Hard Rain (1998)

Set during a massive flood started by a dam accident in a small town, Tom (Christian Slater) is an armored truck guard who gets robbed by Jim ('Morgan Freeman' ). Tom gets away with all the... See full summary »

Director:

Mikael Salomon

Writer:

Graham Yost

Stars:

Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Morgan Freeman	...	Jim
Christian Slater	...	Tom
Randy Quaid	...	Sheriff Mike Collins
Minnie Driver	...	Karen
Edward Asner	...	Uncle Charlie
Michael A. Goorjian	...	Kenny (as Michael Goorjian)
Dann Florek	...	Mr. Mehlor
Ricky Harris	...	Ray
Mark Rolston	...	Wayne Bryce
Peter Murnik	...	Phil
Wayne Duvall	...	Hank
Richard Dysart	...	Henry Sears
Betty White	...	Doreen Sears
Ray Baker	...	Mayor
Lisa Fuhrman	...	Mayor's Wife

Storyline

Set during a massive flood started by a dam accident in a small town, Tom (Christian Slater) is an armored truck guard who gets robbed by Jim ('Morgan Freeman' ). Tom gets away with all the money and hides it. In a panic, he tells the sheriff about the area he hid the money in and the sheriff locks him up. Now Tom has to get to the money and keep himself alive battling the sheriff, Jim and his crew and the elements.

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Plot Keywords:

sheriff | dam | flood | church | small town | 

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Taglines:

Prepare for hard rain.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Country:

USA UK Denmark France Japan New Zealand Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 January 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Flood

Filming Locations:

Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£472,553 (UK) (17 April 1998)

Gross:

£1,031,280 (UK) (1 May 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Films, Marubeni, Mutual Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 92 min (Nordisk Film DVD)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (DeLuxe) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jim says he used to work "for the Johnstown Company" - likely a reference to Bruce Springsteen's song, "The River" which itself is quoted moments later by Ray. Johnstown, PA, is most famous for an 1889 flood, caused, like the flood in this film, by a dam failure.

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Goofs

When the armored car stalls, it is near the middle of a dip in the road. Later the water is chest deep next to the car, but when the robbers cross the water it never gets much deeper than waist depth. As the middle of the dip would be the lowest point, the water depth should have been much greater.

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Quotes

Karen: I wonder whose car this is.
Tom: Whoever it is, they like Pat Benatar, Eddie Money and... Oh. The soundtrack to Footloose.
Karen: Really?
Tom: Oh, my God. This is my car from high school.

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Crazy Credits

The Paramount mountain is seen in much worse weather than normal; the camera pans down from the logo to scenes of flooding.

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Connections

References Footloose (1984)

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Soundtracks

"The River"
Written by Bruce Springsteen

User Reviews

Fast, exciting action flick with possibly too much shooting (and everyone a bad shot!)

Christian Slater plays an armored truck guard who has to deal with thieves, the crooked police, a fierce Indiana rainfall, and a flooded town while trying to protect three million dollars in the company vehicle. Well-done action flick isn't epic-scale, but does have many suspenseful close-calls and colorful characters, plus good performances by Slater, Morgan Freeman, Minnie Driver, and Richard Dysart and Betty White as an elderly couple who didn't evacuate when they were supposed to. Randy Quaid overplays heinously as a trigger happy sheriff, and the continual shootouts in the final third get repetitive, but this scenario (an entire town slowly being submerged) is exceptionally well-captured and the filmmakers didn't forget to add some good humor into the mix. **1/2 from ****