The Rain People

Learning she is pregnant, Natalie Ravenna leaves her house and her husband on Long Island and gets in the car. On the road she picks up Jimmy Kilgannon, a former football player with a brain injury. From then on running away and being responsible for someone have to happen at the same time. Francis Ford Coppola directed; it is his fourth film. Shirley Knight plays Natalie, with James Caan and Robert Duvall in the cast. How it was made matters as much as what it is. Shooting ran five months across eighteen states with a core crew of ten, hiring locally as needed. Coppola's assistant was a young George Lucas, who made a documentary called Filmmaker during the production. That way of working is part of the road that led to American Zoetrope. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 88 percent. Roger Ebert gave it four stars and compared Knight's journey to classic American narratives. It won the Golden Shell at the 1969 San Sebastian International Film Festival. It later acquired cult standing as an early feminist film, for its provocative treatment of a woman looking for her own identity. Who it is for: viewers who like road films and are curious about Coppola before the big productions. Who it is not for: anyone wanting resolution. The film does not judge Natalie's choices and the ending offers no comfort.