The Rainmaker (1997)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers (WGA):

John Grisham (novel)
Francis Ford Coppola (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

They were totally unqualified to try the case of a lifetime... but every underdog has his day.

Plot:

An idealistic young lawyer and his cynical partner take on a powerful law firm representing a corrupt insurance company.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Law | Insurance | Insurance Company | Courtroom

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

Matt Damon	...	Rudy Baylor
Danny DeVito	...	Deck Shifflet
Claire Danes	...	Kelly Riker
Jon Voight	...	Leo F. Drummond
Mary Kay Place	...	Dot Black
Dean Stockwell	...	Judge Harvey Hale
Teresa Wright	...	Colleen 'Miss Birdie' Birdsong
Virginia Madsen	...	Jackie Lemancyzk
Mickey Rourke	...	Bruiser Stone
Andrew Shue	...	Cliff Riker
Red West	...	Buddy Black
Johnny Whitworth	...	Donny Ray Black
Wayne Emmons	...	Prince Thomas
Adrian Roberts	...	Butch
Roy Scheider	...	Wilfred Keeley

Also Known As:

John Grisham's The Rainmaker (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for a strong beating and elements of domestic abuse.

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Philippines:PG-13 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #35679) | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Alameda, California, USA

Company:

American Zoetrope

Trivia:

Teresa Wright's final film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Everett Lufkin is on the witness stand, the letter he's handed by Rudy Baylor repeatedly disappears and reappears between shots.

Quotes:

Miss Birdie: This is that good process turkey.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Michael Mann (#2.1)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

How Blue Can You Get

Forget about the book, enjoy the acting

Readers of John Grisham's book will find this film rather less of a thriller and more of a courtroom drama, albeit with a curious flat feel to it. The story is that of a legal action on behalf of a teenage boy denied coverage for an expensive bone marrow transplant by his family's medical insurer. Changes to the plotline to accommodate the story to the demands of film drama have removed the unique feature of the book – a largely successful attempt to make the details of legal civil procedure interesting. Francis Coppola is a very innovative yet conventional director (you could credit him with authorship of several current movie clichés) and his storylines develop according to convention. Thus the love affair, which is completely extraneous to the main storyline in the book, is pumped up, and the fascinating battle of wits between the lawyers played down. As in the book, Rudy is the tyro David up against the experienced Goliath, Drummond, but Rudy's inexperience is played up to the point that you wonder how he got this far. The trial judge, who in the book is extremely helpful to Rudy, is replaced in the film by a sympathetic but much more impartial figure. In Hollywood conventional courtroom drama, His Honor or Her Honor doesn't take sides.

That said, there is much to enjoy. Danny de Vito, playing Deck the paralegal (or `paralawyer' as Rudy names him) who can't seem to pass the bar exam, is just brilliant. His Deck is a disheveled, unimpressive little guy who is nonetheless good at what he does, `rainmaking' or finding new business. His strengths are his intelligence, his energy and his lack of pride; he is quite happy to chase ambulances and give cops backhanders for information. His ethics are simple: fight for your client, don't steal and try not to lie. While the Deck of the book verges on the grotesque, De Vito makes him less of an oddball and hence more sympathetic. Matt Damon as Rudy is wetter behind the ears and not such a quick learner as the Rudy of the book, but every so often he connects and we understand how he feels. Mickey Rourke is a bit too elegant as Bruiser, Rudy's erstwhile mentor, (who wears cufflinks on a tropical beach?) but it's also an enjoyable performance. Although the script tones down his role, John Voight is nastily urbane as superlawyer Drummond.

Once again we have a courtroom drama filmed in a grand but gloomy courtroom, in fact the lighting people seem to have been absent. We hardly get a glimpse of the face of one important minor character, Cliff the wife-beater, (Andrew Shue) yet there is no apparent reason for this. The way some of the scenes were strung together, and started and finished were vaguely familiar, and half way through it hit me - ` The Godfather', where scenes just seem to begin and end without any particular reason.

One thing the film does almost as well as the book is send the message (sorry Mr Goldwyn) that America needs to do something about its medical insurance system, if the present chaotic mess can be so described. The court system, while not perfect, comes out of it a bit better (David is able to beat Goliath fair and square) but as for lawyers…well, let's just say things would be a lot better if they stuck to Deck's minimal ethics. The story also might explain why John Grisham (who has a walk-on role as a lawyer at an al fresco deposition) gave up the law to write books, thus bringing pleasure to millions instead of (hopefully) winning retribution for a few.