Il socio

I wanted to get a copy of the screenplay to compare the movie with the dialog and directions, but initially received the FIRST draft by David Rabe. I finally got the shooting script later. All I can say is that it ended with Mc Deere blowing away all the partners in a restaurant with an AK-47. It really made me appreciate the re-write by David Rayfiel and Robert Towne. I have watched this movie many times and enjoy the suspense, romance, and Grusin's solo piano score, which always blows me away. But the one thing that impressed me most with multiple viewing, is how Gene Hackman really makes the movie work. His portrayal of this corrupt, but incredably likeable character is the one thread that holds the movie together for me and goes down as one of his most memorable acting performances.

This is a long (154 minutes) but pretty solid drama-suspense story about corporate corruption. The film features a well-known cast, and as soon as the action kicks in this becomes a very tense story.

Tom Cruise is very good as the hotshot lawyer, as is Jeanne Tripplehorn who plays his unhappy wife. This is a complex story at times, one not always easily understood, especially the ending. So much is explained so fast at the end it's tough to comprehend it all.

Wilfred Brimley, Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook, Holly Hunter, Robert Strathairn and Ed Harris all make this a really deep, impressive cast. For more details of the story, check some of the other reviews.

Got to love Tom Cruise cruising his way through the Firm. Good screen play, great acting and exciting story. Don't get tired at all during these 2.5h of parallell stories of the characters and to see how they all intervene in each others lives.

Even get some action in the film toward the end. If you feel like an exciting film with all your traditional 90 vibe in style, talk and play - make sure to watch the Firm. Great job everyone!

Tom Cruise is as competent as ever in this Sydney Pollack-directed law film. I would put his film Three Days of the Condor ahead of this one though because the Firm lacks much of the excitement and well-plotted story beats. There are a few moments of suspense, but a lot of is it pretty slow-moving. The cast is fantastic though with several standout performances. The score, while good, felt very out of place in several scenes. This was also probably at least half an hour too long. The Firm is a slightly above average thriller from the 90s that provides a good starring role for Tom Cruise.

Though not the best of the Grisham adaptations, this is up to the usual high standard in plot and stars that Grisham movies have become associated with. The plot on this one is a little more far-fetched probably on account of the fact that this was one of Grisham's first works, escapism and entertainment seem to be the most prominent here, other Grisham works had begun to develop other traits alongside populism, like being almost topical and seeming to make social comment on issues that Grisham must have had an inside eye on when he was actually involved in the legal business for all those years. The Rainmaker is a great example of this when a young lawyer takes on a pro bono case of a widow's suit against a rogue insurance company that wouldn't pay up on a claim for her son's illness, and who as a result died from it. You will find none of this in the Firm, it is the straightforward story of a young lawyer whose life becomes entangled in the law firm from hell, which has all the usual mafia connections and all the usual FBI hardball characters battling with the caricatures from the Mafia. It does however make great entertainment , you will soon forget how far-fetched and improbable it all is, as you will become instantly fascinated, and stick with 155 minutes of plot twists and turns.