The Rain People (1969)

One of my all time favorites.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A woman discovers that she no longer wants to be married, let alone have a baby now that she is pregnant. So she gets in her car and takes off. After driving for a while, she picks up a hitchhiker hoping to have some uncomplicated sex with him. The mistake is not that she thought she could have sex without getting involved. Her mistake, and it is a common one, is not realizing how complicated and involved things can become even if you don't have sex at all.It turns out that the hitchhiker cannot take care of himself on account of a brain injury sustained while playing football, and he has neither friends nor family to help him. She only thought she was trapped before. But it is a whole lot easier to desert a husband and abort a fetus than it is to abandon someone who is helpless, especially when he has a kind heart.Fortunately, this is a movie, which resolves the problem by having him die in the end. Though she tried to leave him several times, she wishes he were still alive and could take care of him. But we in the audience know it was for the best. Trouble is, people get themselves in messy situations like this in real life, but there is no Hollywood ending to save them.

Shirley Knight as Natalie Ravenna, an overwhelmed and bored suburban NY housewife who decides, upon realizing she is pregnant, that this is all there is. A mind-numbing stagnant life. She decides to hit the road, aimlessly in her station wagon to think, to figure things out.En route she picks up brain-damaged former football player James Cann. He is functional, but naive about life in a sad way. He isn't really aware of the inhumanity man in general is capable of. We see a pastiche of American rural landscape, small towns, parades (around the Fourth of July) and the vastness of landscape as Natalie drives through stark open plains, parts of Kansas, Nebraska, etc. She figures she will stop in California as it is as "far as she can go".Robert Duvall a local sheriff pulls her over for speeding in Kansas and for some reason she has to pay the speeding fine immediately or be held in jail. A rather silly premise, but anyway. Duvall is interested in her, she decides to put on some makeup and at least have a night out.Duvall lives in an airstream trailer with a rather manic and annoying young daughter. When he realizes he isn't going to get anything from Natalie (she refuses to stay the night), he eventually becomes violent.Without spoiling the ending for the audience, basically this film is interesting in parts, a bit disturbing (we see the sadness and randomness in life, as in when Cann tries to work at an animal farm/petting zoo. The animals, chicks, rabbits, goats, lambs etc. are abused, and he decides to save them).The story is realistic in that it reflects a segment of life everyone has dealt with. The emotions Ms. Knight conveys, even by not speaking are apparent. She feels sad for Cann, but realizes her future lies in conformity. Recommended. 8/10.

**SPOILERS** Simple movie about simple people who's problems are far too complex for them to handle.Natalie aka Sara Ravenna, Shirley Knight, has become overwhelmed with married life and the fact that she's now pregnant is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Taking off from her homes in Long Island New York Natalie has no idea where she's going but hopes to find peace and tranquility somewhere in the heartland of America. It's on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that Natalie picks up hitchhiker Jimmie "Killer" Kilgannon, James Cann,who seems as lost and confused as she is. As Natalie, calling herself Sara at the time, soon finds out Jimmie had suffered a serious brain concussion while playing football on his collage team and has been reduced to such a simple minded individual who's so passive that he lets everyone, including later in the movie Natalie, step all over him.Sympathetic at first Natalie becomes very annoyed at the self pitying Jimmie for not standing up for himself and letting himself be used as a doormat by everyone he comes in contact with in the movie. Not knowing what to do with the child-like Jimmie Natalie finally gets him a Job in far off Nebraska as a cleaning man at the Reptile Jungle pet market owned and run by, Mr. Alfred, Tom Aldrege. Being the both kind and simple-minded person that he is Jimmie lets all the animals out of their cages causing havoc at the pet store and has him fired by his boss Mr. Alfred.In the meantime Natalie who thought that she was finally through with Jimmie ends up back at the Reptile Jungle when she's given a speeding ticket by traffic cop Gordon, Robert Duvall. It seems that Mr. Alfred is also the acting county judge and is the person that Natalie is to pay her traffic fine to. While all this is happening Gordon-the cop- had developed a strong liking for Natalie and wants to get her in the sack, at his trailer home, the first chance he can. Gordon a widower with a uncontrollable 12 year old daughter Rosalie, Marva Zimmet, needs a mature woman-with lots of lovin'- to make him forget his many social and psychological problems and Natalie is exactly the medicine that the doctor ordered!***SPOILERS*** Wild and shocking final with Gordon going completely out of his mind and attempting to rape Natalie, who refused his drunken advances, which has Jimmie finally get out of his self-pitying stupor and came to her rescue. There's no happy ending here with Natalie saved from being both manhandled and raped by Gordon but Jimmie, who was bouncing Gordon around like a Ping-Pong ball, ending up dead for all his good and noble efforts.Jimmy by far was he most tragic and sympathetic person in the entire movie. All Jimmie wanted was a friend to talk to and spend time with and all he ended up getting was the sh*t end of the stick. By everyone even the one person who at first treated him with kindness and understanding Natalie Ravenna! In the end Jimmie even though he was treated like dirt by everyone despite his willingness not to offend even those who stepped all over him came out as the most likable kindest as at the same time heroic person in the entire film.

I have a letter from Ms. Knight, who went to college with my older sister. In it, she tells of the hardships of making this film. She, herself, was pregnant--an interesting conjunction with the movie's plot--and the novice director was unsure, fairly green, and having great difficulties with all the decisions, logistics, etc. They were on the move all the time, and it was a very difficult shoot. The film, however, with a strong debut for James Caan, remains effective and affecting. It's a great showcase for the talent that Ms. Knight has demonstrated her entire career--on television, in movies and on the stage, where she won the Tony for "Kennedy's Children."This film has aged well.