Our first lost classic is the 1963 film, Soldier in the Rain, starring Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen. It was another attempt at a peacetime military comedy. Some felt the film came perilously close to Mister Roberts (1955) and many dismissed it as a cheap knock-off. We disagree. This is a much different film.

Plot summary courtesy IMDB.com: "Sentemental military comedy revolves around two contemporary army buddies, Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter (Jackie Gleason), a smooth operator, who supply Sergeant Eustis Clay (Steve McQueen) idolizes and hopes will join him as a civilian in a private business enterprise. Clay endeavors to be a player in the military, just like Slaughter, but it seems as though Clay still has a lot to learn from his mentor. They are joined by Tuesday Weld as a shrill dizzy blonde teenager named Bobby Jo Pepperdine and Tony Bill as bumbling Private First Class Jerry Meltzer, McQueen's screwball sidekick."

Directed by Ralph Nelson (Charly, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Lilies of the Field), and co-written by Blake Edwards and Maurice Richlin based on the novel by William Goldman, the film was released on November 27, 1963 - five days after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The nation was perhaps in no mood for for movies and the film disappeared.

It resurfaced several years later on the 4:30 movie and other non-primetime spots, but has since been submerged into film purgatory.

The film did get some positive reception. Critic Craig Butler of allmovie.com....

"An absorbing film that deserves to be much better known, Soldier in the Rain is a sometimes uneasy blend of comedy and drama that doesn't always quite come off, but has so much going for it that one is glad to overlook its flaws. A buddy picture set in the peacetime Army, Soldier is concerned with how a strong friendship can develop between two people of differing personalities and aims. Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen are different types, and the fact that they have such a strong bond may at first seem unlikely, but as the film progresses it somehow seems natural and inevitable. Blake Edwards and Martin Richlin have done an excellent job of adapting William Goldman's novel, and together with director Ralph Nelson have opted to emphasize the character aspects of the material over the plot."

We agree. This film needs to be seen by a new generation of Gleason and McQueen fans. Gleason is excellent in the film, by the way (when was he ever bad?)

Here is a snippet from the film we found on YouTube with theme music provided by the great Henry Mancini...