Rachel, Rachel
| Rachel, Rachel | |
|---|---|
Original poster
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| Directed by | Paul Newman |
| Produced by | Paul Newman |
| Written by | Margaret Laurence |
| Screenplay by | Stewart Stern |
| Based on |
A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence |
| Starring |
Joanne Woodward James Olson Estelle Parsons Geraldine Fitzgerald |
| Music by | Jerome Moross |
| Cinematography | Gayne Rescher |
| Edited by | Dede Allen |
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Production
company |
Kayos Productions
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros.-Seven Arts |
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Release date
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Running time
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101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $780,000 |
| Box office | $3,000,000 (rentals) |
Rachel, Rachel is a 1968 American drama Technicolor film produced and directed by Paul Newman. The screenplay by Stewart Stern is based on the 1966 novel A Jest of God by Canadian author Margaret Laurence.
Rachel Cameron (Joanne Woodward) is a shy, 35-year-old spinster schoolteacher living with her widowed mother in an apartment above the funeral home once owned by her father in a small town in Connecticut. School is out for summer vacation and Rachel figures it will just be another lonely and boring summer for her. (Its implied that she may even hate summer as her job provided somewhat of an escape from her rather domineering mother who's always trying to compare her to her sister who married a successful man.) Fellow unmarried teacher and best friend Calla Mackie (Estelle Parsons) persuades her to attend a revival meeting, where a visiting preacher encourages Rachel to express her need for the love of Jesus Christ. Rachel is overwhelmed by God's grace, baring so much pent-up emotion, that she is humbled after the service; comforting her, Calla suddenly begins to kiss Rachel passionately. Is Calla a lesbian, bisexual, or did she merely react to the emotion of the moment? The film does not answer this question, but Rachel's reaction is to withdraw from the friendship for the time being.
Into the void steps Rachel's high-school classmate Nick Kazlik (James Olson), a fellow teacher who teaches at an inner city school in The Bronx who's in town to visit his parents for a couple weeks. Upon first seeing her in town, Nick had made a crude pass that Rachel rebuffed, but after the episode with Calla, she succumbs to his charms and has her first sexual experience. Mistaking lust for love, she begins to plan a future with Nick, who rejects her once he realizes she views their relationship as more than a casual and temporary affair. He rejects her softly by using a fake photo of a woman and a young child claiming that they are his wife and son back in New York. She later discovers through his mother that he isn't really married.
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Wikipedia