Who'll Stop the Rain?

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Who'll Stop the Rain?

R,

1978,

2h 5m,

Mystery & Thriller

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81%

16 Reviews

Tomatometer

63%

1,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

81%

Tomatometer

16 Reviews

63%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

A jaded journalist, John (Michael Moriarty), and a Vietnam vet, Ray (Nick Nolte), are adrift after returning home from the war. With not much to lose, they hatch a scheme to smuggle heroin from Vietnam into the U.S., which stands to make them a fortune. Instead, the pair and John's wife (Tuesday Weld) find themselves on the run from drug dealers and a crooked DEA agent (Anthony Zerbe). Along the way, Ray shows their opponents some of the useful combat skills he picked up in the war.

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Derek Malcolm

Guardian

Jul 8, 2025

A film that should be seen, just as Stone's book should be read. If it leaves a deliberately nasty taste in the mouth, it underrates no one's intelligence in the process.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jun 16, 2018

3/4

The movie works mostly because it's so well told on the narrative level.

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Gary Arnold

Washington Post

Apr 30, 2018

A remarkably faithful and astute adaptation of a strong novel, the film condenses Stone's book, which won the National Book Award for fiction in 1975, without doing irreparable damage to its story, principal characters or larger meanings.

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Philip French

Observer (UK)

Jul 8, 2025

The best movie made in America by a European director since John Boorman's Point Blank and one of the few about the Vietnam experience likely to prove of permanent interest.

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Jan 18, 2024

Who'll Stop the Rain is a film that is repugnant and excellent at the same time. It's the classic dichotomy of depth versus form, or vice versa. [Full review in Spanish]

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Ellin Stein

Berkeley Barb

May 12, 2021

Who'll Stop the Rain is a suspense-adventure movie given greater weight and complexity by undertones of moral questions which, if unsolved, are at least raised.

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Karel Reisz

Director

Nick Nolte

Ray Hicks

Tuesday Weld

Marge Converse

Michael Moriarty

John Converse

Anthony Zerbe

Antheil

Richard Masur

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Synopsis

A jaded journalist, John (Michael Moriarty), and a Vietnam vet, Ray (Nick Nolte), are adrift after returning home from the war. With not much to lose, they hatch a scheme to smuggle heroin from Vietnam into the U.S., which stands to make them a fortune. Instead, the pair and John's wife (Tuesday Weld) find themselves on the run from drug dealers and a crooked DEA agent (Anthony Zerbe). Along the way, Ray shows their opponents some of the useful combat skills he picked up in the war.

Director: Karel Reisz
Producer: Herb Jaffe, Gabriel Katzka
Screenwriter: Judith Rascoe, Robert Stone
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Katzka-Jaffe
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 2, 1978, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Runtime: 2h 5m

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