A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) User Reviews (19)

Passion in the Great Smokies

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 8 March 2017]

A Walk In The Spring Rain has Fritz Weaver and Ingrid Bergman as a college professor of political science going on sabbatical in the Great Smokey Mountains of Eastern Tennessee. Him for peace and quiet for a year so he can publish rather than perish, she for a little time away from being a mom, grandmother, and babysitter not necessarily in that order.

They take a cottage and the local handyman is Anthony Quinn doing a Smokey Mountain version of Zorba the Greek. He's married to psalm singing Virginia Gregg and she's no fun. Quinn has a son in Tom Holland who like his dad takes his action where he finds it.

The educated Bergman intrigues Quinn and he gives all kinds of hints as to his availability. But this one is doomed for all kinds of reasons.

I'm all for romantic stories with older protagonists and Quinn and Bergman fit the bill. The stars get good support from the rest of the cast. This is Bergman and Quinn's second film together and they acquit themselves well.

Still it won't be listed among the best for either.

A good love story

[ignorantbliss-30802 · 6/10 · 23 June 2020]

I read about some of the bad reviews here. I don't usually write a review of any film I have watched but this time around I felt like I need to jot down something nice about this movie. It wasn't as bad viewing as I initially thought.

I didn't expect it to be on par with other great love stories in calibre of Casablanca or Brief Encounter. But I think it is a decent film, amicable but has sad ending. The film has a beautiful scenery with the great Appalachians landscape during the spring season that makes my heart long to be in that place. It is good enough to fill my time as I didn't have any thing worthy to do. The film flows beautifully, slow at start but still engaging that keeps you glued to the screen.

The attraction between Libby and Will was a bit rushed and Quinn did not convince me enough as a mountain handyman. Something is missing here. The scene where Libby met with Will's son came out of nowhere. They should focus a bit more on relationship between Will and his son so we can fully understand their interaction or left hanging guessing ouselves. Did he love his son or not?

The great Ingrid Bergman as usual carries the whole movie on her shoulder. Put someone lesser in her part and the film would be unbearable to sit through. I enjoy looking at her matured beauty, she was 54 at the time but still has this luminosity and radiance coming out of her. Its hard to compete with her, when she was on screen everybody ceased to exist.

An Interesting but sadly disappointing misfire

[bills-398-734884 · 6/10 · 19 December 2016]

(I talk around spoilers so my reviews are spoilish sometimes.) I've seen a zillion movies. Like you I know all the big names of big directors. Love movies by Kubrick, Spielberg, Woody Allen -- the classics. But for some reason my wife and I really bonded with two movies by a director we had never heard of: Guy Green.

In our living room hang two framed pictures of LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA and A PATCH OF BLUE. Guy Green's best films, the latter a masterwork. My wife loves Piazza. She's not alone. It's been turned into a musical. My heart is with PATCH. Both movies are about people finding each other that desperately need each other.

I just joined FILMSTRUCK -- an online streaming version of TCM. It offered up this film, Guy Green's A WALK IN THE SPRING RAIN. Had to see it.

Again -- we have two people finding each other -- but this time the desperation isn't so desperate. Ingrid and Anthony aren't utterly alone. They're married. So it's the land of infidelity this time -- which is an entire different ball of wax that PIAZZA and PATCH.

One of the other reviewers on this page touched upon a central problem. Almost everyone in this cast was miscast. Quinn simply doesn't pull of a Tennessee mountain man. He's CLEARLY someone who moved to these mountains from Europe and it could have taken all of 2 minutes of dialog to fix this central flaw. It would have helped the story as well -- to learn he was more of a traveler type but that got stuck because of his wife and kid.

The actor playing his son? Beach boy from Malibu. Quinn's wife? They overdid her Christian country backwards thing. We simply don't believe he'd 'settle' for her based upon his reaction to Ingrid. I mean if he's such a man of the world and elements what attracted him about this doorknob of a person? Contrived.

Another reviewer above mentioned how 'pushy' Quinn is. And it's true. Out of the gate he makes it clear he'd do Ingrid. Practically in front of her husband. And so we cringe half the time in this movie. You even had to wonder if he was going to rape her -- considering how pushy he was in his flirting.

