Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965)

53% of users liked it
(447 ratings)

Adapted by Horton Foote from his own play The Travelling Lady, Baby the Rain Must Fall stars Steve McQueen as a troube-prone country singer and Lee Remick as his estranged wife. Released on parole after serving time for knifing a man, McQueen returns to Remick and their young daughter Kimberly… More Adapted by Horton Foote from his own play The Travelling Lady, Baby the Rain Must Fall stars Steve McQueen as a troube-prone country singer and Lee Remick as his estranged wife. Released on parole after serving time for knifing a man, McQueen returns to Remick and their young daughter Kimberly Block. When he proves incapable of supporting his family, McQueen's violent nature erupts once more, with catastrophic results. Don Murray costars as a compassionate sheriff who tries to keep McQueen from straying off course. Though it seems to go on forever when seen today, Baby the Rain Must Fall was praised effusively by the critics in 1965 as a welcome change of pace for action star Steve McQueen; The film would make an interesting companion feature for the strikingly similar Horton Foote project Tender Mercies (1983). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Robert Mulligan
Written By: Horton Foote
Genres: Drama, Classics

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1965 Wide
On DVD: Mar 16, 2004

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
This quiet rural melodrama, based on Horton Foote's stage play, features strong peformances from Steve McQueen, Don Murray and especially Lee Remick, but it is too understated and lacks narrative drive.
Steve Crum, Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers
Atmospheric Mulligan production with effective McQueen and Remick.
Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television
Moving drama about a troubled man.
Sarah Chauncey, Reel.com
McQueen's lip-synching in his singing sequences is brutal, and the fight choreography seems need to assure the audience that no actors were harmed in the making of this movie.

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

Beautiful performances from Steve McQueen and especially Lee Remick highlight this rather sad rambling film of the type Hollywood doesn't make anymore. A small personal drama that explores the lives of regular people just struggling to make a place for themselves in the world.… More
Beautiful performances from Steve McQueen and especially Lee Remick highlight this rather sad rambling film of the type Hollywood doesn't make anymore. A small personal drama that explores the lives of regular people just struggling to make a place for themselves in the world. Nothing blows up, it's all about emotions here. Something that you'd find either on the indie circuit on maybe on cable today certainly not in major markets and hardly with stars of this magnitude.
Mike T

There's plenty of potential beauty and pain in this story, but Horton Foote's screenplay doesn't bring it all out. The basis of the character study is very interesting, but the execution of it feels a little bit undernurtured. Despite the use of some shabby lip-synching… More
There's plenty of potential beauty and pain in this story, but Horton Foote's screenplay doesn't bring it all out. The basis of the character study is very interesting, but the execution of it feels a little bit undernurtured. Despite the use of some shabby lip-synching to cover up the leading man's inability to carry a tune, I still think he's perfect for the role. Steve McQueen had a uniquely tragic presence and some considerable acting talent, but it never shines through in this picture like it should. This is a flawed but overall good film that McQueen fans in particular should look into.