RELEASED IN 1993 and directed by Sydney Pollack based on John Grisham's novel, "The Firm" is a crime drama/thriller starring Tom Cruise as a top Harvard grad lawyer who desperately wants to leave behind his working-class origins and takes a high-paying job at a firm in Memphis. He and his wife (Jeanne Tripplehorn) are ecstatic in their affluent new world until clues mount up that the firm has a sinister side. Gene Hackman plays his mentor at the firm while Ed Harris appears as an FBI agent. Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook, David Strathairn and Gary Busey are also on hand.This has long been one of my favorites from this genre. You really feel for McDeere (Cruise) & his wife as their utopia morphs into an inescapable hell. In the Washington DC scene you grasp how limited their choices are as they're caught in a crossfire between the Mob and the FBI. McDeere must use his wits, his knowledge and "golden connections" for them to get out unscathed, if possible. I always favored the piano score by Dave Grusin, which some have described as "bouncy." While you could call it that, it has different tones depending on the sequence. For instance, during the closing city chase it's driving and portentous. There's also a melancholic component when suitable. The positive side of the piano score is that it makes the film timeless. Consider quality movies from that general era which were horribly dated by conventional scores, like "No Way Out" (1987). THE FILM RUNS 2 hour, 34 minutes and was shot in Memphis, Tennessee; West Memphis, Arkansas; Cayman Islands; Washington DC; Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts. GRADE: A/A-

I knew about this film because of the leading actor, and I knew it was something to do with lawyers, so I hoped it would be worthwhile, based on the book by John Grisham (The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker), directed by Sydney Pollack (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; Tootsie, Out of Africa). Basically Harvard graduate Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) is an up-and-coming young man with a promising future in law, he is offered opportunities in law firms across America, including Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Mitch settles on small, boutique firm Lambert & Locke in Memphis, Tennessee, which specialises in accounting and tax law, he and his wife Abby (Basic Instinct's Jeanne Tripplehorn) move. One of the firm's senior partners, Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman), becomes his mentor and introduces him to the firm's professional culture, loyalty and strict confidentiality are demanded, and lawyers should be willingness to charge exceptional fees for their services. Over time Mitch is seduced by the money, gifts and other perks showered on him and his wife, but within a couple of weeks two lawyers are savagely murdered, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice approach Mitch and warn him that the firm he is working for is heavily involved in criminal enterprises for a Chicago mob family. Mitch is also warned that many young lawyers have been killed while employed by the firm, he soon confirms there is indeed corruption, racketeering, mail fraud, homicide and gross over-billing of clients by the firm. Mitch knows that he is trapped, he must help the authorities or face prosecution himself, or he must stay with the firm or suffer death from the firm security enforcers. Mitch and Abigail concoct a plan to hand over confidential files to expose the criminal activities of the firm to the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, but the firm's sinister security agents, headed by chief Bill DeVasher (Wilford Brimley), are in hot pursuit of Mitch, they will stop at nothing to silence him and protect their interests. Also starring Hal Holbrook as Oliver Lambert, Terry Kinney as Lamar Quinn, Ed Harris as Wayne Tarrance, Oscar and BAFTA nominated Holly Hunter as Tammy Hemphill, David Strathairn as Ray McDeere, Gary Busey as Eddie Lomax, Steven Hill as F. Denton Voyles, Saw's Tobin Bell as The Nordic Man, Barbara Garrick as Kay Quinn, Jerry Hardin as Royce McKnight, Orphan's Margo Martindale as Nina Huff, Breaking Bad's Dean Norris as The Squat Man, Karina Lombard as Young Woman on Beach, Paul Sorvino as Tommie Morolto and Joe Viterelli as Joey Morolto. Cruise had tackled being in the courtroom in A Few Good Men, he is pretty suited as the rising young lawyer who discovers the dark side of his prestigious law firm, the star- studded cast all do their parts well also, I could just about follow the story, there are some suspenseful scenes of chases and the violent moments when the dodgy superiors get nasty, the only problem was that the film was a little long and the subject matter is a little dry, overall it is a reasonable legal thriller. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Music, Original Score for Dave Grusin. Good!

I don't have read a single novel from this author so i can't interpret his work but it's the second adaptation i watch after « Christmas with the Kranks » and i feel that he silently kicks the American society in the balls ! So after denouncing Christmas conformism and neighbors pressure, here he explains the prestige of law firms. When all other movies stop at their brilliant career and consider them as wealthy saints, those lawyers are just crooks, criminals, killers who knows how to lure and trap partners into their scheme ! So for sure it's original and in a way, the firm has offer the same devilish promise of a prestigious career than Al offers Keanu in the « devil's advocate ». The cast is really prestigious from always convincing Cruise to old tutor Gene, to dark Harris. Even the less important parts are well filled with « Deep throat », Don Sorvino, Busey and for sure Holly Hunter ! At first, you expect that she has very limited screen time but finally she becomes an essential player and she really gives originality and punch to a character would could have been transparent. The movie offers many outdoors locations as well and the sets are really beautiful (the firm building for example) and Pollack with his old style doesn't give us headaches with violent editing ! However 148 minutes are maybe too long and I don't have grasp the legal loophole that Cruise uses

I give it a three for how many times I felt ANY kind of suspense as I seem to remember the book was a very exciting read...giving this a watch as I couldn't find anything else and since I enjoyed the book..((sound familiar??))...first of all as much as I think Tom Cruise is about as one dimensional an actor for that time it probably was a good choice since he was certainly bankable in the early 90's..however he truly shows no acting charisma in this... shows all the same facial and hand expressions that you will see gone into overdrive by Jerry MacGuire which got him to major ham status... The movie is too plodding and edited with so many inconsequential scenes it just sucks the life out of the suspense...the best actors in the film are actually the supporting cast from Holly Hunter to Ed Harris..even the great and understated Steven Hill gives you more to think about than three quarters of this movie as Cruise and Tripplehorne give us NOTHING to really care about with mopey facial expressions and Cruise's trademark "hold on I am thinking while staring the other direction and pointing my fingers and then standing with a perplexed look to mug for the cam in a manner WE KNOW somethings about to go down"...and then there is the score....where do I begin...the jazzy piano added NOTHING to the supposed suspense the book has created..I firmly expected a dance number to come out of nowhere in the middle of this....totally inappropriate music for this....Gene Hackman is...is......GENE HACKMAN....nuff said......the ending is just ridiculous anti-climatic and makes you think "are you SERIOUS?....to sum this up the best way possible..my favorite scene in the whole movie involved Gary Busey...chew on that for a second or three....LOL