"The Rainmaker" is all wet.
Thanks to a badly miscast Katherine Hepburn (who is almost 50 here, and looks like she's trying to play 25-30, and a truly obnoxious performance by Earl Holliman, plus an awful directing job by Joseph Anthony turn what could have been an interesting story of how a woman discovers how to believe in herself, into a farce that is barely watchable.
It seems as though Mr. Anthony did not trust the script (by N. Richard Nash, based on his play), and just told his actors that the bigger you play your roles, the better the film will be. I believe a director like Fred Zinnemann or George Stevens could have made this into a really glorious film.
The story is a simple one. Bill Starbuck (played magnificently by Burt Lancaster, who looks as though he's warming up for "Elmer Gantry") is a huckster who convinces a family that for $100, he can make it rain, and thereby end a drought. What he actually does is end the drought in heart of Lizzie Curry, the daughter of the rancher who gave Starbuck the $100. He gets her to believe in herself, and in doing so he falls in love with her.
The message of the film about believing in and loving yourself is very powerful. Hepburn does do a terrific job in these latter scenes. But her performance is so mannered and "over the top" in the first half of the picture, that you just don't buy the transformation.
And Holliman seems as though he's about to go on auditions for "The Beverly Hillbillies" or "Hee-Haw".
In the end, the film is worth seeing for Lancaster's performance only. But it is a magnificent performance.
6 out of 10
Thanks to a badly miscast Katherine Hepburn (who is almost 50 here, and looks like she's trying to play 25-30, and a truly obnoxious performance by Earl Holliman, plus an awful directing job by Joseph Anthony turn what could have been an interesting story of how a woman discovers how to believe in herself, into a farce that is barely watchable.
It seems as though Mr. Anthony did not trust the script (by N. Richard Nash, based on his play), and just told his actors that the bigger you play your roles, the better the film will be. I believe a director like Fred Zinnemann or George Stevens could have made this into a really glorious film.
The story is a simple one. Bill Starbuck (played magnificently by Burt Lancaster, who looks as though he's warming up for "Elmer Gantry") is a huckster who convinces a family that for $100, he can make it rain, and thereby end a drought. What he actually does is end the drought in heart of Lizzie Curry, the daughter of the rancher who gave Starbuck the $100. He gets her to believe in herself, and in doing so he falls in love with her.
The message of the film about believing in and loving yourself is very powerful. Hepburn does do a terrific job in these latter scenes. But her performance is so mannered and "over the top" in the first half of the picture, that you just don't buy the transformation.
And Holliman seems as though he's about to go on auditions for "The Beverly Hillbillies" or "Hee-Haw".
In the end, the film is worth seeing for Lancaster's performance only. But it is a magnificent performance.
6 out of 10