IMDb plot summary: During the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster.
Directed by Joseph Anthony. Starring Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, and Lloyd Bridges.
I was loosely familiar with this story as the basis for the musical 110 in the Shade. I've heard the cast album but haven't seen the show, and frankly it's hard to imagine a show with a revival as recent as 2007 being THIS antiquated in its views of women. Katharine Hepburn got an Oscar nomination for this performance, but it's one of the most unflattering portrayals of older single women I think I've ever seen, making her fragile and pitiable for the SOLE reason that she isn't married, even go so far as to explicitly state more than once that a woman isn't REALLY a woman until she's attractive to men. Hepburn excels at portraying bold, independent characters, and, whoo, that would have been more interesting. The film is maybe trying to say some things about ambition and being willing to fight for what you want, but it all gets drowned out by the deliberate on-screen patheticness of this character who apparently just needs a man to bestow upon her her sense of purpose. What a terrible character to put at the center of your film.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Rainmaker < The Dinner Guest
The Rainmaker < Lilo & Stitch
The Rainmaker > Captain January
The Rainmaker > Walking Across Egypt
The Rainmaker > Madigan
The Rainmaker > Quitting
The Rainmaker < Night at the Museum
The Rainmaker < From Here to Eternity
The Rainmaker > Steve Jobs
The Rainmaker < The Peanut Butter Falcon
The Rainmaker > Petulia
Final spot: #2454 out of 3217, or 24%.
No comments:
Post a Comment