Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | November 11, 2004 | | Summary | An unlikely pair, to be sure | Content
 | A "What are you running from?" drama, made in 1969, and ahead of its time. Caan is a hitchhiker and former college football player, now brain-damaged; Shirley Knight plays a pregnant wife who can't stand middle-class married life any more. They take to the road together.
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| Rating | | | Date | February 25, 2000 | | Summary | Unjustly Forgotten Classic | Content
| This movie isn't without its faults -- find me one that isn't -- but as one of the earliest movies about a woman taking her life into her own hands, it stands as one of the all-time greats. Compare this to the much better known "Thelma and Louise," in which two women, merely bored, take off on their own and wreak a path of destruction for no other purpose than to prove they can. By contrast, Shirley Knight's character is suffering real and believable angst for a concrete purpose, and actually does something about it. Even minor characters are three-dimensional, and it's interesting to see James Caan and Robert Duvall before they settle into the predictable stock roles that continue to dominate their careers. Watch the credits closely -- this was one of George Lucas' first movies. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 18, 1999 | | Summary | Overlooked early Coppola effort | Content
| A brilliant character study of a pregnant woman who runs out on her husband and hits the road with no destination in mind. Years ahead of its time with its feminist viewpoint, this early Coppola film is sadly one of his least viewed. Shirley Knight is excellent as the troubled woman and James Caan is perfect as killer, a brain damaged ex-football player who Knight ends up befriending. The Rain People is a good example of 70's cinema when characters mattered more than special effects or action-packed plots. |
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