Rachel, Rachel

Paul Newman made his directorial debut and Newman's wife, Joanne Woodward, stars as Rachel Cameron, a 35-year-old unmarried schoolteacher who feels as though she's wasted her life. Rachel's best friend, Calla Mackie (Estelle Parsons), invites her to attend a religious revival meeting. Here Rachel is ...more

Rachel, Rachel is a moving, mature meditation on loneliness and existential angst, best remembered as the directorial debut of Paul Newman. Newman intentionally chose this small-scale, dramatic story -- adapted by Stewart Stern from Margaret Laurence's novel -A Jest of God -- to make his entrée into filmmaking. Newman's wife, Joanne Woodward, is convincing as the title character determined to change her life; the role aided her comeback from a string of mediocre pictures. Though acclaimed -- the ...more