Francis Ford Coppola's first 'personal' film, completed and released in 1969, was the last movie he made as a mostly unknown, up and coming director before The Godfather, and is in stark contrast to both that film, and the rest of his uneven career. It's ostensibly a road movie involving a disconnected young woman bored with domestic life, and pregnant with a child she isn't sure she wants, fleeing the trappings her dull marriage and hitting the open road in search of freedom. Along the way she befriends a nice man, an ex-footballer player that suffered brain damage from a traumatic head injury, played in unexpectedly subtle fashion by a young James Caan, and decides to 'help' him, despite becoming frustrated with his simple ways. Her efforts to rid of him always fail, either by guilt or chance, and eventually lead her directly into the hands of an emotionally wounded cop(Robert Duvall), who has ideas of his own. The plot is threadbare, but Coppola does a great job at detailing the emotional life of these characters, and uses editing techniques to relay back story that were not at all common in American films of the time. Shots are simple, yet extraordinarily effective, conveying both the moody desolation of the open highway, and the emptiness of American suburban life, infused with a gentle melancholy provided by the film score. Coppola also deserves credit for addressing the issue of domestic discontent from a woman's point of view in the culturally turbulent 60's. Overall, a fairly low-key film that is not what audiences have come to expect from Coppola, but one that is a minor triumph in its own quiet, unassuming way. 7.5/10.
45 Reviews
Perhaps Coppola's most underrated film.
MOscarbradley13 April 2021
Of all his films it would appear that Francis Ford Coppola is particularly fond of "The Rain People", a very modest and some might say 'arty' drama he made early in his career. Like a lot of American films popular at the time it's a 'road movie' with Shirley Knight as the young wife who ups and leaves her husband in the middle of the night, gets in her car and drives West for no paricular reason she can think of, meeting on her journey James Caan, (brain-damaged football player), and Robert Duvall, (randy motorcycle cop). She also happens to be pregnant and, like so many Americans in movies at the time, has gone off to 'find herself'.
Coppola says it was a personal project and there are some people who think it's his first masterpiece but it wasn't a hit and despite Coppola's name on the credits has become something of a lost movie. Knight is excellent as she mopes about and, you might say, teasing any man who comes her way while Duvall and especially Caan match her at every turn. You could say it's a quintessential American film of its time, a 'movie-brat' movie if there ever was one and Coppola's first real 'signature' picture, (though I do have a soft-spot for the wonderful "Finian's Rainbow" which preceeded it). If you do get a chance to track this down it is certainly well worth seeing.
Coppola says it was a personal project and there are some people who think it's his first masterpiece but it wasn't a hit and despite Coppola's name on the credits has become something of a lost movie. Knight is excellent as she mopes about and, you might say, teasing any man who comes her way while Duvall and especially Caan match her at every turn. You could say it's a quintessential American film of its time, a 'movie-brat' movie if there ever was one and Coppola's first real 'signature' picture, (though I do have a soft-spot for the wonderful "Finian's Rainbow" which preceeded it). If you do get a chance to track this down it is certainly well worth seeing.
Rain-washed Heartbreaker!
shepardjessica10 July 2004
Early Coppola with sublime cast that most folks never got to see (a pity). There's some wonderful things going on in this one - Shirley Knight's best performance (an underrated actress), a road trip in the late 1960's, James Caan very restrained and moving, Robert Duvall in a part he was born to play (edgy, lonely, motorcycle cop), and a touching script with F. Coppola behind the wheel.
If this had been made five years LATER by some nobody, it would have been a smash (so much for timing). Anyway, I recommend this to all people who don't need outer-space explosions and bad mother-in-law jokes or a billion dollar budget to sit for a few hours and watch a story unfold. Give this one a chance if you can find it!
If this had been made five years LATER by some nobody, it would have been a smash (so much for timing). Anyway, I recommend this to all people who don't need outer-space explosions and bad mother-in-law jokes or a billion dollar budget to sit for a few hours and watch a story unfold. Give this one a chance if you can find it!
Soul-searching American odyssey, far ahead of its time...
moonspinner558 September 2009
Francis Ford Coppola wrote and directed this stunningly personal story of a married woman's flight from her husband--and the reality that perhaps the youthful glee and excitement of her younger years are behind her. We learn little about this woman's marriage except that she has been feeling her independence slipping away as of late; she's also recently learned she's pregnant, which has further complicated her heart (she doesn't want to be a complacent wifey, despite the maternal way she speaks to her husband over the phone). She meets two men on her journey: a former college football hero who--after an accident during a game--has been left with permanent brain damage, and a sexy, strutting motorcycle cop who has a great deal of trouble in his own life. The clear, clean landscapes (as photographed by the very talented Wilmer Butler) are astutely realized, as are the characters. Shirley Knight, James Caan, and Robert Duvall each deliver strong, gripping performances, most especially since these are not very likable people in conventional terms. Some scenes (such as Knight's first call home from a pay-phone, or her first night alone with Caan where they play 'Simon Says') are almost too intimate to watch. Coppola toys with reality, turning the jagged memories of his characters into scrapbooks we've been made privy to. He allows scenes to play out, yet the editing is quite nimble and the film is never allowed to get too heavy (there are at least two or three very frisky moments). It's a heady endeavor--so much so that the picture was still being shown at festivals nearly five years later. Some may shun Coppola's unapologetic twisting of events in order to underline the finale with bitter irony, however the forcefulness and drive behind the picture nearly obliterate its shortcomings. *** from ****
Shirley Knight is Wonderful
LeaBlacks_Balls21 February 2010
Shirley Knight plays Sara Ravenna, a Long Island housewife who runs away from her marriage when she discovers she is pregnant. She plans to drive into America's heartland and start anew. Along the way she picks up a friendly hitchhiker (James Caan) who calls himself 'Killer.' Soon she discovers that the good natured 'Killer' is actually brain damaged, and by picking him up she has unknowingly taken on a huge responsibility. The two of them drive all the way to Nebraska, where Sara gets Killer a job helping out at a roadside reptile farm. It is here that Sara meets Gordon, a local cop, and soon things go horribly wrong for everyone.
