The Rain People Blu Ray Review (Warner Archive Collection)

The Rain People is a 1969 drama written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola( The Godfather Trilogy, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula). Long Island housewife Natalie Ravenna (played by: Shirley Knight from As Good As It Gets, Grandma’s Boy, Paul Blart franchise, The Sender, 21 Hours At Munich, The Salton Sea, Color of Night, and Diabolique) leaves her husband Vinny (played by: Robert Modica from Love Story, Witness to the Mob, and Men of Respect) alone and she goes on a road trip. While she’s away, Natalie calls her husband and she tells him that they are going to have a kid. He is excited about her being pregnant but she still wants to find herself and not come back home for a little bit. She meets a few strangers on her journey which includes former football player Jimmy Kilgannon (played by: James Caan from The Godfather, Thief, Elf, Las Vegas, Misery, Rollerball, The Killer Elite, Dick Tracy, The Yards, and Bulletproof) and highway patrolman Gordon (played by: Robert Duvall from The Godfather trilogy, Days of Thunder, The Apostle, Mash, Apocalypse Now, Falling Down, Colors, and Jack Reacher). Natalie gets herself into some awkward and dangerous situations on her road trip away from home. She’s really learning who she is with this new experience. Will she ever come back???? The Rain People is an interesting road trip feature from the late 60’s. Shirley Knight gives her best performance as Natalie Ravenna. She’s a married woman that wants to get away from her every day life. She leaves her husband and home to discover herself again while being pregnant. She’s a little unlikable at times. From what it shows, her husband didn’t do anything to her and she basically just leaves because she’s freaking out. She’s tempted to cheat on him a few times while she’s carrying his child here. She kinda redeems herself when she goes back for Jimmy. James Caan probably gives his most underrated performance in his entire career as Jimmy Kilgannon. He plays a dumb jock that’s trying to find out what to do with his life. He’s slower but he has a good heart. He’s not your typical tough guy or athlete. His past as a football player has left him damaged. He has great chemistry with Knight and you really feel bad for his role as it gets deeper into the movie. People try to take advantage of him and he can’t really do anything about it with his condition. Mr. Alfred (played by: Tom Aldredge from What About Bob?, Rounders, Intolerable Cruelty, Damages, The Sopranos, and Batteries not Included) is one of the biggest scumbags that I’ve ever seen in a film. Robert Duvall steals the show as the unstable cop Gordon. Duvall usually plays likeable or hero characters so I haven’t seen him with that many roles like this. He’s on the edge and he’s past his breaking point when he meets Natalie. He’s a creepy guy with too much power. This was on the independent side despite being made by Warner Bros. Director Francis Ford Coppola had full control and he does his own take on the road trip sub-genre. The Rain People doesn’t have any action or anything like that besides the finale. It’s mainly a character study on strangers meeting each other in different situations. It has quality writing and acting, it’s better than what it gets credit for. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Warner Archive! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer is from a brand-new 4K scan of the original camera negative. The previous DVD was a little rough so this is a major improvement. It’s way better than expected for an older independent production. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. The audio is very impressive. All of the dialogue is crisp, the drama is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. There’s no extras on this home video release. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!