The Firm (1993 film)

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This article is about the 1993 film. For the 1988 film of the same name, see The Firm (1988 film)

The Firm

The Firm promotional movie poster
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Produced by John Davis
Sydney Pollack
Scott Rudin
Written by John Grisham (book)
David Rabe
Robert Towne
David Rayfiel
Starring Tom Cruise
Jeanne Tripplehorn
Gene Hackman
Ed Harris
Holly Hunter
Hal Holbrook
David Strathairn
Music by Dave Grusin
Cinematography John Seale
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) June 30, 1993
Running time 154 min.
Language English
Budget $42,000,000 US (est.)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Firm is a legal thriller film released in 1993, directed by Sydney Pollack, and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Gary Busey, and David Strathairn. The movie is based on the novel, The Firm, by author John Grisham.

Contents


[edit] Plot

A new attorney is drawn into a seductive law firm that seems to have many secrets. When he finds out who they are representing and what price has been paid by others who have come across the truth, he risks it all to escape with his law license and his life.

[edit] The Novel vs. The Film

The film follows the book in most respects, but changes the ending. Mitch doesn't end up in the Caribbean, as in the book; he and his wife, Abby, simply get into their vehicle and drive away from Memphis. (To Boston, as the ending narration, "Do you think [the car] will make it?...to Boston...")

A more fundamental departure from the book is the motives and manner in which Mitch extricates himself from his predicament. In the book, Mitch is unconcerned about scrupulously following the ethics required by lawyers in the United States. By copying certain information and giving it to the FBI, he acknowledges to himself that he is betraying the lawyer-client privilege. Rather than dwell on this fact, accepting that he will not be allowed to practice law anywhere again, he shrewdly swindles $10 million from the mob law firm, along with receiving the $2 million from the FBI for his cooperation. He then disappears with Abby to the Caribbean.

In the film, apparently in order to preserve the personal integrity of the protagonist, Mitch steals no money from the firm. Instead, he exposes a systematic overbilling scheme by the firm, thus driving a wedge between the mob and its law firm. He receives a smaller quantity of money from the FBI, which he hands over to his brother Ray, allowing him to disappear. This alters the character of the Mitch McDeere created by Grisham. Rather than capitalizing on his circumstances for personal gain, as in the book, the movie's McDeere ends up battered and bruised, but with his integrity and professional ethics intact.

McDeere's confession to Abby about his sexual infidelity was also unique to the film. In the novel, McDeere perpetuates this deception right until the very end. This further characterizes the McDeere of the film as having greater integrity.

[edit] List of characters


v • d • e
Films directed by Sydney Pollack

The Slender Thread (1965) • This Property Is Condemned (1966) • The Scalphunters (1968) • Castle Keep (1969) • They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) • Jeremiah Johnson (1972) • The Way We Were (1973) • The Yakuza (1975) • Three Days of the Condor (1975) • Bobby Deerfield (1977) • The Electric Horseman (1979) • Absence of Malice (1981) • Tootsie (1982) • Out of Africa (1985) • Havana (1990) • The Firm (1993) • Sabrina (1995) • Random Hearts (1999) • The Interpreter (2005) • Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005)