This is a powerful drama about people disconnected from society, alienated by the choices they make or by the limits imposed on them by others. Even with such a low budget and a very freewheeling attitude, the film is able to capture everything that needs to be said through these clearly defined characters. Shirley Knight has a complex, diverging role and there are moments of some awe-inspiring acting by her. One of my favorites is when she is on the telephone calling her home to her worried husband the first time. It is such a tense scene on both ends, and in every small gesture and inflection of a word, so much about her is spoken with so little. Then comes in the character of 'Killer' played by James Caan. This character is unlike any I've ever seen him play, and he performs wonderfully. It's one of his best performances as he is very restrained and moving.
The way Coppola develops the characters by using short, dream-like flashbacks is very clever, adding a fragmented kind of view onto it all. The quick flashbacks that are graphic and self-contained contrast well with the longer shots in some crucial scenes. 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.
I haven't seen many other films starring Ms. Knight, I'm only familiar with her more recent work on television, usually playing a nagging mother in law or a dotty old woman. It was great seeing her so young, beautiful, and so wonderfully subtle in this movie. It's also kind of a shame that James Caan went on to be typecast as the 'tough guy' for the rest of his career, because this film evidenced that he is capable of so much more than that.
This is a powerful drama about people disconnected from society, alienated by the choices they make or by the limits imposed on them by others. Even with such a low budget and a very freewheeling attitude, the film is able to capture everything that needs to be said through these clearly defined characters. Shirley Knight has a complex, diverging role and there are moments of some awe-inspiring acting by her. One of my favorites is when she is on the telephone calling her home to her worried husband the first time. It is such a tense scene on both ends, and in every small gesture and inflection of a word, so much about her is spoken with so little. Then comes in the character of 'Killer' played by James Caan. This character is unlike any I've ever seen him play, and he performs wonderfully. It's one of his best performances as he is very restrained and moving.
The way Coppola develops the characters by using short, dream-like flashbacks is very clever, adding a fragmented kind of view onto it all. The quick flashbacks that are graphic and self-contained contrast well with the longer shots in some crucial scenes. 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.
I haven't seen many other films starring Ms. Knight, I'm only familiar with her more recent work on television, usually playing a nagging mother in law or a dotty old woman. It was great seeing her so young, beautiful, and so wonderfully subtle in this movie. It's also kind of a shame that James Caan went on to be typecast as the 'tough guy' for the rest of his career, because this film evidenced that he is capable of so much more than that.
one of the sleepers of the late sixties, with (good) experimental ideals for a drama
Quinoa198416 June 2006
In some scenes in the Rain People, Francis Ford Coppola's precursor to his hey-day of the seventies, there is the mark of a similar situation to 1969's Easy Rider, but not exactly in the same reference frame. Here we have a drama about disconnected people from society, in some ways alienated by the choices or by limits imposed by one mean or another. It's one of those rare original dramas where some scenes stand alone as total knockouts.
Even with such a low-string budget and a very freewheeling, so to speak, attitude about filming the movie, Coppola is able to capture everything that needs to be said through these clearly defined characters and the curved, unexpected degrees of one character versus the helplessness of another, or vice versa, or both. And, as one might be inclined seeing as how it is very much about the cutaways of suburban life of the 1960s, it has that escapism of the film mentioned before, but of a more concrete, near timeless quality with the drama and the underlying issues. In a way, if Bergman were on route as a quasi-guerrilla 20-something filmmaker out to get the strange truths of everyday outsiders, this might be it.
But along with all of the very direct and sometimes self-conscious photography (though also with a more documentary approach at times, akin with its indeterminable characters), the actors all fit into place. Shirley Knight, an actress I'm not too familiar with, has a complex, diverging role as a pregnant wife running off in a sort of existentialist conundrum of what life is there to have. There are moments of some awe-inspiring acting by her, and one of my favorites (if not my favorite) is when she is on the telephone calling her husband the first time. Such a tense scene on both ends, and in every small gesture and inflection of a word so much about her is spoken with so little.
It's extraordinary in ways that mirror others in Coppola's films. Then comes in the character of 'killer' played by James Caan. This, too, is a dangerous character to take on, as it is a mix of childish bewilderment and amusement with scarred memories. Think Forrest Gump if he didn't make it past the football and wit. It's one of his best, actually, by being the most minimalist- for a guy who's usually playing tough guys in movies, here's one that also is part of the crux of the story and of Knight's character. Also very good in a supporting role is Robert Duvall as a cop with a rough side and rather checkered past; kind of an early sample of other defected characters he would play later on in his career.
