a cop about to detonate would excite anybody.

An immature woman (Shirley Knight) learns she's pregnant and runs away from her husband. She doesn't even know why she does it. She drives around, picks up a hitchhiker (James Caan) who's been injured in a high school football game, resulting in brain injury. The school pays him off to go away. He has nowhere to go and no one to care for him. So the two have adventures which are not that interesting, partly because the woman is not likable so I didn't care what happened to her if anything ever did. Robert Duvall plays a cop who falls for her at the time he's ticketing her for speeding. He's screwed up, too, and takes her away from the kid she's traveling with (and had tried to seduce) and there's an uncomfortable scene between the two of them in his trailer. He's great but then he always is. Francis Ford Coppola directed this when he was quite young so it's worth a look just for that reason.

Great movie that shows the directors experimental style in 1969. Lot's of new people James Caan and Robert Duval. I thought James Caan did a great job communicating the injured football player.

My sister and I were in one scene of this movie made in 1969 (we had never heard of James Caan or Francis Ford Coppola) and eagerly checked it out a while back, since we missed it in theaters at the time and then forgot all about it. Well, it is pretty bad, even depressing, in spite of the top-notch acting by people who went on to become very famous indeed. How Coppola managed to finagle this misogynistic soap opera into a Hollywood career is beyond me but hey, good on him. I guess he got better.

If this title should EVER see the light of day on DVD, it should include as one of its supplemental materials thehour-long 16mm documentary, "Filmmaker" shot by George Lucas (now a standard instructional film in most major film programs.)

Versión restaurada. Opera prima de Francis Ford Copola . Buena calidad de imagen y audio. Es de llamar la atención la calidad narrativa y la variedad temática del cine producido en Hollywood en la década de los 70s. Un perfecto ejemplo del cine Co-producido de manera independiente.

Buena pelicula y calidad

The technical quality of the DVD is not famous. But the film - the first fully Coppola - is a great surprise.

Envoi du DVD dans un boitier de récupération. La jaquette est collée directement sur le dit boîtier dont le film plastique nécessaire à son insertion et sa protection a été arraché.

Coppola se mueve con un lenguaje personal y visionario, por la infelicidad de una mujer, a la que una sociedad quiere condenar a una vida gris y convencional, sin tenerla en cuenta.Y esgrime con planteamientos cercanos a la protesta social feminista, el "sentir" de Natalie bajo lágrimas de neón y cortinas de lluvia a lo largo de su propia búsqueda, y de otras tantas carreteras azotadas por la soledad.