In 1962, producer Alan J. Pakula, director Robert Mulligan, composer Elmer Bernstein and screenwriter Horton Foote combined their considerable talents to create a film that has been a favorite of generations ever since: "To Kill a Mockingbird." Three years later, this quartet joined forces again to make another picture set in the Deep South, this one based on Foote's play "The Traveling Lady," and the result was 1965's "Baby the Rain Must Fall" (the lack of a comma after "Baby" is annoying). In this one, Lee Remick plays a pretty mother named Georgette Thomas, who travels with her young, shy, cute and fairly odd little girl, Margaret Rose, by bus from Tyler, TX to Columbus, TX, to meet her recently paroled ex-con husband, Henry (played by Steve McQueen, perennially cool even when his character, as here, is a neurotic mess). Henry's one ambition, now that he's on the outside, is to play in a rocking "string band" (called Henry Thomas and his Rockabillies!), write songs and become a big star, but the ancient old crone (one Miss Kate) who had adopted him as a boy, and who still dominates him psychologically by dint of long-ago beatings, insists that he give up his dreams, go to night school and just learn a trade. The advent of Henry's wife and daughter, as it turns out, does little to help him resolve this conflict....
"Baby the Rain Must Fall" is a sweet, quiet, small, gentle and slow-moving film; more a slice-of-life character study of four lonely people: the three members of the Thomas clan AND Slim, a good-hearted widower deputy (played by Don Murray) who helps the family out. McQueen is just fine in the lead (he had just appeared two years earlier in another film directed by Mulligan, "Love With the Proper Stranger"), although his singing numbers have been terribly dubbed; still, these performances serve to show quite clearly that Henry DOES have talent and promise. Remick, whose motel scene in 1962's "Days of Wine and Roses" might be the saddest that this viewer has ever witnessed, is excellent, as usual, although the sad scenes in this film are nowhere near as devastating as the one I just referred to in "Days." Kudos also to little Kimberly Block, who gives a memorable performance in this, her only screen role; she is touching and adorable. "Baby" has been well shot in B&W by renowned cinematographer Ernest Laszlo, and although not a heckuva lot transpires during the film, it remains a pleasing glimpse at these four unhappy people. The picture concludes most strangely, however, and for the life of me, I cannot quite figure out what was going through Henry's mind when he despoiled Miss Kate's grave site toward the film's end. Was he trying to dig up her body or merely desecrate her resting place due to anger, frustration and resentment? Or maybe he misses her, now that she is gone? It's really impossible to say; a possible failure of the picture. And is Slim going off with Georgette and Margaret Rose in the last scene to start their own family, or is he merely giving the two gals a ride "to the Valley"? Another imponderable. Despite these ambiguities, however, "Baby the Rain Must Fall" is certainly a worthwhile film. Just don't expect speed....
"Baby the Rain Must Fall" is a sweet, quiet, small, gentle and slow-moving film; more a slice-of-life character study of four lonely people: the three members of the Thomas clan AND Slim, a good-hearted widower deputy (played by Don Murray) who helps the family out. McQueen is just fine in the lead (he had just appeared two years earlier in another film directed by Mulligan, "Love With the Proper Stranger"), although his singing numbers have been terribly dubbed; still, these performances serve to show quite clearly that Henry DOES have talent and promise. Remick, whose motel scene in 1962's "Days of Wine and Roses" might be the saddest that this viewer has ever witnessed, is excellent, as usual, although the sad scenes in this film are nowhere near as devastating as the one I just referred to in "Days." Kudos also to little Kimberly Block, who gives a memorable performance in this, her only screen role; she is touching and adorable. "Baby" has been well shot in B&W by renowned cinematographer Ernest Laszlo, and although not a heckuva lot transpires during the film, it remains a pleasing glimpse at these four unhappy people. The picture concludes most strangely, however, and for the life of me, I cannot quite figure out what was going through Henry's mind when he despoiled Miss Kate's grave site toward the film's end. Was he trying to dig up her body or merely desecrate her resting place due to anger, frustration and resentment? Or maybe he misses her, now that she is gone? It's really impossible to say; a possible failure of the picture. And is Slim going off with Georgette and Margaret Rose in the last scene to start their own family, or is he merely giving the two gals a ride "to the Valley"? Another imponderable. Despite these ambiguities, however, "Baby the Rain Must Fall" is certainly a worthwhile film. Just don't expect speed....