So the characters, and what Coppola risks in having an uneasiness running in them, are really what make up the film, as whatever story there is it is definitely not resolved in the usual way you might think or expect. The last ten or so minutes are like others in Coppola's work, where the specific tragedies on all sides are undercut by the emotional- and psychological- implications this will leave on the principles are amplified to the sublime and sad.
This is, for its time, brave on the part of what is trying to be represented (in both the freedom as well as the flaws and ambiguities) in the subject matter. And the style of the picture adds a fragmented kind of view onto it all with quick flashbacks that are graphic and self-contained in a contrast with the longer shots in some crucial scenes. It's a road movie of its period, but its also got a lot more working than it would under another filmmaker with less chances to take on the nature of these outcast characters. One of the best films of 1969.
Even with such a low-string budget and a very freewheeling, so to speak, attitude about filming the movie, Coppola is able to capture everything that needs to be said through these clearly defined characters and the curved, unexpected degrees of one character versus the helplessness of another, or vice versa, or both. And, as one might be inclined seeing as how it is very much about the cutaways of suburban life of the 1960s, it has that escapism of the film mentioned before, but of a more concrete, near timeless quality with the drama and the underlying issues. In a way, if Bergman were on route as a quasi-guerrilla 20-something filmmaker out to get the strange truths of everyday outsiders, this might be it.
But along with all of the very direct and sometimes self-conscious photography (though also with a more documentary approach at times, akin with its indeterminable characters), the actors all fit into place. Shirley Knight, an actress I'm not too familiar with, has a complex, diverging role as a pregnant wife running off in a sort of existentialist conundrum of what life is there to have. There are moments of some awe-inspiring acting by her, and one of my favorites (if not my favorite) is when she is on the telephone calling her husband the first time. Such a tense scene on both ends, and in every small gesture and inflection of a word so much about her is spoken with so little.
It's extraordinary in ways that mirror others in Coppola's films. Then comes in the character of 'killer' played by James Caan. This, too, is a dangerous character to take on, as it is a mix of childish bewilderment and amusement with scarred memories. Think Forrest Gump if he didn't make it past the football and wit. It's one of his best, actually, by being the most minimalist- for a guy who's usually playing tough guys in movies, here's one that also is part of the crux of the story and of Knight's character. Also very good in a supporting role is Robert Duvall as a cop with a rough side and rather checkered past; kind of an early sample of other defected characters he would play later on in his career.
So the characters, and what Coppola risks in having an uneasiness running in them, are really what make up the film, as whatever story there is it is definitely not resolved in the usual way you might think or expect. The last ten or so minutes are like others in Coppola's work, where the specific tragedies on all sides are undercut by the emotional- and psychological- implications this will leave on the principles are amplified to the sublime and sad.
This is, for its time, brave on the part of what is trying to be represented (in both the freedom as well as the flaws and ambiguities) in the subject matter. And the style of the picture adds a fragmented kind of view onto it all with quick flashbacks that are graphic and self-contained in a contrast with the longer shots in some crucial scenes. It's a road movie of its period, but its also got a lot more working than it would under another filmmaker with less chances to take on the nature of these outcast characters. One of the best films of 1969.
Look on the Bright Side....
Freak-3017 October 1999
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.
The simplicities and complexities of life
sol12189 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
**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.
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.
Coppola's greatness is emerging....
lasttimeisaw30 March 2016
On the road, driving aimless westward, New York housewife Natalie Ravenna (Knight) finds out her unexpected pregnancy and needs some alone time, so she leaves her asleep husband a note and a breakfast, then starts her peregrination all by herself.
Coppola's fourth feature and he was 29 when the movie is shot, THE RAIN PEOPLE is an unsung gem prior to THE GODFATHER (1972), using extreme close-ups, mood-reflecting camera-work, Coppola retains a sober and intuitive acumen to guide Natalie on a liberation trip where she battles between her maternal instinct to a former college footballer Jimmy (Caan) and her flirtation with a macho highway patrolman Gordon (Duvall), to an end where an impending crime of passion arrives as a fatalist blow to a woman who is brave enough to go out on a limb, flout social conventions and abides by her true feelings, no matter how fickle they are.
Caan's Jimmy, whose nickname Killer turns out to be rather ironic, first appears as an ingenuous hitchhiker, a suitable object for some uncomplicated dalliance, but in a tantalising segment of playing Simon Says in the motel room, the libidinous foreplay of dominance and obedience hits a sudden swerve when Natalie realises Killer is a simpleton suffering from brain damage during a match, and now is discharged from the college with a compensation of a thousand dollars. Since then, Killer becomes a sweet burden to her, his sweetheart refuses to take him in, he botches the job she finds for him, what can she do with him? She has her own issues to deal with, especially when Gordon comes into her life, she cannot hold the responsibility to take care of Killer anymore, his affection for her can never be reciprocal and the world is too cruel a place for him, he will be eaten alive. The upshot is a bit rash to plunge Killer to the locale of the trailer park, but it strikes home with an emotional upheaval mirrors our own lament of the departed innocence and a pure soul.
The cast is extraordinary, two-times Oscar nominee Shirley Knight imprints an indelible mark with her pyrotechnic rendering and James Caan is never so unassumingly moving, whereas Robert Duvall is virile and menacing, yet, Gordon's own tale-of-woe implies the duplicity of his character, a worldly-wise kind but fatally flawed.
