Watch Raintree County For Free

Redundant and unnecessary.

Expected more

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

After A Place in the Sun, audiences were granted another viewing of the sizzling pair, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. It's always nice to know when costars actually get along during the filming, so that gives all three of their movies an added bonus since they were lifelong friends.Raintree County was intended to repeat the glory of Gone with the Wind, but it ended up being a huge disappointment when comparing it to one of the universal favorite films of all time. Elizabeth Taylor was cast as the Scarlett O'Hara type, a shallow, flirtatious Southern belle, and Eva Marie Saint played the meek Melanie character. The biggest difference between the two films is the lack of a Rhett Butler substitute. In Raintree County, the male lead is a sensitive, weak Montgomery Clift, reminiscent of Ashley Wilkes. The story does not revolve around the Scarlett character; Clift is the lead. If you can imagine the 1939 story without Rhett Butler, and told from Ashley's point of view, you'll pretty much get Raintree County.There are beautiful clothes, beautiful people, and beautiful scenery in the film. In an ideal world, it can be watched without any comparison to Gone with the Wind, but it's not very likely anyone will be able to do that. Realistically, only Liz Taylor and 1950s epic fans will enjoy this movie. Anyone else, just watch Scarlett, the actual (and fantastic) sequel to Gone with the Wind.

Montgomery Clift plays Johnny, a sensitive school teacher in antebellum Indiana, Raintree County. Johnny is in love with Nell (Eva Marie Saint) until southern belle Susanna (Liz Taylor) shows up to settle some estate matters. It doesn't take much encouragement from Susanna for Johnny to take up with her and forsake the saintly Nell. Johnny marries Susanna and they move to New Orleans where Susanna is comfortably ensconced in a wealthy family where slavery is not questioned. Johnny gets a gut load of the slave south and forces a move back to Raintree County where Susanna is out of her element and uncomfortable. She continues to be haunted by an incident from her childhood involving her father, her mother, a slave, and a fire. The symbol of a golden rain tree is central. It appears that if anyone finds this mythical tree, the meaning of life would be revealed and all problems would be solved (or some such thing). I guess we have to accept the search for this tree as metaphor, since early on Johnny takes off into the woods wandering around aimlessly searching for it with no apparent hint of where it might be. Almost drowning, he fails on this attempt. Later, as Susanna starts to slip into madness, she flees home to embark on a similarly random search for the fabled tree. I will not spoil the story by revealing whether the rain tree remains undiscovered by the end of the movie.Johnny joins the Union Army where it is implied that he does so to search for his missing wife, which seems to be an odd way to execute such a search. Maybe he was conscripted? The movie misses an opportunity here to discuss conscription during the Civil War.Hard to believe that this movie did not win an Oscar for best costume design. Some of the set pieces in the south are exquisitely filmed. Of course Liz is costumed to take advantage of her beauty.The A-list actors never created characters that seemed real to me. Eva Marie Saint was wasted in playing the sweet, good girl. Liz Taylor seemed to be acting more than getting into her role. From her work here you would never guess that she had it in her to give us her Oscar winning performance as Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." Montgomery Clift is fine as the sensitive, morally upright Johnny, but he can play those parts without breaking a sweat. The generic score is suitable for a 1950s big budget Hollywood movie.

This is a fantastic Civil War film divided before and after the War of the States. I recommend that prospective viewers catch it on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) as I note that the DVD version offered is only 1:23 in length. The actual length of the film is 2 hours and 53 minutes, so I would wonder why the DVD version is so much less in length, not even a full feature length of 1:30. Just a thought. So, having rewatched it again, this time on TCM, I find that it's truly a fantastic movie...great actors, particularly Montgomery Clift who was seriously injured during its filming in an off-set automobile accident -- the resulting injuries serving to affect his remaining life in a negative way. It's interesting to watch the camera work post-accident. That aside, all of the acting roles are precise and everyone gives their roles their all. Montgomery Clift clearly shone out in this films and warranted an Academy nomination at minimum, as well as Best Picture nomination, neither which occurred unfortunately. Thus, it sometimes is passed over. For Civil War enthusiasts, it's a must see. Just enough of the fighting and struggle is shown to make its point without going overboard. For me the film is about love, commitment, and the power of holding onto a dream, real or fictional.

I Just wanted to add that the title ballad was sung by Nat King Cole, not Johnny Mathis - a minor correction perhaps. While the pacing did seem slow since all viewers are expecting the Civil War to break out since the movie opens with "1859" emblazoned on the screen, the latter part of the film is well paced. The civil war footage itself seems, surprisingly, spare and small in scale at the very best. Still, the film packs a powerful story-line and addressing the issue of mental illness as a core element in a lavish, color "big screen" spectacular is unusual for the time and I'm glad that I saw it. Eva Marie Saint's understated style contrasts perfectly with Elizabeth Taylor's pulsating dramatic flair.