And so Quinn is where this entire feature misfires. He's doing a fine job of being himself but the script forgot to write him in properly. And there was absolutely no nuance here that is all over the similar and way better BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. If you told me BRIDGES was offered as a rewrite of this I'd believe you.

No, seriously. Do you remember the last scene in BRIDGES? It spoils nothing to say there's a lot of rain. Well... where's the rain in this movie? THE WALK IN THE SPRING RAIN? Nowhere. Did it get edited out? I suspect that pivotal scene where Ingrid walks up that sandy road was where the rain was supposed to be. Maybe they were counting on rain which never showed and had no money to fake it. But then why call this movie that poetic title without delivering the visual poetry. I mean what if BRIDGES didn't actually show you any bridges? Right? This bumpiness hampers what could have been a far better movie. It's not so bad as to avoid. And it's better than most movies today in many ways.

That's the kind of bumpiness that's here.

A Worthy Bergman Film!

[mary-135 · 21 September 2003]

Ingrid Bergman was totally devoted to getting this film right - as she was with all her films. She spent a lot of time "thinking" while waiting for takes. I agree with the other people who commented, so there's not a lot to add. Perhaps I could just say that Ingrid didn't want her character to commit adultery and that was why the romance with Cade came to nothing. By 1969 films were so much more open about sex and this lovely film was, in a way, rejected by audiences of the time. In 1940 it would probably have been a big hit - "Brief Encounter" style. For Ingrid Bergman fans this film is a must see and must have on video! I would VERY MUCH like to see it on DVD, as it would almost complete the Bergman series on DVD. If anyone has any influence in this field, perhaps you could pass on the wish! Compare Ingrid's "Goodbye Again" of 1960 - another film which doesn't end satisfactorily for her character, but which had European style and is probably a better film, as "film". Mary

Bergman and Quinn

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 12 February 2018]

Libby Meredith (Ingrid Bergman) is the dutiful wife of college professor Roger Meredith. They are traditional and do not approve of their daughter's personal pursuit away from her family obligations. Roger is on sabbatical writing a book. The couple leaves New York City for the country where Libby finds flirtatious neighbor Will Cade (Anthony Quinn).

There is a promise of an epic romance. It has the great pairing of Bergman and Quinn. It should be incredible. Libby as a conservative matriarch is set up to join the sexual revolution. I like the conflict between mother and daughter. I don't buy Anthony Quinn as an American, let alone a southerner. This should be a battle for Libby's heart and mind by the two men. There is a sudden twist that short-circuits the confrontation. In short, I don't like the twist which comes out of nowhere. Otherwise, the two leads and the premise provide interesting viewing.

Three divergent accents adrift in the Smoky Mountains...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 27 March 2015]

Admirers of classic films will no doubt enjoy seeing Anthony Quinn reunited with Ingrid Bergman, his co-star from 1964's "The Visit"; they're an interesting screen match, but here, in 1970, with handyman Quinn talking in a southern drawl and matronly Bergman playing a professor's wife living on a farm in Tennessee, one cannot help but feel a sense of central dislocation. Bergman's husband (American actor Fritz Weaver) takes a year off from teaching to write a textbook, but instead stares at his typewriter, pipe firmly stuck between his teeth (his wife isn't frigid, but he is). It's no wonder then that Bergman enjoys Quinn's advances, but since they're both married--and have problems with their selfish children besides--it's hardly a December-age romance. Dreary melodrama, adapted from the book by Rachel Maddux, with clumsy exposition and even clumsier attempts to modernize an old formula. Charles Lang's cinematography is a visually jarring mix of location shots, back projection and ugly sets, while miscast Quinn is overly-friendly and solicitous (he makes the audience as uncomfortable as Ingrid's chilly spouse). While it's good to see the two stars together again, this Smoky Mountains scenario is a drag: colorlessly staged, poorly-conceived, predictable and depressing. ** from ****

Ingrid and Anthony, Sitting in a Tree....

