The Rain People is a 1969 American road drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and starring Shirley Knight, James Caan and Robert Duvall.

Coppola's fifth directorial work, The Rain People was released by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts on 27 August 1969 and received generally positive reviews from critics.

Long Island housewife Natalie Ravenna leaves her husband sleeping at home and sets off on a road trip in a family station wagon.

She gives a ride to a strapping young man, Jimmy "Killer" Kilgannon, who had been a college football star but had sustained a serious head injury and was given one thousand dollars to leave the school.

Gordon's daughter shoots Killer dead, leaving Natalie holding his body, sobbing, as park residents arrive and watch.

To minimize transportation costs, Coppola employed a small 10-person crew, which was supplemented by local hires in each of the locations.

[4] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four and compared Natalie Ravenna's quest to that of the Peter Fonda character in Easy Rider, and called them both "lineal descendants of the most typical American searcher of them all, Huckleberry Finn."

"[6] Margarita Landazuri writes on Turner Classic Movies: "It has acquired a cult status as an early feminist film for its provocative treatment of a woman seeking her own identity.