Black Rainbow (1989)
- Cody Iden
- Nov 3, 2021
- 2 min read
Release Date - October 6, 1989
Synopsis:
A Christian medium who travels the United States with her father performing at churches, allowing people to hear from their departed loved ones unintentionally predicts the death of a man who is not yet dead.
Directed by - Mike Hodges
Written by - Mike Hodges
Produced by - Geoffrey Helman and John Quested
Cinematography - Gerry Fisher
Music by - John Scott
Distribution Company - Miramax Films
Cast:
Rosanna Arquette - Martha Travis
Jason Robards - Walter Travis
and Tom Hulce - Gary Wallace
Mark Joy - Lloyd Harley
Ron Rosenthal - Lt. Irving Weinberg
John Bennes - Ted Silas
Linda Pierce - Mary Kuron
Olek Krupa - Tom Kuron
Marty Terry - Mrs. Adams
Ed L. Grady - Editor Geoff McBain
Rick Warner - Editor Jay Chatwin
Jon Thompson - Jack Callow
Helen Baldwin - Eva Callow
Ed Lillard - Pastor on Train
Darla N. Warner - Shirley Harley
Run Time - 1 hr. 43 min. Rated - R
Budget - $7 million Gross - Unknown
Review:
A strange film from director Mike Hodges, Black Rainbow has an interesting premise with a young medium who is for reasons unknown predicting the deaths of people during her performances at various churches as she travels the country with her aging father. Despite this interesting basis of a story the filmmakers really don't seem to know what they want to do with the rest of the storytelling and as a result the movie feels oddly pieced together. The film's antagonists really feel tacked on and are only loosely tied to the story of the main characters. The acting from the three leads is decent enough and some of the scenes of Rosanna Arquette performing for the church audiences are very intriguing. But anything not featuring Arquette, Jason Robards or Tom Hulce really feels like you are watching a different movie and have a tacked on feeling. The score is uninteresting, there aren't many special effects to speak of and the cinematography is just okay, but it is hard to judge due to the poor DVD transfer which was also cropped down to a full screen presentation. I think there could have been an interesting story to tell here but unfortunately we just don't get one.
My Score: 65
Plot - 6 Cinematography - 6
Attraction - 5 Editing & Special Effects - 6
Theme - 8 Sound & Music - 7
Acting - 7 Directing - 7
Dialogue - 7 Enjoyability – 6
Trivia:
Director Mike Hodges, better known for directing Get Carter (1971) and Flash Gordon (1980), had difficulty finding an actress to play the lead role of Martha Travis. It was actually Martin Scorsese who convinced Rosanna Arquette to take the role.
Rosanna Arquette hired a real-life psychic named Laura Day who helped her train for the role.
Rosanna Arquette's younger sister, Patricia Arquette, later played a medium as well on the TV series Medium (2005-2011).
The film's title refers to Martha's visions of a rainbow which turns black once she begins seeing visions of people who are about to die.
Despite good reviews from many of the critics the film quickly faded into obscurity and is now little-known.
Availability:
Watched November 2, 2021
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