[JLRMovieReviews · 8/10 · 6 April 2010]

Ingrid Bergman goes with her husband Fritz Weaver, a college professor, off to the country in the winter in order for him to write a textbook. They are welcomed by Anthony Quinn, who takes an instant liking to her, despite the fact he's already married. And, the viewer can tell she likes the attention. In fact, she even encourages him. Due to her husband's absorption in his own world of writing the book, she has felt neglected, and Anthony succeeds in making her feel special.

There's the usual feelings for each other and guilt involved: hello there; oh, no; well maybe; no no. But what makes this special is of course Ingrid Bergman's exquisite acting and the inspired casting of her and Quinn, who make a very passionate pairing. (They had been in "The Visit" together, but that was nothing like this.) Also, there's the subplot of his son not liking her at all and a total unexpected development.

But, what makes this even more mature and realistic is the relationship between Ingrid and her daughter. She wants Ingrid to come home so Ingrid can babysit her grandson and she can finally follow her dream of going back to school to better herself. Obviously, Ingrid doesn't want to leave Anthony. Why should she leave, when she's so happy? The heated argument between them at the kitchen table, about the double standard for women and mothers and how they are fulfilled or not fulfilled by a devoted home life, isn't likely to be forgotten by the viewer, especially for mothers and daughters.

Ultimately, what follows is handled very well and is likely to make a lasting impression on the film's female viewers. If you've never seen Ingrid take "A Walk in the Spring Rain," then treat yourself to this unknown and very underrated film of hers and enjoy the seasons with one of the best actresses ever.

"Do you think there's still a lot of woman left in me?"

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 30 August 2019]

A good-looking soap opera buoyed by veteran star power with a rather relentlessly melodious score by Elmer Bernstein and plush photography by Charles Lang; which when not taking in the vibrant Smoky Mountain local colour is concentrating upon the noble features of glamorous grannie, the eternally radiant Ingrid Bergman.

She's stuck with dry, pipe-smoking hubby Fritz Weaver (on sabbatical to write what sounds like a spectacularly dreary academic book), when fate sends her as her handyman sensitive hunk Anthony Quinn, who declares "You're full of love, ain't you Miss Roger?". What follows manages to be both melodramatic yet curiously passionless.

A tender romance torn apart by the actions of selfish offspring

[MacNessa · 10/10 · 22 August 2003]

How easy it is for the children to take their parents for granted? The key moment in the film is when the mother character(Ingrid Bergman) asks her daughter, if she has ever thought about her mother as a person. This is in response to her daughter's request that she leave her Smokey Mountains paradise(and new found love), so that she can take care of her grandchild while her daughter can be free to pursue her own law career. At the same time Anthony Quinn- Bergman's lover, is presented with a similar situation with his brutish son, who eyes the blossoming relationship with growing hostility. This is probably the main theme in this wonderfully shot and pleasantly paced drama. By todays standards the ending may be a little sad, but its far more realistic.

a walk in the spring rain

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 29 March 2021]

Maybe a D. H. Lawrence could convince me that a bored faculty wife as beautiful and intelligent as Ingrid Bergman would fall in love with a loud, somewhat pervy redneck like Anthony Quinn is playing, but as described by producer/writer Stirling Silliphant, from a novel (which I have not read) by Rachel Maddux, I remain in a state of unsuspended disbelief. A big part of my skepticism is due to Silliphant's caricatured presentation of his rural folk which veers from "Deliverance" (the violently sociopathic drunken son of Quinn) to "Petticoat Junction" (Virginia Gregg's "Y'all come back soon now!" wife of Quinn). I mean, I appreciate that Silliphant here is more in the jokey, lively spirit of "Heat Of The Night" than the philosophical bombast of "Route 66" but if there is a middle ground between the lifeless Gatlinberg country club and barnyard sex with a guy who likes to bathe married women while their husbands are watching Silliphant does not appear to have found it. Another big problem for me in the cred dept is Quinn's performance which is best described as "Zorba does The Smokies". I appreciate that director Guy Green wanted to contrast Quinn with the overly intellectual Bergman and her stuffy academic spouse (well played, as always, by Fritz Weaver) but in doing so he forgot to tell this always over the top actor to maybe soft peddle the hand gestures, the moaning and groaning and the hearty laughter and, while he's at it, maybe work on that Southern accent, which is truly execrable. Almost lost in all of this is a fine late Bergman performance which saves the movie from utter crappiness. The scene between her and her selfish yuppie daughter (played by an actress I've never heard of but wish I had named Katherine Crawford) has what the rest of the movie lacks, a sense of well observed truth. Give it a C.