In the form of a frivolous road movie, THE RAIN PEOPLE is an in-depth examination of a woman balking at a life-altering moment, how she has to come to term with the responsibility of bringing up a new life in this world (will she keep the baby? it is an open question, but the ending suggests yes), through her chance-meeting with a child-like Killer and also sharply chastises a morally downgrading society, male-chauvinistic, avaricious and wanting of sympathy. It is a wonderful movie which is criminally underestimated by its time but has no difficulty to pick up new audience, not just as a footnote of Coppola's massively hallowed THE GODFATHER and its sequel.
Coppola's fourth feature and he was 29 when the movie is shot, THE RAIN PEOPLE is an unsung gem prior to THE GODFATHER (1972), using extreme close-ups, mood-reflecting camera-work, Coppola retains a sober and intuitive acumen to guide Natalie on a liberation trip where she battles between her maternal instinct to a former college footballer Jimmy (Caan) and her flirtation with a macho highway patrolman Gordon (Duvall), to an end where an impending crime of passion arrives as a fatalist blow to a woman who is brave enough to go out on a limb, flout social conventions and abides by her true feelings, no matter how fickle they are.
Caan's Jimmy, whose nickname Killer turns out to be rather ironic, first appears as an ingenuous hitchhiker, a suitable object for some uncomplicated dalliance, but in a tantalising segment of playing Simon Says in the motel room, the libidinous foreplay of dominance and obedience hits a sudden swerve when Natalie realises Killer is a simpleton suffering from brain damage during a match, and now is discharged from the college with a compensation of a thousand dollars. Since then, Killer becomes a sweet burden to her, his sweetheart refuses to take him in, he botches the job she finds for him, what can she do with him? She has her own issues to deal with, especially when Gordon comes into her life, she cannot hold the responsibility to take care of Killer anymore, his affection for her can never be reciprocal and the world is too cruel a place for him, he will be eaten alive. The upshot is a bit rash to plunge Killer to the locale of the trailer park, but it strikes home with an emotional upheaval mirrors our own lament of the departed innocence and a pure soul.
The cast is extraordinary, two-times Oscar nominee Shirley Knight imprints an indelible mark with her pyrotechnic rendering and James Caan is never so unassumingly moving, whereas Robert Duvall is virile and menacing, yet, Gordon's own tale-of-woe implies the duplicity of his character, a worldly-wise kind but fatally flawed.
In the form of a frivolous road movie, THE RAIN PEOPLE is an in-depth examination of a woman balking at a life-altering moment, how she has to come to term with the responsibility of bringing up a new life in this world (will she keep the baby? it is an open question, but the ending suggests yes), through her chance-meeting with a child-like Killer and also sharply chastises a morally downgrading society, male-chauvinistic, avaricious and wanting of sympathy. It is a wonderful movie which is criminally underestimated by its time but has no difficulty to pick up new audience, not just as a footnote of Coppola's massively hallowed THE GODFATHER and its sequel.
fascinating
SnoopyStyle9 March 2020
Pregnant housewife Natalie Ravenna (Shirley Knight) leaves her life and rents a motel room. She's going west and picks up hitchhiker Jimmy "Killer" Kilgannon (James Caan). He's a brain-damaged former football star. Along the way, she encounters policeman Gordon (Robert Duvall).
It's an intriguing early film from director Francis Ford Coppola. It's weird to see Shirley Knight so young. Caan has the fascinating character. Their relationship is fascinating. I would probably change Duvall a little and change the ending but that's a minor point. It's a fascinating film.
It's an intriguing early film from director Francis Ford Coppola. It's weird to see Shirley Knight so young. Caan has the fascinating character. Their relationship is fascinating. I would probably change Duvall a little and change the ending but that's a minor point. It's a fascinating film.
Uneasy Rider
wes-connors21 September 2009
After discovering she is pregnant, Long Island housewife Shirley Knight (as Natalie Ravenna) leaves home, in an effort to find herself. Her road trip takes on additional meaning after she picks up brain-damaged football player James Caan (as Jimmy "Killer" Kilgannon), and gets herself picked up by tough cop Robert Duvall (as Gordon); self-admittedly, Ms. Knight is wondering what sex would be like with a man other than her husband. The story does not take full advantage of Knight's obviously fine lead performance...
While riding, Mr. Caan explains, "The rain people are people made of rain, and when they cry they disappear altogether because they cry themselves away." He is referring to himself and Knight. On another level, Caan and Mr. Duval are likely what Knight is running away from - a needy baby and an overbearing husband; well, wherever you go, there you are... Francis Ford Coppola's next directorial effort, co-starring Caan and Duval, was much more successful... a little something called "The Godfather".
***** The Rain People (8/27/69) Francis Ford Coppola ~ Shirley Knight, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Marya Zimmet
While riding, Mr. Caan explains, "The rain people are people made of rain, and when they cry they disappear altogether because they cry themselves away." He is referring to himself and Knight. On another level, Caan and Mr. Duval are likely what Knight is running away from - a needy baby and an overbearing husband; well, wherever you go, there you are... Francis Ford Coppola's next directorial effort, co-starring Caan and Duval, was much more successful... a little something called "The Godfather".
***** The Rain People (8/27/69) Francis Ford Coppola ~ Shirley Knight, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Marya Zimmet
A Road To Nowhere
bobvend1 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Shirley Knight plays a newly-pregnant suburban housewife who's slow desperate panic has driven her to flee the existence laid out ahead of her. As she takes off in a station wagon, we don't know where she's going and neither does she. She has taken no luggage on her journey but nevertheless brings with her a lot of baggage. Much of her character is revealed during sporadic calls home to her husband who is not so much distraught as he is abusive. These conversations, because of their first-rate execution, are charged with realism.
