Soldier in the Rain

Soldier in the Rain is a 1963 comedy-drama set in the peacetime American army. Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter, a heavyset career soldier, takes an interest in the younger, ambitious Sergeant Eustis Clay. Clay is counting down the days until he leaves the service and dreams of going into business with Slaughter, who is comfortable in the only home he knows. Clay also introduces his older friend to a very young woman, Bobby Jo Pepperdine, a gesture meant kindly but one that complicates life for everyone involved.

The film was directed by Ralph Nelson, its place being the fourth of the eleven features listed in his directing filmography, arriving between Requiem for a Heavyweight and Lilies of the Field. Jackie Gleason plays Slaughter and Steve McQueen plays Clay, with Tuesday Weld as Bobby Jo, Tony Bill as Jerry Meltzer, Tom Poston as Lieutenant Magee and Ed Nelson as James Priest. The screenplay is by Blake Edwards and Maurice Richlin, and Edwards produced alongside Martin Jurow for Solar Productions. The film runs 88 minutes.

Audience response has stayed mildly positive over the decades: on IMDb it holds a 6.7 rating from around 2,200 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.5 from a much smaller base of 23 votes.