A Hatful of Rain (1957)

How sad is this?

As Good As It Gets

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Blistering performances.

"A Hatful of Rain" is a film indicative of the realism that had crept into films in the 1950s. The Production Code had gradually relaxed and films dealing with more adult topics were becoming more and more available. Now this is NOT saying the films were dirty or salacious--they just dealt with some of the realities of the pitfalls of modern life. Gangs, drugs and even sexual abuse were now possible topics in films--provided they were presented in a reasonably restrained manner. In this climate, a film like this one is possible--back in the 1940s it simply never could have been made.The film originally was a Broadway play and it depicts the effects of morphine addiction on a Korean War vet (Don Murray). Instead of admitting his problem, Murray gets pulled into the seedy underworld--as he's heavily in debt to a scum-bag pusher (Henry Silva) and it appears as if he has no choice but steal to support this habit. In the meantime, his patient wife (Eva Marie Saint) is lonely and assumes that her husband is cheating on her--after all, he's distant and often gone at night. Living with them is Murray's brother (Anthony Franciosa)--and this creates some sexual tension and an interesting dynamic considering how lonely his sister-in-law is and that Franciosa knows his brother's secret. Add to that the tough as nails father (Lloyd Nolan) who comes to visit and you've got the ingredients for some fireworks. The family's problems extend well beyond the chemical dependency--and perhaps the drugs in some way relate to all this dysfunction. How all this is sorted out is for you to see for yourself in this excellent drama.Don Murray is hardly a household name, but he was very good in this role because he seems a lot like an ordinary guy--something that really helps in a film like this. A big-name star would have been all wrong for this role as a poor working stiff. As for the rest of the cast, they are all excellent as well. Saint is a lot like other characters she's played--such as in "On the Waterfront" and Franciosa received an Oscar nomination for his performance as the brother living with them.By the way, although the main focus is on Murray, I think the relationship between the scapegoated brother (Franciosa) and the irresponsible father is probably the most interesting one in the picture. There sure is a lot going on here.Overall, an extremely well made movie that it filled with interesting family dynamics. In fact, there's so much to see here--the co-dependent wife, the enabling brother, the emotionally abusive and neglectful father...all which is fascinating and worth your time. Exceptional.

***SPOILERS*** Playwrite and actor Michael V. Gazzo's power packed and shocking film about drug addiction and what it not only does to the person evolved but his, or her, entire family as well.Korean War veteran Johnny Pope, Don Murray, has been trying to keep his addiction to heroin hidden from his pregnant wife Celia, Eva Marie Saint, since his discharge from the veterans hospital. It was there where Johnny was treated with morphine for injuries, mostly mental, that he suffered in the war. It's Johnny's brother Polo, Anthony Franciosa, who's been giving a desperate Johnny money to buy his drugs that resulted him blowing the $2,500.00 that he promised his and Johnny's dad John Sr, Llyod Nolan, he'd give him for a bar restaurant he bought back home in Palm Beach Florida.It's when John Sr came to visit his boys, who live in the same apartment in Manhattan's lower East Side, with Johnny's wife Celia that he realized that the cash he needed for his restaurant was a long lost memory. Polo who kept Johnny's addiction from his father, and who supplied Johnny with his father's money to buy his drugs, ended up being totally ignored by him as if he, not Johnny, was the black sheep of the family! On top of all that Johnny's wife Celia seeing Johnny leave the house and staying out all night, sometimes two or three times a week, felt that he was having an affair with another woman behind her back! In fact Johnny was out doing anything to get money, including mugging and robbing, to buy his drugs since the money-the $2,500.00-that Polo was giving him had since dried up!It's when Johnny's drug addiction got out of control with his drug supplier "Mother", Henry Silva, threatening together with his two goons Chuch & Apples, Gerald S. O'Loughlin & William Hickey, to break both his arms and legs if he doesn't pay up what he owes them that Polo finally comes to his senses. Polo stops covering for Johnny, at his own expense, and tries to finally have him get help! But by then it may be too late for him in that help may lead to Johnny, in trying to keep his addiction from both his wife and father, going cold turkey and dropping dead from heart failure!The last ten or so minutes of the film "A Hatful of Rain" are almost to painful to sit through and watch as Johhny tries to "kick" the habit macho-without professional help-style. Johnny who kept his addiction from his wife and father finally tells them the truth and, with his body acing for a fix, goes into drug induced convulsions that leaves him squirming in pain! It's Celia who was about to leave Johnny thinking that he's cheating on her who, besides his brother Polo, came to his aid. Celia made that life saving phone call to a drug rehabilitation center in the city to get Johnny to help that he so desperately needed!A bit dated but still effective film about the horrors of drug addiction with stand out performances by every involved. That included new comer Anthony Franciosa, as Johnny's guilt ridden brother Polo, who received an Academy Award nomination for best actor!

An ex-soldier/now unemployed junkie in New York City keeps his addiction secret from his pregnant wife and his visiting father; his adoring brother acts as an enabler, and eventually things come to a boil when the guy needs a hit and can't scrape together the twenty dollars to get himself through the night. Playwright Michael V. Gazzo made a big splash with this story on the stage; he's also credited with work on the adaptation, yet the only fault of the film is the dialogue. The back-and-forth conversations between the addict and his wife or the addict and his father don't really ring true (the words are theatrical, as is the phrasing given by the actors). The brother, portrayed by Oscar-nominee Anthony Franciosa (reprising his Broadway performance), spends far too much of the first act drunk--in that movie-version of inebriated (stumbling, laughing, fiddling with his clothes, saying, "I'm drunk! I'm drunk!"). Still, Franciosa gets a good rhythm going with Lloyd Nolan as his father and Don Murray as his brother, although Nolan and Murray don't fare as well when they're on their own. Murray tries hard in the showiest part, and several of his big scenes are effective, but he's too clean, too dry and smooth to really convey the lows of a doper on the edge. Eva Marie Saint has the most under-developed role playing Murray's wife, yet she conveys the polite frustration of this woman with ease (which is often times harder than pulling out all the stops). Nice locations and gritty black-and-white cinematography help tremendously, and the picture is quite moving once the preliminaries are out of the way. **1/2 from ****

I saw this play-turned-film many years ago on late-night TV and have been wanting a copy for my collection. I miss that late-night discovery of motion picture history from my bed that I received back in my high-school days, when I'd watch whatever was on because they seemed to care to show good stuff on my local station and there was always something I'd never seen. I'd remembered Eva Marie Saint from "On The Waterfront", but she just blew me away in this film. And Tony Franciosa I new from TV. Was it "The Name of the Game"? Anyway, he was great in this film, as he was in "A Face in the Crowd". I wish more people remembered him. Don Murray was also very good. These were all actors hard at work with a great script. It has one of the most moving endings I've ever seen. Where's my DVD?