Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

HotToastyRag Katharine Hepburn takes the lead in The Rainmaker, in one of her finest performances. She's an old maid living in a small town, keeping house for her father and brothers, Lloyd Bridges, Earl Holliman, and Cameron Prud'Homme. She's secretly got a crush on Sheriff Wallace Ford, but he doesn't pay her any attention. The town is going through an unprecedented drought, and Burt Lancaster, a travelling conman, comes to town claiming to be a "rainmaker". As he tries to convince the town he's genuine, he also convinces old maid Kate that she's beautiful and desirable.While Kate's and Burt's acting really make the movie, the story itself is a classic. It was also adapted to a Broadway musical called 110 in the Shade, by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. The characters are real and vivid, and even though it's obvious it was adapted from a play—written by N. Richard Nash—it's still very enjoyable even for modern audiences. Who doesn't wonder with fear and sadness that they'll never find love, and who doesn't want to believe in that last scrap of hope even when it might be fake? I don't actually like the film, but I appreciate how beloved it is by others. I don't really care for Kate's character and choices, but it wouldn't be fair for me to write a negative review for personal reasons.The film is chalk full of famous moments: romantic, funny, and wise. "When a man makes a point of ignoring you, he ain't ignoring you at all," is one of my favorite lines. And while I won't spoil the ending for you, it is incredibly famous. You might have seen it before in classic film montages. Burt Lancaster's iconic final line, which unfortunately I can't quote here because it would spoil things, is my favorite part of the movie.

Spikeopath The Rainmaker is directed by Joseph Anthony and written by N. Richard Nash. It stars Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Cameron Prud'Homme and Earl Holliman. Music is by Alex North and VistaVision/Technicolor cinematography is by Charles Lang.Starbuck (Lancaster) is a conman who arrives in the little town of Threepoint and promises to deliver the rain to end the town's crippling drought problem. More telling, perhaps, will be his impact on the Curry family...N. Richard Nash wrote it as a television play and would then see it hit the Broadway stage, so he was the logical choice for screenplay duties here. The film very much feels like a play, with very pronounced acting and sharp dialogue, it's also - at just over two hours in length - far too long for a talky based production. Thirty minutes could quite easily have been shaved off here. There's also the contentious casting of the Oscar Nominated Hepburn, who in many people's eyes - myself included - is miscast and just doesn't sit right in the role, leaving it to Lancaster to bring the flight and breeze to light up the piece.However, to enjoy the art of acting brings some rewards, it's also a pic of crafty humour and features a story of considerable humane substance. That one man, a scallywag, can have such a positive impact on a sterile backwater family, builds nicely to an ending that is a complete joy, a real smile raiser. It's also handsomely photographed by Lang, the colour lensing so smooth, and the production design, backed up by North's most appealing musical score, ensures you know that the makers cared about what they were doing. Relationships on set were initially rocky, but the principal stars would come to be friends and speak fondly of their time on the film. 6/10Footnote: The material would also be turned into a musical titled 110 in the Shade.

MARIO GAUCI To prove that he was not merely an athletic actor in the Errol Flynn mould, Burt Lancaster would occasionally dabble in film adaptations of serious stage plays from the likes of William Inge and Tennessee Williams; this is his third such attempt – albeit taken from a lesser-known author (N. Richard Nash) and with a more optimistic outcome (in fact, it was later musicalized on Broadway as "110 In The Shade")! That 1964 revamp shared with this straight film version its director Joseph Anthony, here making his first of just six efforts in that capacity. For a self-proclaimed atheist, Lancaster did his fair share of hammy, arm-waving 'preaching' on the screen and this is his first instance as such – portraying travelling con man Bill Starbuck whose "rainmaking" capabilities are just what this film's drought-ridden Southern town needs; on the other side of the coin is "plain" old- maid-in-the-making Lizzie Curry played by an overage Katharine Hepburn. I have to admit to a curious antipathy towards this most decorated of screen actresses and, indeed, her (by turns) moving and embarrassing performance here garnered nominations at the Oscars (her seventh), BAFTAs (third) and Golden Globe (second); the film itself earned a handful of other awards (Earl Holliman was named Best Supporting Actor at the Globes) and nominations (a second Oscar nod for Alex North's typically fine score; Golden Globe nods to Lancaster and the film; and another one for Nash at the Writers Guild Awards). Unsurprisingly embracing (as opposed to eschewing) its theatrical origins given the "performance" subtext that permeates the entire plot, the film has its fair share of good scenes which (apart from the opening sequence) revolve around the eight characters that seemingly inhabit this town: Wendell Corey (as the 'widowed' deputy), Lloyd Bridges (as Hepburn's equally cynical brother), Cameron Prud'Homme (as her well-meaning father), the aforementioned Holliman (as her spunky younger brother), Wallace Ford (as the elderly Sheriff) and Yvonne Fedderson (as Holliman's red-cap wearing girlfriend); the whole makes for a pleasant if not especially outstanding romantic drama about the interior beauty of lonely people. For the record, the play was later also brought to the small screen in 1982 by a past master of the medium (John Frankenheimer) with Tommy Lee Jones and Tuesday Weld in the leading roles.

Stephen Alfieri "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