Anthony Quinn as a Tennessee mountain man?

[nedcrouch · 27 March 2015]

First review above slams the people of the hills of Tennessee, assuming that they are backward, in-bred people. It's too late now, but I would have objected strenuously to that misguided garbage. The reviewer probably never met a real hillbilly, and no, "Deliverance" is not about real people, it's a fictional account invented in Hollywood. Please, you idiots, stop slamming mountain people. You don't even know any.

The problem I see with the movie is casting Anthony Quinn as a mountain man. I never saw any backgrounder that said he was an immigrant from Italy, Greece, or Mexico who moved to the mountains. With the character name they gave him, I assume they were seriously trying to palm Anthony off as a Tennessean. I did notice that they never actually showed his lips moving when he was delivering his lines: Anthony's accent wasn't identifiable as such, but it certainly wasn't TN mountains. I may well be missing something. But, one thing I'm not missing is the outright prejudice, and even hate, I see for the people of the mountains. Shame!

"a fusion of Cape Fear and Deliverance": you've got to be kidding

[tdoa · 1/10 · 8 August 2010]

The only "suspense" is whether Ingrid & Anthony will really hook up or not and be found out. The violence is the encounters between Anthony and his rebellious son, in the "I see .... you want to fight the old man eh" vein. It's more like a combo of The Bridges of Madison County and Li'l Abner, but infinitely worse ! Madison was more romantic and had better dialog and at least Li'l Abner had good tunes. Ingrid Bergman remains dignified throughout; Anthony Quinn is once again channeling Zorba, but with less gusto and a slow Appalachian drawl; Virginia Gregg as his wife, doing a bitter old Mammy Yokum impression, is the (unintended) comic relief, as is the"repartee" between the father and the rebellious son every time they meet. The only actor more or less perfect for the part is Fritz Weaver, a rather stodgy actor, in the type of part he often played in movies.

Not a film that anyone involved can be proud of.

a fusion of Cape Fear and Deliverance

[DAW-8 · 8/10 · 28 February 2001]

This is an excellent film which I caught accidentally on a rainy afternoon on cable. A professor and his wife head to the appalachians for his 1-year sabbatical. They rent a house from Will Cade (Anthony Quinn), an overly-friendly, hospitable country bumpkin. Will from the very beginning makes comments about how pretty the professor's wife is, and that's just the beginning. While the absent-minded professor is lost in his own world, concerned about his career and completing his book, Will Cade seems to just have too much time on his hands and spends it making the professor's wife more familiar with the wonders of Appalachia. He brings her flowers from the countryside, buys her animals to keep her company, takes her to see the beautiful scenery. None of these are overt passes, but they all could be interpreted either way, which is part of the genius of the film: on the one hand, Will Cade really is doing a lot of things for this woman and anyone would be touched by them; he is extremely sincere. But on the other, there is something about him which makes you uncomfortable, maybe his over-familiarity with people he doesn't know. In this way, it's similar to Cape Fear since it indirectly says a lot about social class--the professor is overly intellectual, but passionless and emotionally handicapped, unable to think of others besides himself; while the country bumpkin is not wordly, but very genuine and giving. There are two other subplots involved a daughter of the professor and his wife, and the Will Cade's son, with whom he has conflicts which are never fully explained. Eventually, the woman gives in and kisses Cade, and I won't give away the rest of the story. But the mood of the film is very well set. There is a great scene at an appalachian country fair where Will is in rare form and the professor is clearly uncomfortable in this "culture" which he doesn't consider a "culture". The whole story is set in this haunting, appalachian environment, which is how it is similar to "Deliverance". There is that fantasy which urban dwellers have of the simple, personal country life, and then there's the in-breeding, backwardness, and so-on they are repulsed by. I highly recommend this film.

