Based on John
Grisham's exhilarating ‘legal beagle’ page turner, Sidney Pollack's The Firm (1993) is a harrowing cloak
and dagger thriller that delves into the backroom espionage of a prestigious law
firm whose biggest client happens to be the Mafia. The film stars Tom Cruise
and Jeanne Tripplehorn as a naive and optimistic young couple whose world is
about to be turned upside down. The screenplay by David Rabe, Robert Towne and
David Rayfiel keeps the novel's high octane twists and turns but contains some
glaring alterations that are in service of preserving Tom Cruise's persona as
the all-American good guy.
In Grisham's
novel, Cruise's character is out to get all he can from 'the firm' after he
discovers their tainted past. He steals money from them to save his brother -
money that is never recovered. In the film, Cruise simply exposes an
overbilling fraud, convinces the FBI to fund him for helping to expose this
illegal practice, then uses the money to give his brother a means of escape from
jail. But Cruise's character also escapes legal prosecution with his reputation
and ethics intact.
Cruise is
Mitch McDeere, a brilliant law student at the head of his class. This earns him
some fairly hefty offers to join just about every major law firm in the
country. He chooses a modest firm in Memphis after they offer him a house, a
car, moving expenses and more money than all the other offers combined as his
base starting salary. Naturally, Mitch is ecstatic and so is his wife, Abigail
(Tripplehorn). Abby's family is from old money. But wealth is a new concept to
Mitch who had to struggle to put himself through law school.
Mitch is
determined to pass the bar with flying colors and prove himself worthy of the
firm's faith in him. Their senior partner, Oliver Lambert (Hal Holbrook)
appoints another senior partner, Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) as Mitch's mentor.
Very soon, however, Mitch begins to realize that some of the firm's clientele
are not exactly beautiful people. Avery takes Mitch to the Cayman Islands,
presumably on business. However, while there he also sets Mitch up with a
prostitute to use as blackmail just in case Mitch gets second thoughts about
leaving the firm.
Mitch learns
that two of the firm's senior partners who were working with clients in the
Caymans have died under mysterious circumstances. At this point FBI agent Wayne
Tarrance (Ed Harris) enters the picture. He informs Mitch of the firm's illegal
money-laundering practices and threatens Mitch with imprisonment for his part
in their activities unless he helps expose the firm by copying some of their illegal
documents and handing them over to the FBI.
Mitch is in a
catch 22. If he exposes the firm then he has betrayed the attorney/client
privilege and will be disbarred, if not in fact killed by the Mafia first. If
he defies the FBI and keeps the firm's secrets Mitch faces going to prison as a
co-conspirator in their illegal activities. However, Mitch does have one ace in
the hole; his brother, Ray (David Strathairn) who is currently serving time for
illegal drug possession. Mitch blackmails Tarrance. If he expects him to rat
out the firm then Tarrance must first release Ray from prison and pay to his
account $750,000. After some legal haggling Tarrance reluctantly agrees. But
his plans are to release Ray just long enough to get Mitch to comply and then
arrest them both and send Ray back to prison.
On Ray's
advice Mitch turns to private investigator Eddie Lomax (Gary Busey) to get some
dirt on the firm. Sensing a stool pigeon in their midst, Oliver sends William
Devasher (Wilfred Brimley) and his men to take care of the problem. Devasher's
men kill Lomax while his secretary, Tammy Hemphill (Holly Hunter) is hiding
under his desk. Tammy vows to avenge Eddie's murder by helping Mitch copy the
files that Wayne needs to bust the firm's illegal practices wide open. Tammy
also helps Ray elude being recaptured by the Feds. Ray escapes to the Caribbean
with the $750,000 where he and Tammy plan to start a new life.
In the
meantime Abigail learns about her husband and the prostitute. Her pride is
wounded. But as she plans to divorce Mitch, Abby comes to realize just what a
tight spot he is in. She decides to pretend to take Avery up on his offer of
seduction in the Caymans'. Returning to his bungalow in search of evidence,
Abby drugs Avery. The firm has had enough. Suspecting Avery of collusion,
Devasher sends a hit squad to murder him in the Caymans. Abby escapes Avery's
bungalow with the necessary files just before they arrive. She returns to
Memphis with the proof Mitch needs to indict the firm. Devasher and his hit men
pursue Mitch to an abandoned warehouse where he narrowly escapes being killed.
Tarrance ends the bloodshed in a hailstorm of bullets. The firm is shut down
and Abby and Mitch depart with a U-Haul in tow bound for Boston from whence all
their troubles first began.
The Firm is nail-biting and taut entertainment. Apart from Top Gun, I have never been a Tom Cruise
fan and it is saying much that despite this bias I rather enjoyed both Cruise's
performance and the film as slick and stylishly packaged thrills. Sydney
Pollack's direction is fast paced. He holds close to Grisham's text while ever
so slightly tweaking it to suit the needs of his star. American audiences may
appreciate an anti-hero but they generally love one that can redeem himself
despite seemingly insurmountable odds. While Grisham's Mitch McDeere is a bit
of a brute and a scamp, the film's take on the character is much more in
keeping with Cruise’s toothy-grinned all-American. Mitch is a good guy trapped
in bad circumstances.
Gene Hackman
delivers another seductively sinful performance as the sexually promiscuous,
devil-may-care attorney whose Teflon-coated exterior is about to be
irreversibly tarnished. Even the minor performances of Busey, Tripplehorn,
Hunter and Brimley click as they should. The one over the top exception is Ed
Harris. Otherwise and in short, casting is inspired. The jury is in. The
prosecution rests. The verdict is that The
Firm is a winner!
So is the
Blu-ray incarnation from Paramount Home Video. The 1080p image is outstanding
in all respects. This is a reference quality visual presentation of a catalogue
title. The image is crisp and refined. Colors are bold and fully saturated.
Contrast levels are bang on. Fine detail is evident even during the darkest
scenes. We get film grain faithfully reproduced as grain and not digitized
grit. Truly, there is nothing to disappoint.
The audio is a
DTS remastering that perfectly captures all the subtle sonic nuances in the
original tracks. Dialogue is natural sounding. Effects and music are nicely
spread throughout the channels, often with aggressiveness that give your
speakers a workout. The Firm is
primarily a dialogue driven movie and the audio is a complimentary to its
equally perfect visuals. Regrettably, Paramount gives us NO extras.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
5
EXTRAS
0
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