Baby The Rain Must Fall (1965)

A young mother (Lee Remick) and her six year old daughter (Kimberly Block) journey to a small Texas town where the husband and father (Steve McQueen) has just been released from prison, in the hope of starting over. But he doesn't seem to have mended his ways, he's just as hot headed and violent as ever. Based on a failed Broadway play by Horton Foote (who also did the screenplay) called THE TRAVELING LADY, if the film is any indication, it's easy to see why the play was a failure. It's a simple character piece but the characters aren't fleshed out. We never find out what makes them tick, why they behave the way they do. Remick gives a lovely delicate performance, you can read on her face the hardships she's endured the years her husband was in prison. What we don't understand is why she puts up with such erratic and dangerous behavior from her husband, especially with a six year old child in tow. McQueen isn't convincing as a country singer, the dubbed singing voice he's given doesn't sound like it would emanate from him and McQueen doesn't have the stance or bearing of a singer. To be fair, the film has apparently been severely edited, Josephine Hutchinson gets fifth billing as the wife of the sheriff (Paul Fix) but she's only seen for a couple of seconds at a funeral. The stark B&W cinematography is by Ernest Laszlo (JUDGMENT AT NUREMBURG) and the score by Elmer Bernstein. Directed by Robert Mulligan (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD). With Don Murray and Ruth White.