Disappointing

[movies40000 · 4/10 · 22 March 2021]

Although I am a big fan of Ingrid Berman and Anthony Quinn this movie was a bust. The premise was that Libby's (Ingrid Bergman)husband (Fritz Weaver)while on sabbatical rented a cottage nowhere(note its a beautiful house completely furnished with a well stocked kitchen and matching dinnerware some of which Libby broke) so he could write a textbook about the Supreme Court and Libby while in the mountains of Tennessee finds fulfillment and romance. However this is not the nostalgic romantic reminiscence. Bill(Anthony Quinn) the house caretaker greets her with the most leecherous grin you can imagine and never lets up. Libby reacts in a sort of lets rip off our clothes and go at it and see you later so of way . Not much in lyric romanticism Then there are the kids or lack of them I should say - Bill seems to have one son who hates him although we are given very little insight as to why something about jealousy - of what - his prowess with neighborhood women. What I find odd was that Bill and his wife did not have a pascal of children and grandchildren even the scene at the county fair was not full of kids - perhaps an explanation of the loss of children might have left one unhappy son and a religious mania from Bill's wife. And I could not help but wonder why Libby did not think to bring her grandson to this beautiful summer place . I know her husband did not like the 5 year old but the outdoors, goats, other children would certainly have kept him out of the way Finally I could not help but laugh when we went from snow covered ground to full green scenery being called early spring

Beautiful performances

[HotToastyRag · 8/10 · 11 July 2022]

After Ingrid Bergman finally won a highly coveted Hot Toasty Rag award for her work in The Visit, she teamed up with Anthony Quinn again and earned another nomination for A Walk in the Spring Rain. They had such wonderful, intense energy together, and in this romance they both had the opportunity to play against type. Ingrid's character was a housewife who'd spent her life giving all of herself to other people. Tony played someone quiet, tender, and sweet.

Ingrid's husband, Fritz Weaver, is a professor, and for his sabbatical, they've decided to rent a cabin in the country so he can have the peace and quiet to write a book. Fritz is intelligent, opinionated, highbrow, and rather cold. Ingrid comes to life in her new country surroundings, and as she learns to love gardening, walking in nature, and caring for animals, she also develops a friendship with the cottage caretaker: Anthony Quinn. Tony is simple, earthy, and although he has passion, he isn't demonstrative. Both he and Ingrid are married, but they can't deny the deep feelings that continue to grow.

I know you're already out searching for a copy of A Walk in the Spring Rain, but there's a warning that comes with my recommendation. This is a drama. Yes, you'll see Ingrid looking cuter than she's ever looked, frolicking with baby deer and sheep, and Tony picks flowers for her; but something happens in this movie that's very upsetting. I won't tell you what it is or when it happens, but there is a "too good to be true" aura that surrounds the story. And when something seems too perfect. . . Well, just don't go into this movie thinking it's another Indiscreet. I loved the movie, and as a member of the Hot Toasty Rag board, I cast my vote for Ingrid, but I'm not sure I'd be able to sit through it again.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to adult content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

A walk in the spring rain

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 2 February 2022]

Producer Stirling Silliphant wrote the screenplay for this movie, based on novel A Walk in the Spring Rain by Rachel Maddux. Silliphant's best known works are In the Heat of the Night, The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure, but he also created Route 66 and did the screenplays for Village of the Damned, The Swarm, Charly and Circle of Iron amongst many other movies. And oh yeah - Over the Top.

He was also close friends with Bruce Lee, who he studied from and included in movies he wrote like Marlow and the TV series Longstreet. Together, they worked on The SIlent Flute, which was eventually made as Circle of Iron. Lee would coordinate the fight scene in this movie between one of the leads, Will Cade (Anthony Quinn), and his son.

Cade is the next door neighbor of writer Roger Meredith (Fritz Weaver) and his wife Libby (Ingrid Bergman), who soon finds her way into his bed due to the lack of interest of her husband. Everything seems perfect, but the city calls the Merediths back, just as Will's son stalks and assaults Libby in the woods, which ends up with the aforementioned fight between father and son that ends up costing son his life.

