The Firm

Power can be murder to resist
Power can be murder to resist
THE FIRM (15)
D: Sydney Pollack
Paramount/Mirage (Sydney Pollack, Scott Rudin, John Davis & Michael Hausman)
USA 🇺🇸 1993
153 mins

Thriller

W: David Rabe, Robert Towne & David Rayfiel [based on the novel by John Grisham]
DP: John Seale
Ed: William Steinkamp & Fredric Steinkamp     
Mus: Dave Grusin

Tom Cruise (Mitch McDeere), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Abby McDeere), Gene Hackman (Avery Tolar), Hal Holbrook (Oliver Lambert), Terry Kinney (Lamar Quinn), Wilford Brimley (William Devasher), Ed Harris (Wayne Tarrance), Holly Hunter (Tammy Hemphill), David Strathairn (Ray McDeere), Gary Busey (Eddie Lomax)

One of the better big screen adaptations of one of John Grisham's novel stars Tom Cruise as an up-and-coming lawyer who is promoted into a big law firm and finds himself trapped between being an informant for the FBI and being a target for the mafia who control his company.
For the most part, this is a very effective thriller, helped by a brilliant ensemble cast with some fantastic supporting performances, notably Holly Hunter as a floozy secretary. The only disappointment comes with the Hollywood ending, rewritten to divert from the more realistic toughness of Grisham's original book.
7/10

Gene Hackman & Tom Cruise in The Firm
Gene Hackman & Tom Cruise in The Firm