She soon picks up hitch-hiker James Caan, who turns out to be a former football player who's head injury during a game has left him mentally deficient, a large child. Soon after his injury and subsequent surgery, the college he had played for stuffed 1000 dollars into his pocket and washed their hands of him, casting him adrift to fend for himself. With apparently no family to look after him, Knight's character unwittingly becomes his de facto mother.
Knight is unwilling to take on motherhood in any form, and is already considering an abortion. In another sense she tries several times to "abort" Caan's character as well. She often abandons him roadside as she becomes overwhelmed by fear and desperation at the grim inescapable realization that she is his only help. And she can't even help herself.
Robert Duvall rounds out the cast as an abusive hard-worn motorcycle cop who, as another reviewer has noted, represents the husband Knight has run away from. Acting is first-rate all around, as is Coppola's direction in a film that was definitely a '60's film yet far ahead of its time. Certainly the finest role for Shirley Knight, an actress who definitely proved up to be to the challenge. Anyone who has suffered through one too many Hollywood "feel-good" movies will find welcome relief in The Rain People- bleak but real and utterly fascinating.
She soon picks up hitch-hiker James Caan, who turns out to be a former football player who's head injury during a game has left him mentally deficient, a large child. Soon after his injury and subsequent surgery, the college he had played for stuffed 1000 dollars into his pocket and washed their hands of him, casting him adrift to fend for himself. With apparently no family to look after him, Knight's character unwittingly becomes his de facto mother.
Knight is unwilling to take on motherhood in any form, and is already considering an abortion. In another sense she tries several times to "abort" Caan's character as well. She often abandons him roadside as she becomes overwhelmed by fear and desperation at the grim inescapable realization that she is his only help. And she can't even help herself.
Robert Duvall rounds out the cast as an abusive hard-worn motorcycle cop who, as another reviewer has noted, represents the husband Knight has run away from. Acting is first-rate all around, as is Coppola's direction in a film that was definitely a '60's film yet far ahead of its time. Certainly the finest role for Shirley Knight, an actress who definitely proved up to be to the challenge. Anyone who has suffered through one too many Hollywood "feel-good" movies will find welcome relief in The Rain People- bleak but real and utterly fascinating.
Different Type of Plot For This Period
DKosty12323 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This is a film that when you say James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Shirley Knight, with Francis Ford Coppola writing and directing, you'd expect an 8 or 9 rating. When you watch the film, it does not quite live up to the sum of these parts. There are a few reasons.
Shirley Knight is brilliant, and her character is addressing the issue of Roe V Wade (1973) here 4 years before the court decision. I credit Coppola for bringing that into the plot. What gets hard to understand is that she runs away because she is pregnant from her husband, not sure if she is going to be a good mother, and not sure of anything it seems. The script has her calling her husband, yet it does not really explain if she loves her husband, though I suspect not.
James Caan is very good as the brain damaged football player whose nickname is killer and who has been given $1,000 to leave the college he got injured in a game at. It is not a big dialogue role which had to be tough for the talkative Caan but he brings it off pretty well. Duvall is the lonely cop whose wife died in a fire and comes into the picture pulling Knight over for speeding and decides he wants to use Knight to replace the departed one.
Knight's conflict in my opinion is not explained well enough and that is the weakness in this one. If that were explained better, the film would hook the viewer more. Because of her considerable talent Shirley does hook the viewer in late in the film, but if the hook had come earlier, this would be a batter film.
While this film does feature a dream Wedding Sequence with Knight's husband. The sequence uses the same music as is used at weddings in the Godfather films. There is some foreshadowing for Coppola.
This is a good film, that is just a little short of being a great film. While the parts should have made it, the results do not.
Shirley Knight is brilliant, and her character is addressing the issue of Roe V Wade (1973) here 4 years before the court decision. I credit Coppola for bringing that into the plot. What gets hard to understand is that she runs away because she is pregnant from her husband, not sure if she is going to be a good mother, and not sure of anything it seems. The script has her calling her husband, yet it does not really explain if she loves her husband, though I suspect not.
James Caan is very good as the brain damaged football player whose nickname is killer and who has been given $1,000 to leave the college he got injured in a game at. It is not a big dialogue role which had to be tough for the talkative Caan but he brings it off pretty well. Duvall is the lonely cop whose wife died in a fire and comes into the picture pulling Knight over for speeding and decides he wants to use Knight to replace the departed one.
Knight's conflict in my opinion is not explained well enough and that is the weakness in this one. If that were explained better, the film would hook the viewer more. Because of her considerable talent Shirley does hook the viewer in late in the film, but if the hook had come earlier, this would be a batter film.
While this film does feature a dream Wedding Sequence with Knight's husband. The sequence uses the same music as is used at weddings in the Godfather films. There is some foreshadowing for Coppola.
This is a good film, that is just a little short of being a great film. While the parts should have made it, the results do not.
