Who’ll Stop the Rain? (1978); Trailer and Commentaries

Re-posted by N.S.



Josh Olson on Who’ll Stop the Rain?



N.S.: Excellent commentary. I saw the picture at a Manhattan revival house on Vandam Street in the fall of 1986, and then bought a used copy of the paperback on the street for maybe .50. They’re both brilliant. In some ways, the picture is better, because the Ray Hicks of the book is too Nietzschean. (What kind of Marine murders his best friend?) Nick Nolte’s father had been a gyrene in The War, and he explained to Nick the mentality of a marine. In the picture, Ray becomes more of a tragic hero.

The violent scenes blend wit, violence, intelligence and grandeur, something like his contemporaries Walter Hill and John Milius.

When I was a kid, I’d seen Reisz’ Morgan, Isadora, and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning on TV. He had a thing for tragic eccentrics.