''Who'll Stop the Rain'' is a 1978 American

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

directed by

Karel Reisz Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are '' Saturday Night and S ...

and starring

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

, Tuesday Weld,

Michael Moriarty Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is an American-Canadian actor and jazz musician. He received an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for his first acting role on American television as a Nazi SS officer in the 1978 mini-series ''Holocaust'' ...

, and

Anthony Zerbe Anthony Jared Zerbe (born May 20, 1936) is an American actor. His notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in ''The Omega Man'', a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, '' I Am Legend''; as an Irish C ...

. It was released by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

and produced by Herb Jaffe and

Gabriel Katzka Gabriel Katzka (1931–1990) was an American theater, film and television producer. Biography Early life He was born in Brooklyn, New York City on January 25, 1931.

with Sheldon Schrager and

Roger Spottiswoode John Roger Spottiswoode (born 5 January 1945) is a Canadian-British director, editor and writer of film and television. Early life He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was raised in Britain. His father Raymond Spottiswoode was a British ...

as executive producers. The screenplay was by Judith Rascoe and Robert Stone, based on Stone's novel ''

Dog Soldiers The Dog Soldiers or Dog Men (Cheyenne: ''Hotamétaneo'o'') are historically one of six Cheyenne military societies. Beginning in the late 1830s, this society evolved into a separate, militaristic band that played a dominant role in Cheyenne res ...

'' (1974), the music score by Laurence Rosenthal, and the cinematography by

Richard H. Kline Richard Howard Kline (November 15, 1926 – August 7, 2018) was an American cinematographer, known for his collaborations with directors Richard Fleischer and Michael Winner. He was a second-generation filmmaker, being the son of cinematographe ...

. The movie was entered in the

1978 Cannes Film Festival The 31st Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 30 May 1978. The Palme d'Or went to the L'albero degli zoccoli by Ermanno Olmi. This festival saw the introduction of a new non-competitive section, 'Un Certain Regard', which replaces 'Les Yeux Fe ...

Plot

The film opens in Saigon at the height of the Vietnam War. John Converse, a disillusioned war correspondent, approaches Ray Hicks, a merchant marine sailor and acquaintance of Converse from the U.S., for help in smuggling a large quantity of heroin from Vietnam to San Francisco, where he will exchange the drugs for payment with Converse's wife Marge, who has become addicted to Dilaudid. When Hicks gets back to the U.S. and discovers he is being followed by thugs connected either to Converse or his suppliers, he goes on the run with Marge and the heroin, and eventually they are pursued by corrupt DEA Agent Antheil, who initially set the deal in motion. As Marge is separated from her supply of Dilaudid, she experiences withdrawal, and Hicks decides to help wean her off her addiction by using the heroin. Hicks also attempts to find another buyer for the heroin before his pursuers can catch up to him.

Cast

as Ray Hicks * Tuesday Weld as Marge Converse *

as John Converse *

as Antheil *

Richard Masur Richard Masur is an American character actor who has appeared in more than 80 films. From 1995 to 1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is best known for Nick Lobo on ''Rhoda'' (1974-1977), Stanley Uris in th ...

as Danskin * Ray Sharkey as Smitty *

Gail Strickland Gail Strickland is an American actress who had prominent supporting roles in such films as ' (1975), '' Bound for Glory'' (1976), ''Who'll Stop the Rain'' (1978), ''Norma Rae'' (1979), and '' Protocol'' (1984), and appeared regularly on various ...

as Charmian *

Charles Haid Charles Maurice Haid III (born June 2, 1943) is an American actor and television director, with notable work in both movies and television. He is best known for his portrayal of Officer Andy Renko in '' Hill Street Blues''. Haid was born in Sa ...

as Eddie Peace *

David Opatoshu David Opatoshu (born David Opatovsky; January 30, 1918 – April 30, 1996) was an American actor. He is best known for his role in the film ''Exodus'' (1960). Opatoshu began his acting career in the Yiddish theater. Following his tenure in th ...

as Bender *

Joaquín Martínez Joaquín Martínez (November 5, 1930 – January 3, 2012) was a Mexican-born American film, theatre and television actor. Often appearing in Westerns, Martínez had roles in '' Jeremiah Johnson'', in which he played a Crow chief, and ''Ulzana's ...

as Angel (as Joaquin Martinez) * James Cranna as Gerald *

Timothy Blake Timothy Blake is an actress whose career was active from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s. The films she has appeared in include, '' Adam at 6 A.M.'', '' They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way'', ''Who'll Stop the Rain'', and '' Finders Keepers''. S ...

