Monday 16 February 2015

97.The Rainmaker

The Rainmaker (1997) : A solid court room drama.


Crime | Drama | Thriller 
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers: John Grisham, Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Matt Damon, Danny DeVito, Claire Danes

Rainmaker is the adaptation of a 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham, which tells the story of a young lawyer who tries to break down an insurance company...

Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) followed his dream of becoming a lawyer by graduating from  the University of Memphis Law School,  unlike most of his friends Rudy has no high-paying employment lined up and he is forced to apply for part-time positions while he works at the Memphis bar...

With no other choice in hand Rudy goes to an interview with J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone" (Mickey Rourke) a corrupt but a successful lawyer.  Bruiser makes Rudy his associate and introduce him to Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito) , a former insurance controller, who has gone to law school but failed the bar exam six times. Deck is resourceful in gathering information, and practically an expert on insurance lawsuits...

Rudy manages to get two cases, One from an old woman who is unsure about what to do with some money,  Second from an elderly couple whose insurance company "Great Benefit" will not pay for the bone marrow operation which may save their son's life...

When Bruiser's offices are raided by the police and FBI due to suspicion of racketeering Rudy and Deck sets up a small office and starts a two man practice with no one else to help...

Later Rudy and Deck files a law suit against Great Benefit on behalf of the elderly couple... Although Rudy has  passed the bar exam, he has never argued a case in court. He finds himself up against a group of experienced lawyers from a large firm headed by Leo F. Drummond (Jon Voight), an attorney who uses any tactics to win his cases....

Rainmaker is a beautifully crafted legal thriller with some great performances from the lead actors. Matt Damon as a young inexperienced lawyer and  Danny DeVito as his partner who hasn't able to pass the bar exam even attending six times has done a great job... Besides these two Rainmaker also has a very good supporting cast, Teresa Wright as Miss Birdsong whose will Rudy has been drafting... Danny Glover as Tyrone Kipler; the sympathetic judge...  Claire Danes as Kelly Riker, a young wife Rudy meets at a hospital whose been beaten with baseball bat by her husband...

Overall Rainmaker is a perfectly crafted court room drama directed and screen written by Francis Ford Coppola...

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