Uneven film, although the performances shine
sdave759623 September 2009
Just caught "The Rain People" on Turner Classic Movies late one night. The film was released in 1969. Shirley Knight stars as Natalie, a Long Island housewife who -- exact reasons unknown -- leaves her husband and embarks on a road trip, not knowing exactly where she is going. Natalie is also newly pregnant, which complicates things. Along the way, she picks up a brain-damaged ex-football player "Jimmy" (James Caan), who has been kicked out of his college and is hitchhiking. There are many twists and turns along the way between these two, as Natalie struggles to take care of Jimmy and she begins to realize he is mentally limited and cannot take care of himself. She is going through her own struggles, needless to say, and in no position to care for him. Natalie appears to be a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown at times; she makes some odd phone calls to her husband, who begs her to come home. Natalie tries to dump Jimmy several times, only to have him re-enter her life through circumstances. A young Robert Duvall plays a strange and troubled cop who befriends Natalie. You get the sense all along that this film is going to end badly, and it does. This film is certainly uneven at times, and the script is somewhat lacking. Francis Ford Coppola directed this, and of course he would soon become immensely famous in the next few years for directing "The Godfather." The actors are good ones, needless to say, as they all would have futures ahead of them in film. Shirley Knight is the least known of the three, although she is also underrated as an actor. James Caan is especially effective here and he seems to just inhabit this character. This film remains little more than a curiosity now, no doubt because it is an early movie of Coppola's, and I confess I had never heard of it. So God bless Turner Classic Movies for bringing it to a new audience.
A Slow-Burning Fuse
dougdoepke29 November 2014
Five years earlier and I doubt the movie could have found a distributor. It's slow, contemplative, and nothing much happens until the end. But for those who follow inner conflict as well as outer, it's a stunner. Pregnant suburban wife Knight hits the road, fleeing a consuming marriage. But she's not just fleeing, she's also aimlessly searching—note how she first bypasses Caan before hazily backing up. Trouble is Caan's brain damaged, and in need of adult supervision. Now Knight's in a pickle. On one hand, her budding maternal instinct kicks in; on the other, a grown child is too much what she's fleeing from. Thus, the confusion of her life mounts. But hey, she meets macho cop Duvall who's got adventure written all over him. Yet he turns out to be domineering and mean, probably too much like the husband she's abandoned. This leads up to an ending that is both touching and ironic.
For expansive post-war couples the suburbs were liberating; but a generation later and younger folks like Knight felt confined. This is a 60's road picture feminine style. When Americans get restless or unhappy, they head westward in frontier tradition. So why shouldn't a woman, even when alone and vulnerable. The acting here is outstanding, and it better be since character carries the story or what there is of it. I really like Caan who shows why less is sometimes more. And get a load of those desolate roadsides, no cosmetic Hollywood here. Too bad the film's so obscure in the Coppola canon. All in all, it's a telling reflection of a restless time, perhaps even of what some call the human condition. However, I can understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea, and certainly a long way from Coppola's next, The Godfather (1972).
For expansive post-war couples the suburbs were liberating; but a generation later and younger folks like Knight felt confined. This is a 60's road picture feminine style. When Americans get restless or unhappy, they head westward in frontier tradition. So why shouldn't a woman, even when alone and vulnerable. The acting here is outstanding, and it better be since character carries the story or what there is of it. I really like Caan who shows why less is sometimes more. And get a load of those desolate roadsides, no cosmetic Hollywood here. Too bad the film's so obscure in the Coppola canon. All in all, it's a telling reflection of a restless time, perhaps even of what some call the human condition. However, I can understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea, and certainly a long way from Coppola's next, The Godfather (1972).
buckle up tight... crazy road trip!
ksf-217 April 2020
This is such a 1960s, 1970s thinker piece. Natalie (Shirley Knight) is pretty. and pregnant, and needs time to think about the next direction of her life. Co-stars James Caan and Robert Duvall. and of course, George and Marcia Lucas are involved in the film, so we know it will be a success. Natalie is out on the road, and picks up a guy that's a bit slow. but she can't leave him. now that she's picked him up, she feels responsible. and this is one of those out of town road-trips where NOTHING goes right. Robert Duvall is the cop who gives her a ticket, has a coffee with her, and gets more involved than he should. Natalie is a pretty blond, and gets caught up with everyone around her. she's like a tornado that pulls everything around her up in her circle. looking at the filming locations, this thing was filmed just all over the east coast. She's such a mess, she keeps calling home to speak with her husband, but doesn't really know what she wants. Written and directed by Francis Coppola, just before Patton and the Godfather. Wild, wacky road trip film.
Balls & Chains & Rains
MogwaiMovieReviews12 March 2021
Very small-scale, downbeat early film from Francis Ford Coppola, of a similar mood to Easy Rider and Midnight Cowboy and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter from around the same year, and yet it also very much feels like a more modern indie film too: it particularly put me in mind of Vincent Gallo's Buffalo 66 and The Brown Bunny.
James Caan is striking and memorable (and eerily reminiscent of Ben Affleck) as the brain-damaged college footballer given a ride by the frustrated housewife on the run from her married life, while Shirley Knight is very good at points but rather ordinary at others. The same could be said of the film itself: well-made and haunting in places, but a little slow and boring elsewhere: at moments it feels like it sums up the era in miniature - most unusually, for the time it was made, in its focus upon the callous selfishness inherent in 'finding oneself' - and at others it just meanders along like a student film with little to say.
All in all, a promising first step from Coppola, but many miles away from the films he was about to make in the seventies.
