The Worst Film Ever

How sad is this?

best movie i've ever seen.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The movie had all of the components to be a great film: A list actors with McQueen, Remick, and Murray, legendary director and producer, a hit song, and a good screenplay. There were many problems but the glaring one was McQueen producing the worst lip-synching ever seen in a movie. Since McQueen could not sing and apparently had no feel for music it was decided to use Billy Strange to sing the songs and his voice is not a close match to McQueen's speaking voice.More puzzling is why the producers chose to use Strange's version of the title song over Glenn Yarbrough, who had a major hit with the title song, which plays over the credits of the movie.Since the major story line of the movie centered around the singing career of McQueen's character, the producers should have sought out an actor who could sing. The ironic back story of the film is Elvis Presley wanted to play Henry Thomas (McQueen) but he was never a consideration of the film's producers.However, Presley could have handled the music (the title song was in Presley's wheelhouse) and his best movie performances were playing characters like Henry Thomas. Despite McQueen's stature at that time, he was miscast in the film.Remick and Murray are the high points of the movie while a lot of McQueen's scenes were badly done. On top of the obvious lip-synching, the bar band scenes look awkward and unconvincing. Another problem area is the unrealistic fight scenes.A bright spot of the movie is capturing the bareness and weariness of rural Texas. Filming on location was a smart decision because it helped sell the futile feeling that Thomas felt while trying to escape his hopeless situation.It is an interesting film despite its flaws and has more strong points than weak points.

It seems that every, single time I see Steve McQueen in any movie (be it from the beginning, the middle, or the end of his career), I always end up asking myself - "How the hell did this dull, non-charismatic bloke ever become a big-name star?" I find McQueen to be one of the blandest, insincere and unconvincing actors of his (or any) generation. Far from being what I would consider a "cool" dude, McQueen really had a tendency to grate on my nerves with his blah character portrayals.And if having to endure McQueen's dreary screen-dynamics was bad enough, I think that when it came to the depressing and absurd nature of this film's story, the viewer would have to be pretty dense and mighty gullible to take its utter nonsense at face value.From my point of view, this film's only really worthwhile moments were the unintentionally hilarious scenes where McQueen (who was unconvincingly playing an ex-con with a mean, hair-trigger temper who's now trying to make it as a rockabilly singer) lip-syncs during his live performance on stage at the town's local hot-spot.Man, you wouldn't believe how really bad McQueen was at lip-syncing. Not only could he not get his mouth in sync with the words, but the voice of the real singer did not suit McQueen at all.Ha! What a laugh-and-a-half! McQueen was so pathetically bad that I couldn't help but burst out laughing.Set in the town of Columbus, Texas - This clichéd "rebel-without-a-cause" story really sucked. I thought that its title "Baby, The Rain Must Fall" was very unfitting, since all of the troubles (rain) that fell on McQueen's character were clearly brought on by his own stupid actions.P.S. - Had this film not starred McQueen, then, yes, I might have actually rated it somewhat higher.

I totally agree with the writer who said this and "Sand Pebbles" are McQueen's finest, my favorites anyway. I can't think of anything that would have made this film better from the casting, realistic dialogue and locations, and especially the hopeless nature of the characters, their relationships, which are driven home, I think, all the more by the deliberately laconic pacing. Windblown people on a windblown landscape! I am sure that McQueen didn't have to dig very deeply to conjure up his approach to this part given his background. I first saw this movie over 40 yrs. ago and it touched me then and still does. I particularly like the scene in which he confronts the loud bar patron, for I have worked as a club musician and singer for many yrs. and it very profoundly projects the angst a performer feels when they are attempting to communicate a feeling and are ignored {or in this case beaten up}. Don't let the slowness of the action fool you, that's how things move in a small prairie town. Watch and listen closely because there are a whole lot of things going on in this great story, maybe not always on the surface all the time.

The desperately hopeful wife (Lee Remick) wants to help establish a home by planting a tree on their lawn. She hooks the husband (Steve McQueen) into the project to help with their bonding, but he really isn't into gestures like that. They dig the hole; then, while she is distracted by a conversation, he drops in the sapling, STILL ROOTED IN THE #10 CAN IN WHICH SHE BROUGHT IT HOME, into the ground and covers it up, getting the chore over with and done.Thie one passage tells us where the story, and their lives, are going. Nothing reverses this omen. The frantic dash after the truck at the ending is also a good working symbol of their destiny.