Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Joseph Anthony, Umbrella Entertainment.
A typical midwesterner, and a romantic comedy to boot, The Rainmaker sees a scam artist claiming he can conjure up rain. Of course, not everyone is gullible.
Four-time Academy Award-winner Katharine Hepburn (Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The African Queen, On Golden Pond) convincingly plays the role of Lizzie, a middle-aged woman, who lives on the family cattle ranch in a drought-ridden rural town in Kansas with her father, H.C. Curry (Cameron Prud’Homme, The Cardinal) and two brothers.
The difficult times mean Lizzie’s family worries about her marriage prospects more than about their dying cattle. Lizzie suffers from unrequited love for the local town Sheriff J.S. File (Wendell Corey).
During the Depression era in the Midwest, Bill Starbuck (Burt Lancaster, Birdman of Alcatraz, From Here to Eternity) shows up at her doorstep and convinces her she’s beautiful. He’s a con man who acts as a rainmaker, but is chased out of town after town. It doesn’t take long for Starbuck to become undone after he promises to bring rain in exchange for money.
Needless to say, Lizzie gets her man, and it rains – of course!
The Rainmaker (out on Blu-ray) directed by Joseph Anthony in 1956 and adapted by N. Richard Nash from his 1954 play with the same name. Earl Holliman, who plays Jim Curry, won a Golden Globe Award for his performance.
This film is more than six decades old, but quotes from three of the characters are memorable.
Lloyd Bridges as Noah Curry says: “We don’t believe in rainmakers.” Burt Lancaster, as Bill Starbuck, replies: “What do you believe in mistah? Dyin’ cattle?”
The other words are from Katharine Hepburn as Lizzie Curry that reflect the Oscar winner’s headstrong independence and spirited personality:
“Starbuck, you said the wrong thing!”
“I gotta be Lizzie. Melisande is a name for one night but Lizzie can do me my whole life long.”