James Caan is striking and memorable (and eerily reminiscent of Ben Affleck) as the brain-damaged college footballer given a ride by the frustrated housewife on the run from her married life, while Shirley Knight is very good at points but rather ordinary at others. The same could be said of the film itself: well-made and haunting in places, but a little slow and boring elsewhere: at moments it feels like it sums up the era in miniature - most unusually, for the time it was made, in its focus upon the callous selfishness inherent in 'finding oneself' - and at others it just meanders along like a student film with little to say.
All in all, a promising first step from Coppola, but many miles away from the films he was about to make in the seventies.
Interesting slice-of-life from Coppola
RNMorton25 October 1999
Newly-pregnant Knight bolts from husband for non-specific reasons which are apparently self-related. On the road, she becomes entangled with Caan, brain-damaged former football star, and Duvall, wacky but abusive cop. The type of movie that could only have been spawned in the 60's. Worth a look for its non-formula plot and for early performances by future stars.
Disappointing resolution does not take away too much from rest of flick, which shows an interesting slice of life.
Disappointing resolution does not take away too much from rest of flick, which shows an interesting slice of life.
It Is Easier to Get Involved Than You Think
disinterested_spectator8 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
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.
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.
Coppola's first film aptly demonstrates emerging greatness
lewgin-115 November 2004
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.
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.
The Rain People
StevenKeys13 April 2021
James Caan co-stars as a brain injured, ex-gridiron star who's given a paltry payout by his school and then wanders into the path of wife on the run Knight, both to intersect down the road with creepy cop Duvall (2.5/4). A curious but weird, tense trip, part of the trend in deconstruction where the protagonist is written only to be ground to a nub. See also; The-Swimmer (68) Vanishing-Point (71) & The-Conversation (74).
Booorrrrring
deexsocalygal5 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
What a horrible long, slow, boring movie. I specifically went on here to check ratings. People rated this high, & the critics rated this high. It has one of my favorite actors in it Robert Duvall. So I rented it. From the moment it started I was wanting to fast forward. Long scenes of nothing but her in her car driving-seen from a distance. How boring is that? Then all these scenes of her at pay phone booths calling her husband. How much more boring can a movie get if for the first 20 minutes you see nothing but a car driving from a distance? Then you see her pull over at a pay phone & call her husband who screams & yells at her to come home. Then she picks up a hitch hiker who turns out to be a guy who's brain damaged from football. No good conversation will come from him. They drive around aimlessly neither one has an idea where to go or what they want out of life. Booorrrring. The last 10 minutes are the only bit of excitement you'll get out of this. She gets a speeding ticket & the cop (Robert Duvall) asks her out. She goes to the cop's moterhome & they get all lovey dovey. She decides she's made a mistake & tries to leave. He says he's not letting her leave. The next thing we know braindamaged ex-football star breaks in & saves her from getting raped. The cop has a little girl who finds her Daddy's gun & shoots ex-football star who's beating up her Daddy. The end. Depressing boring movie. Do yourself a favor & watch something else.
RIP for actress Shirley Knight, Who Really Stood Out (Stands Out)
TheFearmakers23 April 2020
While his PATTON Oscar-winning screenplay gave Francis Ford Coppola the power and clout to direct two of the greatest (or perhaps THE greatest) motion pictures ever made... both GODFATHER films... it was THE RAIN PEOPLE that proved he could invest worthy meantime in flawed human beings...
In an independent road movie starring Shirley Knight as a married woman haunted with frantic memories of her wedding party and wedding night, and hitchhiking James Caan as a man-child who, once a star college football player having suffered a severe head injury, passively relies on Knight as a kind of mother figure, protecting him from various selfish small town residents when she can hardly take care of herself.
The best scenes are their moments together, trying to understand what one... Knight in a headstrong yet reluctantly sympathetic performance... is escaping from and the other... Caan with subtle finesse yet holding back formidable strength... is heading towards within the randomly rainy landscape: a kind of hopeless, melancholy character in itself...
Fading into a practically separate third act involving Robert Duvall as a highway cop with precocious, preteen yet adult-minded daughter Marya Zimmet (who could have had her own movie growing in a shoddy trailer park), the results are predictable yet inevitable and hopelessly universal... while Coppola's use of flashbacks help elevate the otherwise deliberately futile journey.
In an independent road movie starring Shirley Knight as a married woman haunted with frantic memories of her wedding party and wedding night, and hitchhiking James Caan as a man-child who, once a star college football player having suffered a severe head injury, passively relies on Knight as a kind of mother figure, protecting him from various selfish small town residents when she can hardly take care of herself.
The best scenes are their moments together, trying to understand what one... Knight in a headstrong yet reluctantly sympathetic performance... is escaping from and the other... Caan with subtle finesse yet holding back formidable strength... is heading towards within the randomly rainy landscape: a kind of hopeless, melancholy character in itself...
Fading into a practically separate third act involving Robert Duvall as a highway cop with precocious, preteen yet adult-minded daughter Marya Zimmet (who could have had her own movie growing in a shoddy trailer park), the results are predictable yet inevitable and hopelessly universal... while Coppola's use of flashbacks help elevate the otherwise deliberately futile journey.
A Journey Of Discovery
atlasmb12 February 2024
When this film was made, writer/director Francis Ford Coppola was about to enter the most productive period of his career. Here he essentially takes his crew on the road to record the story of a married woman who feels trapped in her life and seeks clarity.
New Yorker Natalie Ravenna (Shirley Knight) gets up early one morning, sneaks out of the house, and ostensibly leaves her husband. After checking in with her parents, she starts driving westward. Later, she phones her husband from the road only to have no coherent answers to his questions. But he doesn't seem inclined to want to understand either.
