'Who'll Stop The Rain' is another of those films that's been on my 'I have to see that film' list for a long while. It's a Viet Nam era film, and whatever the reason, I missed its theatrical run. So, when it showed up to be streamed I jumped on it. And for better than the first hour I was definitely with it. But then ....
Nick Nolte plays a Viet Nam Vet merchant-seaman who is approached by a writer played by Michael Moriarty in Saigon, and asked to deliver a huge amount of heroin to Moriarty's wife (Tuesday Weld) in Berkeley, California. Nolte will be payed for his troubles, and the married couple will go about selling the stuff for a huge profit. That's it. That's the plot. The balance of the film involves the threesome trying to avoid the 'bad guys' (Ray Sharkey, Anthony Zerbe, and a great Richard Masur); be they police, or drug-dealers, or a bit of both; a bunch of guys who want that heroin and will kill to get it.
Reasons to see the film include:
1. A very young and still athletic-looking Nick Nolte.
2. Michael Moriarity as a pathetic attempted drug dealer (yes, the same Moriarty who later on would play the ultra tough and straight-laced Assistant D. A. on the first seasons of 'Law and Order'.
3. Tuesday Weld, who doesn't really emote (she kind'a sleepwalks through the film), but in some way doesn't have to as we're so taken by her natural beauty.
4. Charles Haid as a Hollywood drug dealer scam artist in two of the film's very best Los Angeles based scenes (yes, the same Haid as in 'Hill Street Blues').
5. Berkeley California: its street vendors and psychedelic t-shirts shown off in an early scene.
But then .... New Mexico. The final scenes take place in New Mexico and - hey, just my opinion here - the tone of the film changes. And not for the better. There is something more commonplace about these scenes, nowhere near as twisting and turning as those that came earlier in California.
So. Bottom line. See it. But the further it goes, the lower you need to place your expectations.
Nick Nolte plays a Viet Nam Vet merchant-seaman who is approached by a writer played by Michael Moriarty in Saigon, and asked to deliver a huge amount of heroin to Moriarty's wife (Tuesday Weld) in Berkeley, California. Nolte will be payed for his troubles, and the married couple will go about selling the stuff for a huge profit. That's it. That's the plot. The balance of the film involves the threesome trying to avoid the 'bad guys' (Ray Sharkey, Anthony Zerbe, and a great Richard Masur); be they police, or drug-dealers, or a bit of both; a bunch of guys who want that heroin and will kill to get it.
Reasons to see the film include:
1. A very young and still athletic-looking Nick Nolte.
2. Michael Moriarity as a pathetic attempted drug dealer (yes, the same Moriarty who later on would play the ultra tough and straight-laced Assistant D. A. on the first seasons of 'Law and Order'.
3. Tuesday Weld, who doesn't really emote (she kind'a sleepwalks through the film), but in some way doesn't have to as we're so taken by her natural beauty.
4. Charles Haid as a Hollywood drug dealer scam artist in two of the film's very best Los Angeles based scenes (yes, the same Haid as in 'Hill Street Blues').
5. Berkeley California: its street vendors and psychedelic t-shirts shown off in an early scene.
But then .... New Mexico. The final scenes take place in New Mexico and - hey, just my opinion here - the tone of the film changes. And not for the better. There is something more commonplace about these scenes, nowhere near as twisting and turning as those that came earlier in California.
So. Bottom line. See it. But the further it goes, the lower you need to place your expectations.