Perhaps most amazingly, the actor who plays the son is Tom Fielding, who we know today as Tom Holland. Yes, the same Tom Holland who wrote The Beast Within, Class of 1984, Psycho II, Cloak & Dagger and created the Fright Night and Child's Play films.

In the end, the city wins out over true love. And this movie didn't do well with audiences or critics. But hey - Quinn and Bergman are awesome, as you'd expect.

Terrible!

[MOscarbradley · 1/10 · 7 November 2019]

Terrible! This middle-aged romance served as a late vehicle for Ingrid Bergman as a professor's wife who embarks on a disasterous affair with a Tennessee Mountain Man, (an over-the-top Anthony Quinn in full-throttle Zorba mode). It was based on a novel by Rachel Maddux which Stirling Silliphant thought enough of to produce and do the screenplay but by 1970 love stories were for the Ryan O'Neals and Ali McGraws of this world and not for a couple of over-the-hill old fogies from yesteryear so the film flopped and disappeared. As Bergman's husband, Fritz Weaver isn't at all bad but otherwise "A Walk in the Spring Rain" is a film no-one might want to keep on their C.V's.

Can the middle-aged find passion and love?

[evening1 · 8/10 · 22 March 2021]

Well, maybe, sorta, according to this highly romantic film.

It couldn't be more unusual for a movie to plumb the erotic potential of aging adults, but this movie pulls it off well. It's a revelation to observe two lonely souls, both married to others, experience a passion that is close to unbearable.

Libby (Ingrid Bergman) is pretty much ignored by her pedantic husband, and Will's (Anthony Quinn) wife has abandoned sex for religious zeal. For the first time in awhile, a man views Libby as desirable and tells her, and, at least at first, she brushes it off ("I'm a grandmother"). Tension builds to one of the greatest kisses ever on film, and, "Now that I know, there ain't no limit to my waiting," Will tells Libby. You go, guy!

For awhile, I thought that "A Walk" might topple "Wings of Desire" from its position, in my view, as the most romantic film ever. However, I think it falters a little after its shocking punch scene. Still, this is one incredibly strong piece of movie-making.

I'd like to remember the words of its theme song: "When someone looked at me, and saw what no one else could see...How good it was to hear a gentle word again."

And I'd certainly like to visit Tennessee -- its down-home country fairs and the old-school nightlife of Gatlinburg.

If you are over 50, please see this film and share your thoughts!

OK - this really couldn't have been more mis-cast

[av_m · 2/10 · 20 September 2023]

Anthony Quinn as the ignorant Ah-like-mah-wommen-barefoot-and-pregnant Smokey Mountain Man Redneck buck?

Ahhhhhh, no.

Ingrid Bergman as a mousey Professor's wife driven to sexual roll-in-the-barn-hay abandon in nekked craven lust for the Smokey Mountain Man Redneck buck?

Ahhhhhhh, that's another, no.

Sexual chemistry between Bergman and Anthony Quinn qua actors - Zero.

So you've got two actors mis-cast for their roles and whose personal chemistry is so low that all the "hot scenes" have to be staged in the dark and accompanied by strenuous crescendo's of orchestral music to signal passion-in-process.

Add to that concoction. Another gigantic mis-match of a musical score - we ain't talkin' Appalachian Spring, or even blue grass we're talking Hollywood studio "westerns" orchestral gallops = and it just add insult to injury.

And, last but not least, a preposterous overall production quality that looks more like a toney Napa Valley vineyard party venue shot in glaring blaring over-saturated grand hooray for Hollywood Techi-ni-color than a gray, coal begrimed, hard-scrabble Appalachian town - and, well, the whole thing's just a mash - and not the good kind (i.e., white liquor).

And as for the script - well, Bergman seems to think she's doing a reprise of A Doll's House while Quinn is, of course, doing Zorba the faux Greek goes faux Redneck.

Additionally, there are the little touches - like the randy baby goats Bergman cottons to right away - get it?

Oh well, 'nuff said - this thing's not worth watching.