Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Steineded How sad is this?

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Martin Bradley Arguably the best of all the 'Monkey-on-my-Back' movies of its period even if does grow grimmer and more hysterical as it goes on. Fred Zinnemann's "A Hatful of Rain" is based on a play by Michael V Gazzo, (Frankie Pentangeli in "The Godfather Part II), and it shows. The dialogue is faux poetry and far from naturalistic and you can see its three acts set out quite clearly.Don Murray is the junkie, Eva Marie Saint is his dimly uncomprehending wife, Anthony Franciosa, the brother who shares their apartment and Lloyd Nolan, the father who comes visiting. They are all superb. (Franciosa got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and Murray shows great potential here). The only other characters of note are Murray's three pushers, two of whom, Henry Silva and a young William Hickey, are also terrific.Despite opening it up to the rain-sodden New York streets, (beautifully shot by Joe MacDonald), director Zinnemann doesn't really mess with the theatrical structure any more than he did in "The Member of the Wedding". It may not be his best film but it's certainly an essential part of his canon.

blanche-2 Based on Michael V. Gazzo's Broadway play, "A Hatful of Rain" from 1957 pulls no punches about the horrors of drug addiction and the effects on a family. Don Murray is Johnny Pope, whose horrific experiences in Korea have left him permanently scarred physically and emotionally, and his stay in the hospital afterward turned him into a junkie. He manages somehow to hide this from his pregnant wife, Celia (Eva Marie Saint) who believes his staying out all night, his lack of attention to her, and any concern about or even acknowledgment of her pregnancy means there's another woman.Johnny's brother, Polo (Anthony Franciosa), lives with the couple and is in love with Celia. He carries Johnny's secret. When their intolerant father (Lloyd Nolan) comes to visit, he wants the $2500 Polo borrowed from him and said he had; Polo endures his father's wrath when he admits he no longer has it, and doesn't tell him that it went into his favorite son's arm.This is a really tough, unrelenting story, with Johnny owing money to his supplier (Henry Silva) and cut off, and we see Johnny going through the horrors of withdrawal.The drama is set against the background of the '50s New York City, portrayed here as a cold, gray, rainy world. Beautifully directed by Fred Zinnemann and brilliantly acted by all involved, "A Hatful of Rain," even today remains a powerful film.

bkoganbing The average fan will know Michael V. Gazzo far better for his career role as Frankie Pantangeli in The Godfather Part 2, but he was so much more than a film gangster. He was an acting teacher of some renown and a writer. This multi-talented man penned A Hatful Of Rain and it ran for 398 performances during the 1955-56 season on Broadway. Two of the players repeated their roles from Broadway, Anthony Franciosa as Polo Pope for which he won a Best Actor nomination to go with the Tony Award nomination he got for Broadway. And as the murderous drug dealer Mother, Henry Silva came over from the East Coast as well.On what should be a happy occasion Lloyd Nolan as father to Franciosa and younger son Don Murray is up from Florida where he's coming to collect on a promise of money from Franciosa. The nest egg that Tony was sitting on is now gone. Little does Nolan dream that the money is being poured into Murray's veins. Murray his beloved younger son and war hero from Korea came home as did so many others a drug addict, hooked on morphine. As we watch the film, bit by bit the Pope family secrets come out. The boys did not have much of a childhood, half the time they were foster care or orphanages as Nolan who was a widower just couldn't take care of them. In addition Franciosa who's bounced from dead end jobs one after another boards with Murray and wife Eva Marie Saint.Because of his addiction Murray has been paying less and less attention to his wife and Eva Marie and Tony are finding a mutual attraction. On stage this played out in real life as Shelley Winters had the wife's part on stage. Franciosa and Winters wound up marrying.A Hatful Of Rain was proof of further cracking of the Code because until The Man With The Golden Arm came out two years earlier, drug addiction was a forbidden subject unless it was covered in something like Reefer Madness. The post World War II film To The Ends Of The Earth that starred Dick Powell as a federal narcotics cop covered the law enforcement part of the story and other films followed that one. But addiction itself was forbidden. As Philip Marlowe in Murder My Sweet, Powell was also shot up with what was called 'hop' at the time, but I can't think of another film where the subject was broached.In between A Hatful Of Rain and The Man With The Golden Arm was also Monkey On My Back, the true story of former welterweight champion Barney Ross who like Murray got addicted during recovery in a military hospital.Although Don Murray does a fine acting job as John Pope, personally I would have much preferred to see Ben Gazzara who originated the part on Broadway. The film was shot on location in New York City and Gazzara is so much more an urban type than Murray.The only recognition A Hatful Of Rain received from the Motion Picture Academy was Anthony Franciosa's nomination for Best Actor. He's always been a favorite of mine, he's never bad in anything he does. But sad to say that Tony ran up against The Bridge On The River Kwai. Usually a big budget film like that will always buck a small feature like A Hatful Of Rain. And Alec Guinness was not going to be denied that year.A Hatful Of Rain though has stood the test of time. It could easily be done again today with the protagonist being a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan. We may yet see that, but believe me this film will more than do until then.

dougdoepke Intense and harrowing family drama typical of 50's style New York film-making. At the time, Hollywood was caught up in the double-whammy of TV competition and Cold War scare, so programming from the West Coast tended to emphasize big screen spectacle and politically safe subject matter. On the other hand, films from New York City, such as On the Waterfront and Edge of the City, emphasized small screen black & white, with urban settings and grittier subject matter. Here it's drug addiction among a white-collar family ensconced in a Manhattan apartment. Hooked because of a war wound, Johnny (Don Murray) has a loving wife Celia (Eva Marie Saint), a loyal brother Polo (Anthony Franciosa), and an arrogantly insensitive father (Lloyd Nolan). There's real tension between husband and wife because Johnny is fearful of confessing his secret addiction. As a result, Celia feels neglected by his drug-created absences, while Johnny keeps losing jobs, and Polo ends up paying for his brother's habit. When Dad comes from Florida to collect promised money from Polo that he now doesn't have, events begin spiraling out of control.Needless to say, acting here is front and center stage. The cast comes through beautifully, especially Franciosa as the intensely conflicted Polo who's attracted to his brother's wife while providing Johnny the needed support. And it doesn't help that Dad has always favored Johnny even as Polo must keep that same brother's ruinous secret. Poor Polo, the stress may appear to be on Johnny and his addiction, but it's really Polo who's emotionally torn.This is not a movie for the depressed. Nearly all the scenes take place in the couple's rather drab apartment, except for a few street shots of Johnny trapped by Manhattan's towering impersonality. This is urban despair 50's style, when drugs and addiction were considered a strictly urban problem related to unwholesome types that thrived there. The darker skinned drug-pusher Mother (Henry Silva)) conforms to a popular stereotype of the time, along with his be-bopping confederate Apple (Bill Hickey), another popular stereotype. And when Mother says it's only business after threatening Johnny, we get a different perspective on the rise of post-war commercialism. (Why the lugubrious name "Mother" for a low-life drug dealer? My guess is that it characterizes in ironic fashion the dependent relation addicts have with their supplier.)The image that stays with me is a strung-out Johnny, hunkered down in his coat, drifting alone on the streets of Manhattan. It's a grim existential moment, especially for that upbeat decade. Anyway, the movie remains a dramatic powerhouse that still packs a wallop. And even that bane of 50's films, the required happy ending, is finessed in suitably ambiguous fashion.