Joanne Woodward effectively plays a bored and boring middle-aged school teacher who still lives with her mother at a funeral home in Connecticut. She's on the verge of mental collapse, but hides it well and pretends everything's okay. A guy from her childhood comes to town from the big city (James Olson) and her appetite for change comes to the fore.This potent drama was Paul Newman's first stab at directing and it's the best cinematic depiction of the inward struggle of flesh and spirit -- id and superego -- I've ever seen. This struggle explains why it's called "Rachel, Rachel." Rachel is experiencing the undercurrent conflict between spiritual and carnal impulses. She's stuck between goody-goody Rachel and libertine Rachel and is therefore in living limbo. Various outside factors encourage this lifeless state: Disturbing childhood memories of living in a funeral home, a mother who essentially views Rachel as her personal servant and a genuine friend who's love is starting to become unhealthy (Estelle Parsons).The film features a mind-blowing pentecostal church sequence that lasts 10-12 minutes. I can't believe Newman had the cojones to include this scene and it's pulled off expertly with Terry Kiser as the guest preacher who "speaks in tongues," which is what Calla (Parsons) tells Rachel when it's reveal that he's the speaker. Parsons is fabulous here, by the way.Due to the subject matter and the fact that this is a drama there are some boring stretches, so you have to be in the mood for a serious drama. Nevertheless, the film deserves credit for having the gonads to show real life and refusing to be politically correct -- an amazing drama.In case you didn't know, Newman and Woodward were husband & wife for 50 years, up to his death in 2008.The film runs 101 minutes and was shot in Connecticut.GRADE: A-

Rachel, Rachel (1968)*** 1/2 (out of 4) Mature, adult drama has Joanne Woodward playing Rachel, a 35-year-old school teacher living with her mother in a small town. Rachel begins to think that she's let her life go right past her without doing anything with it when she bumps into a man (James Olson) she knew back in high school. Paul Newman was the biggest actor in the world when he decided to step behind the camera for this small drama and it would prove that he could handle both sides without any issues. I was really surprised at how well he handled the material here because, in many ways, this isn't really the type of film you'd expect him to director. This is an extremely mature love story for adults about loneliness and the effect this can have on your life. Newman certainly had a lot of help considering the leading lady who would eventually get an Oscar nomination for her performance. Woodward, once again, turns in a marvelous performance and really delivers a very memorable character. Her portrait of this lonely woman is incredibly touching and she really makes you feel sorry and care for this woman. Woodward really digs in and delivers all the goods as she has some rather embarrassing personal moments here that come off very touching. She's got a very good supporting cast to work with as Olson, Estelle Parsons, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Kate Harrington all turn in fine work. Newman does a great job handling this material and I think for the most part he hit all the right notes. There are a few scenes, like the stuff inside the church, that go on a tad bit too long but for the most part he does his job just fine. The quite nature and calmness he brings to the film perfectly goes with Woodwards performance and in the end the couple deliver a very memorable little gem.

I was surprised to find this movie on HBO Signature channel early this morning, and just as surprised to love it, and to never before have heard of it. With this being Paul Newman's directorial debut, and starring Joanne Woodward, you would think it would be better known than it is. This is a wonderfully moving illustration of small town life before the onset of the modern world, with all of the good and bad that went along with it. It reminded me of growing up in a small town with all of the petty gossip as well as all of the wonderful friendships. Rachel is repressed in many ways by her past relationship with her late father as well as dealing with her not-so-invalid mother, who she serves as a sort of girl Friday. When she finally gets a chance to come out of her shell, she passes it up once before finally reaching out to find all she has missed in her life. Joanne Woodward gives one of the finest performances of her career, with her understated beauty contrasting so much with the intense repression of her character. All in all, this is one movie that deserves far more acclaim than it has received as a study of that small town life we all have left behind, and all that we have learned since.

In pretty much every movie where I've seen Joanne Woodward, she does a great role, and "Rachel, Rachel" (directed by her husband Paul Newman) is no exception. Woodward plays Rachel Cameron, a schoolteacher in a conservative, repressive small town. Various incidents from her childhood have long haunted her, and she still lives with - and has to take care of - her needy mother. Without a doubt she's unfulfilled in life, but she basically has no way to escape this existence. But things just might change when childhood friend Nick (James Olson) returns to town after spending many years in the big city.By barely moving her face, Woodward conveys many emotions in this movie: anguish, cynicism, hope, and more. I would suspect that "Rachel, Rachel" probably played into the burgeoning feminist movement, but moreover it showed the complete break from "traditional" American mores (after all, what characterized the '60s more than that?). Nineteen sixty-eight was certainly a great year for movies: along with this one, there was "Planet of the Apes", "Romeo & Juliet", "2001", "The Odd Couple", "Bullitt", "Charly" and "Yellow Submarine". Definitely one that I recommend.Also starring Geraldine Fitzgerald.