Best movie of this year hands down!

Perfectly adorable

Fresh and Exciting

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

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.

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.

The story opens in 1859, in rural Indiana, as John and Nell (Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint) are graduating from school. Though they've been in love for years, John is bewitched by the beautiful newcomer, Susanna (Elizabeth Taylor), a high-strung and unstable young woman.This 1957 film is an obvious attempt to match the grandeur of "Gone With the Wind" and it fails miserably. It's poorly written; by trying to include battle scenes, romance, mental illness, slavery, and good ol' country life, it lacks focus and purpose. Taylor shrieks and wails in her faux-Southern drawl and generally overacts the whole time, although she does wear some spectacular gowns. Saint and Clift are a boring couple and I didn't care about them at all. Rod Taylor and Lee Marvin steal the show - what there is of it - with bravura performances. Bad movie.

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.