Rating: 
Summary: Nice!
Review: An ambitious action film by Karel Reisz, successful to the degree that it is an action film from a director whose specialty has always been introspective psychodrama (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The Gambler). Instead of brooding, his characters can now take out their angst on each other by means of fists and machine guns. Still, Reisz's intentions in this story of two amateur heroin smugglers (Nick Nolte and Michael Moriarty) are fairly cloudy, and his elliptical way with a plotline is more pretentious than helpful. The subject seems to be the cheapening of human emotions, and with it, human life, but Nolte's instinctual brute of a hero is glorified too unthinkingly to support the thesis. With Tuesday Weld, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Masur, Ray Sharkey, and Gail Strickland; from Robert Stone's novel Dog Soldiers.
Rating: 
Summary: Ray Hicks Lives!
Review: Converse: "They say this place is where you find out who you really are."
Hicks: "What a bummer for the gooks."
I have to confess: I saw the movie "Who'll Stop the Rain," before I read the Robert Stone's, "The Dog Soldiers", the novel on which the screenplay is based. While I thought the book developed the characters and made them a little more understandable, I thought that overall, the movie was better storytelling.
First, Nick Nolte as Ray Hicks: Nolte does an outstanding job of interpreting Stone's vision of a modern American Samurai on a journey into hell. A former Marine with the discipline of a dedicated warrior, Hicks' motives and reasons for his own existence are mercenary in the extreme. I can't imagine anyone other than Nick Nolte playng this part.
Tueday Welde as Marge does not quite fit Stone's original version of the wayward schoolteacher who works as a ticket girl in the front of a seedy porno theater on the outskirts of San Francisco's tenderloin district. Welde comes across as a little less buxon and whorelike. In the book, Marge has few redeemable qualities and no spiritual values. Even though her part isn't as coarse, Welde still gives a pretty good interpretation of the character.
"Who'll Stop the Rain" closely follows the novel it was based on, but the screenplay diverges in several places: When converse contacts Hicks in Vietnam; When Hicks brings the packages to port in Oakland; When Hicks and Marge catch up to Eddie Peace; When Hicks and Marge reach the compound of Those Who Are. The screenwriters also saw fit to drop a minor character, Dieter, whose role in the novel version was as Ray Hick's mentor.
Fortunately, Stone also worked on the screenplay, so a lot of the great dialogue was still left in place with some minor alterations. "Who'll Stop the Rain" moves faster, cuts to the chase, and is very lean storytelling. There's not a lot of superfluous stuff, just a sequence of events that brings each of the characters into a quagmire of his or her own making - very much like "The Dog Soldiers".
Of course, both the movie and the novel are about a world going to hell over war and drugs. Both the movie and the book make a case that even though heroin is dangerous and lethal (Hicks calls it "the king of highs"), war is probably the ultimate drug.
The film hints at it, but "The Dog Soldiers" is more explanative about the origins of Hicks through his recollections before he dies. As he fades away, Hicks visualizes his past, which gives the reader an idea of how this character could have evolved into being.
If you want to know what Stone had in mind when he created Ray Hicks, read "The Dog Soldiers". If you want to see this vision enacted in a though-provoking, suspensful action movie, see "Who'll Stop the Rain."
Rating:
Summary: Ray Hicks Lives!
Review: Converse: "They say this place is where you find out who you really are."
Hicks: "What a bummer for the gooks.""Who'll Stop the Rain" is a great movie, but I don't see why the book's title "The Dog Soldiers" wasn't used.
The book, of course is a classic, one that I truly enjoyed. The movie moves faster, cuts to the chase, and is very lean storytelling. There's not a lot of superfluous stuff, just a sequence of events that brings each of the characters into a quagmire of his or her own making. I recommend this film to anyone who might be interested in some of the spinoff effects the Vietnam war brought to America. The only problem I have with the movie is the use of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Hey Tonight" during the firefight towards the movie's end. Not only does the music not fit the scene, it was not recorded or distributed until 1971 or 1972, a year or two after the story's real time frame. In that context, some music by Moby Grape, Grateful Dead, or Jefferson Airplane would have been more appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: Who could?
Review: Flawed? Definitely. No movie that attempts so much could be anything else.But in the midst of chaos and carnage are some gentle moments,which are even more startling because these carachters are,with the exception of Nick Nolte,not self-aware. He is a good guy who does a favor for a buddy and lives to regret it. Tuesday Weld ,at first glance, is fragile to the point of annoying, but there is more to her than we immediately see. The only weakness in the film is during the climax, which seems like a coked-up producers idea of a great finale-in any other movie it would be great, but these people deserve more than a POW finish, and happily,they are allowed one after all the fireworks. That the lead actors are all so messed up is the greatness of this film,because all are capable of being so much more, and , when pushed, become so much more than we, the audience, thought they could be. Searing. More pain than should be experienced. No really-watch the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Matthias in something cool.
Review: Great Movie though it blew a perfect ending with the last five minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, terrible movie
Review: I had recently read Robert Stone's book "Dog Soldiers" and thought it was very good. I had heard that this movie was a forgotten minor classic and since I like both the book and Nick Nolte, I thought, "How bad can it be." Well, I hated it! Key events from the book were cast in a different light that completely changed the whole point of the story. The acting was for the most part weak, though Nick Nolte did wring as much as he possible could from the script. Michael Moriarty's character was weakly portrayed, and, again, in the book he is a much weaker and less sympathetic person, though his character is much more fleshed out. All the strengths of the book (strong characterization, flashes of humour among other things) are missing. Skip this and read the book instead
Rating:
Summary: A different "Vietnam" film
Review: I saw this movie in Tokyo, Japan and it was rightly titled "Dog Soldiers" obviously because for Japanese moviegoers the title "Who'll stop..." didn't make much sense. I was so excited after seeing this movie I took another friend to see it the following weekend. I don't know why people pan it, it's one of Nolte's best films. The film really captures the era; 60's, Vietnam, drugs, music, etc. I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD...finally!
Rating:
Summary: A different "Vietnam" film
Review: I saw this movie in Tokyo, Japan and it was rightly titled "Dog Soldiers" obviously because for Japanese moviegoers the title "Who'll stop..." didn't make much sense. I was so excited after seeing this movie I took another friend to see it the following weekend. I don't know why people pan it, it's one of Nolte's best films. The film really captures the era; 60's, Vietnam, drugs, music, etc. I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD...finally!
Rating:
Summary: A different "Vietnam" film
Review: I saw this movie in Tokyo, Japan and it was rightly titled "Dog Soldiers" obviously because for Japanese moviegoers the title "Who'll stop..." didn't make much sense. I was so excited after seeing this movie I took another friend to see it the following weekend. I don't know why people pan it, it's one of Nolte's best films. The film really captures the era; 60's, Vietnam, drugs, music, etc. I've been waiting for it to come out on DVD...finally!
Rating:
Summary: A modern version of "The Treasure of Sierra Madre"
Review: I'm not sure why this film has brought out such negative reaction, nor why it has been virtualy forgotten among modern classics- great book, wonderful actors and a thoughtful screenplay- my only concern was the name-change from the original title, "Dog Soldiers". It has been one of the few films (and novel) that have stood up to repeated viewings- perhaps you have to know the elements that make up the plot (the allure of easy money, smak, and/or the sense of honor, that each character desires) before you can appreciate what is really a timeless tale of longing and need. One of my favorite films.
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