Eventually she leaves the Pennsylvania turnpike and picks up a hitchhiker named Jimmy (James Caan). She has a vague plan of seducing the young man. But her intentions are not truly clear; she operates from moment to moment, hoping that clarity will find her. When she fully grasps the entirety of Jimmy's situation, she finds that her life is more complicated, not less.
She continues to lead a reactive life, rather than map out a plan. Coppola does not seem to intend a morality story that conveys a clear lesson. Like the film "Easy Rider", the protagonist is searching for something and becomes the thing acted upon as much as the agent of action. The act of untethering from social structures and societal norms is like casting dice and discovering the results.
Coppola and his actors create some very interesting characters. Their interactions are unpredictable and fascinating.
Coppola directed the musical "Finian's Rainbow" before this film, and "The Godfather" after it. If that doesn't demonstrate diversity, I don't know what does.
New Yorker Natalie Ravenna (Shirley Knight) gets up early one morning, sneaks out of the house, and ostensibly leaves her husband. After checking in with her parents, she starts driving westward. Later, she phones her husband from the road only to have no coherent answers to his questions. But he doesn't seem inclined to want to understand either.
Eventually she leaves the Pennsylvania turnpike and picks up a hitchhiker named Jimmy (James Caan). She has a vague plan of seducing the young man. But her intentions are not truly clear; she operates from moment to moment, hoping that clarity will find her. When she fully grasps the entirety of Jimmy's situation, she finds that her life is more complicated, not less.
She continues to lead a reactive life, rather than map out a plan. Coppola does not seem to intend a morality story that conveys a clear lesson. Like the film "Easy Rider", the protagonist is searching for something and becomes the thing acted upon as much as the agent of action. The act of untethering from social structures and societal norms is like casting dice and discovering the results.
Coppola and his actors create some very interesting characters. Their interactions are unpredictable and fascinating.
Coppola directed the musical "Finian's Rainbow" before this film, and "The Godfather" after it. If that doesn't demonstrate diversity, I don't know what does.
A waste of a lot of good young acting talent
Ed-Shullivan16 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Writer/Director Francis Ford Coppola has an extensive resume, and I know everyone has to start somewhere. Thank goodness Coppola's next two films as a Director were (1972) The Godfather and (1974) The Conversation so he definitely redeemed himself from this low brow family tragedy drama film.
I liked the acting of the three key actors, namely Shirley Knight, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, but the story line was a very weak one. A woman named Natalie (Shirley Knight) who has discovered she is pregnant suddenly develops a seven (7) year itch and she is unsure if she wants to stay married, and/or carry her baby for the full term of her pregnancy. So she decides to take a road trip with the intention of having an extra-marital affair with a stranger she picks up hitchhiking. Natalie asks her hitchhiker his name and he responds "my name is Killer (bad writing eh?) Jimmy Kilgannon (James Caan) so people just call me Killer."
Very quickly Natalie finds the good looking, young and well built Jimmy has been tackled far too many times on the football field and has had his brain jarred loose. He's nice to her, but he is a bit too simple minded to be sharing her bed with. So she continues on her road trip and gets caught for speeding by a police officer named Gordon (James Caan) and as they flirt with one another she agrees to go on a date with Officer Gordon.
Natalie's road trip has opened her eyes to other peoples problems such as Jimmy's brain damage and Officer Gordon's being a recent widower raising a young daughter in a trailer home as his late wife and son died in a house fire, the house they owned was destroyed.
Natalie begins to realize that although her past life and her current marriage may have been boring and uneventful, the lives she has recently been interacting with are much worse off than her own sorry life.
Without wanting to spoil the ending for anyone this is a ho hum road trip film with an expected outcome.
I give it a 4 out of 10 IMDB rating which should take nothing away from the stellar acting of Knight, Caan and Duvall. It is just the story line is dull.
I liked the acting of the three key actors, namely Shirley Knight, James Caan, and Robert Duvall, but the story line was a very weak one. A woman named Natalie (Shirley Knight) who has discovered she is pregnant suddenly develops a seven (7) year itch and she is unsure if she wants to stay married, and/or carry her baby for the full term of her pregnancy. So she decides to take a road trip with the intention of having an extra-marital affair with a stranger she picks up hitchhiking. Natalie asks her hitchhiker his name and he responds "my name is Killer (bad writing eh?) Jimmy Kilgannon (James Caan) so people just call me Killer."
Very quickly Natalie finds the good looking, young and well built Jimmy has been tackled far too many times on the football field and has had his brain jarred loose. He's nice to her, but he is a bit too simple minded to be sharing her bed with. So she continues on her road trip and gets caught for speeding by a police officer named Gordon (James Caan) and as they flirt with one another she agrees to go on a date with Officer Gordon.
Natalie's road trip has opened her eyes to other peoples problems such as Jimmy's brain damage and Officer Gordon's being a recent widower raising a young daughter in a trailer home as his late wife and son died in a house fire, the house they owned was destroyed.
Natalie begins to realize that although her past life and her current marriage may have been boring and uneventful, the lives she has recently been interacting with are much worse off than her own sorry life.
Without wanting to spoil the ending for anyone this is a ho hum road trip film with an expected outcome.
I give it a 4 out of 10 IMDB rating which should take nothing away from the stellar acting of Knight, Caan and Duvall. It is just the story line is dull.
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