JLRMovieReviews I saw A Hatful of Rain and Bigger Than Life in the same evening, because they seemed to make the perfect double feature as they both dealt with addictions. (They had been on my short list of movies to see for a while.) I watched A Hatful of Rain first. It features good actors, who give good, thoughtful performances, but the film, on the whole, felt a little too stagy and like it was trying too hard to be self-important and/or preachy with its family dynamics. While it's rather respectful and tender in depicting Don Murray's morphine addiction and Eva Marie Saint's predicament in loving someone she can't altogether help, you begin to tire of its downbeat feel. Tony Franciosa is good as his brother who is tired of helping him out every single time and, at the same time, finds himself attracted to his wife. One may say that comparing this film to Bigger Than Life is not fair to this one, as I found it to be far superior to this, but, if you only have two hours to spare, watch Bigger Than Life first. Then, five minutes into this, you will see a world of difference, as A Hatful of Rain tries to be bigger than life.

MartinHafer "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.

rpvanderlinden This is a compelling movie about drug addiction. It focuses on the many ways in which addicts make hostages of the people who love them. It is accurate, and it doesn't flinch.Don Murray plays Johnny Pope, a closet junkie who, with the co-operation of his brother, Polo (Tony Franciosa), has conspired to keep his addiction a secret from his pregnant and neglected wife, Celia (Eva Marie Saint). Celia's ready to leave. She thinks Johnny's long absences have something to do with another woman. To add to this mess enter the brothers' judgemental dad (Lloyd Nolan) and the dealer Johnny owes money to (the ever-menacing Henry Silva), and Johnny's pressure-cooker world is ready to explode.The story unfolds with gritty realism and poignancy. All four main characters, trapped in their implacable attitudes toward each other early in the film, reveal a surprising moral resiliency later on. There's a top-notch cast, and I was particularly impressed by Tony Franciosa. I had to see this Cinemascope film in a non-letterbox format, which is too bad, because the New York City black-and-white photography, cold, dank, misty, claustrophobic, is breathtaking. Work like this reminds me of why I have a fondness for atmospheric on-location urban dramas. The great Bernard Herrmann's music was moody and tinged with dread. And I enjoyed the restless camera-work. This movie will be a must-have on DVD.The chilling piece of dialogue, "meet me where the children play", is the instruction given by a drug dealer to a potential customer to meet him in a playground. Dealers don't give a rat's ass. They want the money. And the customers, well...they may hate the circumstances they find themselves in, but they need the drug. This is the moral dilemma of drug addiction that this movie touches on so effectively and compassionately.

RanchoTuVu A Korean war veteran (Don Murray) has developed a raging heroin habit which he hides from his pregnant wife (Eva Marie Saint)and his father (Lloyd Nolan). He has those classic "I've got a monkey on my back" mannerisms which the audience can appreciate, while the wife and father wonder why he seems nervous all the time. His dealer, a character known as Mother, played by Henry Silva, and Mother's sidekick, a beatnik type known as Chuch, played by Gerald S. O Laughlin, are memorable characters. Murray is great as his desperation grows, in debt to Mother, trying to keep his problem a secret, pushed to the extreme. The powerhouse drama features an utterly fantastic role, played by Anthony Franciosa, as Murray's heavy drinking brother, who protects Murray but is in love with his wife at the same time. It could have all been too stagey, but thanks to director Fred Zinneman, there's action to spare in this gritty New York drama.