as Jody * Shelby Balik as Janey * Jean Howell as Edna *

José Carlos Ruiz José Carlos Ruiz (born 17 November 1936) is a Mexican film and television actor. He starred in telenovelas such as ''María Isabel'', ''Soñadoras'', '' Mariana de la noche'', ''Sortilegio'', ''Soy Tu Dueña'', '' Un Refugio para el Amor'', '' ...

as Galindez (as Jose Carlos Ruiz)

Background and production

The film is based on Robert Stone's novel ''

'' (1974), which won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

(US) for fiction in 1975. For its original US theatrical release it was re-titled ''Who'll Stop the Rain'', after the

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

song, which features prominently (along with several other popular CCR tracks) on the film's soundtrack. The film was released as ''Dog Soldiers'' in several places. Some copies of the DVD of ''Who'll Stop the Rain'' contain prints titled ''Dog Soldiers''. Stone based the character of Ray Hicks on Beat writer

Neal Cassady Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s. He was prominently featured as himself in the "scroll" (first d ...

, with whom Stone became acquainted through novelist

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in ...

, a graduate school classmate of Stone's at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. Hicks' death scene on the railroad tracks at the film's conclusion is directly based on Cassady's death along a railroad track outside of

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Queré ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, in 1968. The

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

commune setting, where lights and stereo speakers placed throughout the woods are utilized in Hicks' escape plan, is partially based on Kesey's home in

La Honda, California La Honda ( Spanish for "The Sling") is a census-designated place (CDP) in southern San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 979 at the 2020 census. It is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains between the Santa Clara Valley a ...

, where Kesey and his friends — known as the

Merry Pranksters The Merry Pranksters were comrades and followers of American author Ken Kesey in 1964. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters lived communally at Kesey's homes in California and Oregon, and are noted for the sociological significance of a lengthy roa ...

— famously wired the surrounding woods with lights and sound equipment to enhance their experiments with LSD. Although technically not a commune, Kesey's home was a frequent site for large parties attended by a mixture of literary luminaries such as poet

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

and journalist Hunter S. Thompson, music figures (including

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

, whose group

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

later became the house band for Kesey's famous

Acid Tests The Acid Tests were a series of parties held by author Ken Kesey primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid-1960s, centered on the use of and advocacy for the psychedelic drug LSD, commonly known as "acid". LSD was not made illeg ...

), and outlaws, especially members of the infamous

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporati ...

motorcycle club. These parties are described intimately in works by Ginsberg and Thompson, and in

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

's book '' The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'' (1968). Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, and Neal Cassady are also discussed in detail in

Martin Torgoff Martin Torgoff (born November 29, 1952) is an American journalist, author, documentary filmmaker, and writer, director and producer of television, who has worked extensively in the fields of music and American popular culture. He is best known ...

's book ''Can't Find My Way Home''. The Saigon scenes were filmed on a set in Mexico. There was a casting advertisement in Mexico City for people of any Asian background to represent the Vietnamese.

Awards

* Nominee, Palme d'Or

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

(Karel Reisz) * Nominee, Best Actor

National Society of Film Critics The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) is an American film critic organization. The organization is known for its highbrow tastes, and its annual awards are one of the most prestigious film critics awards in the United States. In January 2014, ...

(Nick Nolte) * Nominee, Best Adapted Drama

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

( Judith Rascoe, Robert Stone)

Soundtrack

* Del Reeves - "Philadelphia Fillies" *

Jackie DeShannon Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers, August 21, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards, as both singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-songw ...

- " Put a Little Love in Your Heart" *

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his 1971 hit song " American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minute folk rock "cultural touchstone" about the loss of innocence of the early ...

- " American Pie" *

Slim Whitman Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), known as Slim Whitman, was an American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. He claimed he had sold in excess of ...

- "I'll Step Down" *

- " Hey Tonight" * Creedence Clearwater Revival - " Who'll Stop the Rain" * Creedence Clearwater Revival - "

Proud Mary "Proud Mary" is a song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band's second studio album, '' Bayou Country'', which was issued by the same ...

" *

The Spencer Davis Group The Spencer Davis Group were a British band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (keyboards, guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). Their best known songs include the UK numb ...

- "

Gimme Some Lovin' "Gimme Some Lovin" is a song first recorded by the Spencer Davis Group. Released as a single in 1966, it reached the Top 10 of the record charts in several countries. Later, ''Rolling Stone'' included the song on its list of the 500 Greatest So ...

" *

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on ...

- " Golden Rocket"

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Who'll Stop The Rain 1978 films 1978 crime drama films American chase films American crime drama films American crime thriller films Films about drugs Films about the illegal drug trade Films directed by Karel Reisz Films based on American novels Films based on military novels Films shot in Mexico United Artists films Vietnam War films Works by Robert Stone (novelist) Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal American neo-noir films Films about heroin addiction 1970s English-language films 1970s American films