The Devil's Rain (1975) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - July 15, 1975

I think I was first made aware of The Devil's Rain by its being mentioned/lambasted in the Medved's notorious tome The Golden Turkey Awards. As I seem to remember it, John Travolta was one of the nominees for the Most Embarrassing Movie Debut award, because The Devil's Rain was his first movie. So it goes.

Whether or not that memory is an accurate one is debatable, though. Because verifying whether or not my memory was correct took me down a rabbit hole of magazine databases and archives, as well as newspaper television listings, that reminded me that the memory of an event and the historical record of said event are two very different things.

I do know that I watched some of The Devil's Rain on late night television. There were several potential dates for when this might have happened. The first would have been on November 2, 1979, when The Devil's Rain aired after a rerun of the Kolchak The Night Stalker episode The Youth Killer on the CBS Late Movie. I also learned that It Came from Beneath the Sea was airing on Creature Features, over on Channel 2, at the same time as The Youth Killer.

The Devil's Rain would wash across the CBS Late Movie two more times in late 1980, maybe. First on August 12, which was a Wednesday, and then again on the more appropriate date of October 24, which was a Friday. That is according to this CBS Late Movie database, at least.

But when I checked the television listings in the Oakland Tribune. The Devil's Rain was only listed for broadcast on August 12. The October 24 time slot says that the 1960 drama Sunrise at Campobello was being aired.

Oh, I also learned that the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake was also broadcast on Friday, October 24, 1980. Which might coincide with a memory of my buying the novelization of The Hearse. The reason for this lodging in my memory was that I had to borrow a nickel from my uncle in order to complete the purchase. He actually barged into my bedroom to make sure he got the promised reimbursement. Dude tracked me down to get his fracking nickel back.

My only memory of The Devil's Rain consists of its opening with scene, wherein Ernest Borgnine and William Shatner engage in some theological fisticuffs, and the film's typical for its era downbeat ending and closing credits.