They were totally unqualified to try the case of a lifetime...
but every underdog has his day.
Distributed by
Paramount
Cert:
Cat.no: PHE 8113
Running time: 130 minutes
Year: 1997
Pressing: 2001
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 33 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, French, Spanish
Subtitles: 7 languages available
Widescreen: 2.35:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: £19.99
Extras: None
Director:
Francis Ford Coppola
(Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The Godfather Trilogy, The Rainmaker)
Producers:
Georgia Kacandes, Gary Marcus and Steven Reuther
Screenplay:
Francis Ford Coppola (based on the novel by John Grisham)
Music:
Elmer Bernstein
Cast:
Rudy Baylor: Matt Damon
Kelly Riker: Claire Danes
Leo F. Drummond: Jon Voight
Dot Black: Mary Kay Place
Judge Harvey Hale: Dean Stockwell
Miss Birdie: Teresa Wright
Jackie Lemancyzk: Virginia Madsen
Bruiser Stone: Mickey Rourke
Deck Shifflet: Danny DeVito
Cliff Riker: Andrew Shue
Buddy Black: Red West
Donny Ray Black: Johnny Whitworth
Wilfred Keeley: Roy Scheider
Everett Lufkin: Michael Girardin
Judge Tyrone Kipler: Danny Glover
The Rainmaker
is the latest in the series of film adaptations of the
novels by critically-acclaimed author John Grisham, which include The
Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client and 1996's A Time To Kill.
In similar fashion to some of Grisham's works, The Rainmaker is a story
of a young up-and-coming lawyer, Rudy Baylor, played by Matt Damon one of
the new stars of Hollywood who won an Oscar for co-writing Good Will
Hunting with Ben Affleck. Rudy secures a job with a law firm owned
by J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone (an aging Mickey Rourke) and is promised
highly lucrative cases in return for hard work and dedication to the company.
He already has two cases on his books: one is a possible insurance scandal
between a young man, Donnie Ray Black (Johnny Whitworth) suffering from
leukemia and the insurance company, Great Benefit; and the other is an old lady,
Miss Birdie (Teresa Wright) who wants to cut her children out of her will
and give all the money to a television evangelist, believing it to be the right
thing to do.
As corruption centres around the practices of "Bruiser" Stone, Rudy and fellow
colleague Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito), neither of whom have passed their
Bar exams yet - Rudy is studying for the first time round while Deck has failed
them for the past six years, break away to form their own partnership working
on a "no-win no-fee" basis and taking a third of any revenue from successful
cases.
Rudy's problems increase when he takes on another case of a beaten wife, Kelly
Riker (Claire Danes), and gets more involved than he originally intended.
As that case and Miss Birdie's begin to intertwine, the condition of Donny Ray
Black worsens and all the odds are stacked against Rudy to fight one of the
biggest cases he'll ever face with one of the best lawyers around, Leo F.
Drummond (Jon Voight), working for the opposition.
This film is packed with top-notch performances from all concerned, from
the younger members of the cast in Matt Damon and Claire Danes to established
actors with sizeable parts such as Jon Voight, Danny DeVito and Danny
Glover as Judge Tyrone Kipler.
To top if off there are a host of cameo roles from Dean Stockwell as
Judge Harvey Hale who also has a hand in the case, Virginia Madsen as an
ex-employee of Great Benefit who is called to the witness stand, Mickey Rourke,
Roy Scheider as the C.E.O. of Great Benefit, and Andrew Shue
(Kelly's husband Cliff) who I didn't recognise in his guise here, and who is
better-known in his role of Billy Campbell in Melrose Place.
If I had a couple of reservations about this film, though, it would be that
most book-to-film transitions lose some plot along the way so certain elements,
such as "Bruiser" Stone's corrupt business dealings, appear to be glossed over
to a degree; and the more Grisham books that are turned into films, the more
we know how things are going to turn out in the end. However, this film
certainly comes well-recommended for anyone who enjoys a complex thriller, and
excels from having a fine cast and director (Francis Ford Coppola).
This is a disc to buy only if you're a massive fan of the film and will
watch it again and again for reasons that will become obvious.
The picture has obvious artifacts early on but they clear up as the film
progresses. Set in the Deep South with an overtly-depressive atmosphere the
look of the film is dark almost throughout, which isn't Paramount's fault
but it certainly doesn't give DVD a chance to shine like it should.
On the plus side, we get the film in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, while the
Region 1 DVD wasn't anamorphic.
The average bitrate is 7.5Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.
Dolby Digital 5.1 comes in English, French and Spanish flavours but while
dialogue is clear, this isn't a film reliant on special effects so don't
expect much in the way of a Dolby Digital demo.
There's absolutely no extras whatsoever, the disc contains 33 chapters and
subtitles come in 7 languages:
English (and hard of hearing), Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese,
Spanish and Swedish. The menus are static and silent.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
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