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Kenneth-15
Reviews
The Gentle Rain (1966)
A gentle tug pulls the audience into a man's tragic longing - Spoilers
I remember watching this movie a long, long time ago. It was one day when I was an 11 or 12 year-old kid (I'm 35 now) and my sister, mother, and I had nothing better to do. We thought we were wasting an afternoon, but by the end of the movie we were totally hooked. Christopher George's mute character was such a wounded soul -- he'd lost his ability to speak. I don't remember anything about his love-interest other than their love was tentative and gentle, but she eventually grew impatient with George's recovery. She truly loved him, but he knew he was too wounded to recover.
The final scene where George's phone rings (it's her!) and he knows he's unable to answer -- is both gut-wrenching and haunting. It's been some 23 years since I saw the movie and I still remember the frantic, freeze-frame ending! And I was a silly pre-teen boy then.
A powerful tale that sneaks up on the viewer and rips out the soul. Christopher George portrayed the vast levels of an intelligent, but hurting man without uttering a sound. He was truly an intense actor who never really got a fair shake in Hollywood.
Christopher George was the sole reason I watched this seemingly slow-moving movie one day in 1979 or 1980, and I'm a better person for it.