(Apocalypse Now, The Godfather Trilogy, The Conversation)
Producers:
Georgia Kacandes, Gary Marcus and Steven Reuther
Screenplay:
Francis Ford Coppola (based on the novel by John Grisham)
Original Score :
Elmer Bernstein
Cast :
Rudy Baylor: Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting)
Kelly Riker: Claire Danes (Romeo and Juliet, U-Turn, Home For The Holidays, Little Women, To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday)
Leo F. Drummond: Jon Voight (Midnight Cowboy, Anaconda, Heat U-Turn, The Champ, Deliverance, Mission: Impossible)
Dot Black: Mary Kay Place (Private Benjamin, Indecent Seduction, Love In Another Town)
Judge Harvey Hale: Dean Stockwell (Blue Velvet, Air Force One, Dune, The Shadow Men, "Quantum Leap" (TV))
Miss Birdie: Teresa Wright (Mrs. Miniver, Shadow Of A Doubt)
Jackie Lemancyzk: Virginia Madsen (Candyman, Highlander 2)
Bruiser Stone: Mickey Rourke (9 ½ Weeks, Another 9 ½ Weeks, F.T.W., Wild Orchid, Desperate Hours, Diner, Rumble Fish)
Deck Shiffler: Danny DeVito (L.A. Confidential, Mars Attacks!, Batman Returns, Get Shorty, War Of The Roses, Twins, "Taxi" (TV))
Cliff Riker: Andrew Shue ("Melrose Place" (TV))
Buddy Black: Red West (Jury Of One)
Donny Ray Black: Johnny Whitworth Wilfred Keeley: Roy Scheider (Jaws, Jaws 2, 2010, French Connection, Marathon Man, Naked Lunch, Romeo Is Bleeding, "Seaquest DSV" (TV))
Everett Lufkin: Michael Girardin Judge Tyrone Kipler: Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon Trilogy, Grand Canyon, Flight Of The Intruder, Predator 2, Witness, "Roots", "Queen - The Roots Saga Continues" (TV))
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 Shiffler (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.
Overall, if I had a couple of reservations about this film, 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).
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
