USA,
1969, 101 min
Shown in 1972/2009
CREDITS
- dir
-
Francis Ford Coppola
- prod
-
Ronald Colby, Bart Patton
- scr
-
Francis Ford Coppola
- cam
-
Bill Butler
- editor
-
Barry Malkin
- mus
-
Ronald Stein
- cast
-
James Caan, Shirley Knight, Robert Duvall
- source
-
Warner Bros., 15821 Ventura Blvd, Suite 575, Encino, CA 91436
-
COMMENTS
Shown at Francis Ford Coppola tribute in 1972, with Francis Ford Coppola in person. Screened again in 2009 as part of a second tribute program honoring Founder’s Directing Award recipient Francis Ford Coppola and preceded by a live interview by David D’Arcy. Other onstage participants included Eleanor Coppola, Carroll Ballard, George Lucas, Matthew Robbins and Walter and Aggie Murch.
OTHER
Carefully observed and beautifully shot, the film that launched American Zoetrope 40 years ago is an early herald of Coppola’s talent for crafting delicate narratives that actors can sink their teeth into. Natalie (Shirley Knight) is a Long Island housewife trapped in a loveless marriage and stifled by domesticity. Two months pregnant and unable to bear her humdrum existence, she hits the road on a quest for freedom that Roger Ebert dubbed the “mirror image” of Easy Rider. She soon finds solace with a brain damaged ex-football player (James Caan), whom she imagines as the father to her unborn child. Never fully able to disentangle herself from the life she left behind, Natalie briefly revels in her newfound freedom before reality comes crashing in. With penetrating performances by Knight, Caan and Robert Duvall, who plays a motorcycle cop, The Rain People is a poignant story of a woman wresting a second chance from the hands of fate. During filming, Coppola and his bare bones crew, which included the young George Lucas, traveled through 18 states on a mission of their own to prove that they could make it outside of the studio system. The forthcoming release of Tetro (clips screened as part of the evening’s program) marks the groundbreaking director’s return to his indie roots. Don’t miss this opportunity to see one of Coppola’s rarely screened early works in a pristine print.
FACTOID #35
The first film retrospective accompanying a tribute at the Festival was a Tribute to Warner Bros., featuring Jack L. Warner in person, October 26, 1966.
