Hard Rain (1998)

The nephew of an armored-truck driver tries to prevent three million dollars from being taken by a local rival gang during a catastrophic flooding caused by a severe storm.

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
Minnie Driver	...	Karen
Edward Asner	...	Charlie
Michael A. Goorjian	...	Kenny (as Michael Goorjian)
Dann Florek	...	Mr. Mehlor
Ricky Harris	...	Ray
Mark Rolston	...	Wayne
Peter Murnik	...	Phil
Wayne Duvall	...	Hank
Richard Dysart	...	Henry
Betty White	...	Doreen
Ray Baker	...	Mayor
Lisa Fuhrman	...	Mayor's Wife

Storyline

In Huntingburg, the armored truck with three million dollars driven by Tom and his Uncle Charlie gets stuck in the flooding and realizes that the town has been evacuated since the dam does not have capacity to hold the storm. While waiting for the National Guard, they are attacked by Jim and his gang formed by Kenny, Mr. Mehlor and Ray and the clumsy Kenny kills Charlie. Tom flees with the bags of money and hides them in the cemetery. Then he is hunted down by Jim and his gang and he hides in a church. Out of the blue, he is knocked out and awakes locked in a cell. Soon he learns that the restorer Karen believed he was a looter and hit him. Sheriff Mike Collins and Deputy Wayne Bryce go to investigate Tom' story while Officer Phil takes Karen out of the town by boat. However she escapes with the boat and goes to the church. Meanwhile Tom is trapped in the cell full of water and Karen rescues him. He decides to return to the armored truck to retrieve a shotgun but he is captured by Jim...

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Plot Keywords:

flood | reference to swamp thing | rogue cop | renegade cop | movie flop | 

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Taglines:

A simple plan. An instant fortune. Just add water.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

A teaser trailer touting its original title, The Flood, was released months before its original May 2, 1997 release date. However, the film was delayed till January 1998, not only allowing for more time in post-production but an overhaul in the film's marketing campaign. As the disaster movie had found renewed interest in the late 90's with films such as Twister (1996) and Dante's Peak (1997), Paramount wanted to differentiate the now-retitled Hard Rain from those by focusing new trailers on the action and crime elements rather than the storm at the center of the plot.

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Goofs

Electrocution powerful enough to set wet clothes on fire would cause instantaneous death. Even discounting this, the burns on Kenny's body would be far more widespread, whereas none appear to be present.

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Quotes

Sheriff: For twenty years, I've been eatin' shit; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So now I'm changing the menu. From here on, everything I eat is gonna be shit-free.

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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

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 'How'd They Shoot That?!' Scenes (2015)

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Soundtracks

It Makes Me Lonely Blue Mountain Breakdown
Written, Performed and Produced by Jeffrey Pescetto (as Jeff Pescetto)

User Reviews

Good action flick

Hard Rain is a nifty action thriller, set during the middle of a titanic flood in a small town in Indiana. Christian Slater plays a local security guard, attempting to transport the loot out of town with his partner, but as always, it all goes terribly wrong. On the run, from a band of determined thieves, led by Morgan Freeman Slater hides the money and takes refuge with the town sheriff and his band of officers. Only they're seeing green too and Slater is on his own.

The sodden atmosphere of this film is unique and impressive, as is the set design. The film is technically very cool, clever too and working with so much water must've been hell for the crew. The performances are all well rounded enough in Hard Rain but the script lacks the spark to truly make this great or memorable. Sure there are some exciting moments, but what action film doesn't have some excitement? With such a unique setting, I'm surprised that there just wasn't more of a good thing. Overall, I enjoyed it. This film is good action flick. Nothing more, nothing less.

Details

Country:

USA UK Denmark France Japan New Zealand Germany Australia

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 USA:

$8,009,024, 19 January 1998

Gross USA:

$19,870,567

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$19,870,567

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Television, H2L Media Group, Marubeni

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (DeLuxe) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1