THE FIRM (1993 - THRILLER) ****1/2 out of *****
(I knew there was a catch…)
CAST: Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Hal Holbrook, Gary Busey, Wilford Brimley, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, David Strathairn, Karina Lombard.
DIRECTOR: Sydney Pollack
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one really Machiavellian law firm - straight ahead…
IT’S LIKE THIS: Poor Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise). He’s a recent Harvard Law grad who was courted by a powerful and prestigious Memphis law firm with the following enticements: (1) they will pay of all of his student loans; (2) they will buy him and his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) a nice home with a low-interest mortgage; (3) they will lease Mitch and Abby a super-cool (for 1993, anyway) Mercedes Benz; and (4) they will assign him a brilliant mentor in the form of Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) to ensure Mitch will find the right path through, uh, the firm.
What’s so bad about that, you ask? Was I being sarcastic when I wrote “poor Mitch”? No, folks - I’m as serious as when I say people who wear a lot of black and white clothing are fucked if they own a white cat and tuxedo cat - you can’t win. You’re better off going naked. Not that I know anyone like that. Ahem. Anyhow, the reason I am feeling very sorry for our dear Mitch is this: that “prestigious and powerful” Memphis Law Firm he signed up with turns out to be pretty grim, after all. You see, Bendini, Lambert, & Locke has some very, very, very questionable clients. Who, you ask? No one too evil - just the Mafia. You know? Those guys who kill you and your entire bloodline for something as simple as, you know, crossing them? Now, that was sarcasm.
Oh, and to make it even more interesting the FBI begins targeting Mitch to get him to snitch on his homeys at the firm. Then, on top of that shit, Mitch’s homeys start getting suspicious and put him and Abby on surveillance. Great employers, I tell ya (more sarcasm). Oh, and to make things even more pleasant, the firm has a habit of killing off employees who don’t agree to cross to the dark side and protect the mob. Yes, folks - suddenly that house and Benz and fat paycheck don’t look nearly as appetizing (zero sarcasm). What good is it if you turn into fish food?
The FBI and the Mafia: let’s just say that there are better cross-fires to get caught in the middle of. Like the Annual Chippendale’s Water Balloon Fight I am looking forward to this summer. If only those bastards would stop waxing their chests, life would be perfect. Maybe we need more hairy Mafiosos to join Chippendale’s. Of course, the FBI would just move in and shut their shit down fast. Damn.
THE DUDE (OR DUDETTE) MOST LIKELY TO SAVE THE DAY: Mitch is pretty wily - but he’d be lost without some solid assists and playmaking courtesy of wife Abby and equally resourceful secretary Tammy Hemphill (Holly Hunter). Go, girlz…
EYE CANDY MOST LIKELY TO FIRE UP A WOODY: Tom and Jeanne are pretty hot - but this award must go to Karina Lombard, who plays an exotic, mysterious chick who seduces Mitch on a Caribbean beach. Under orders from…. (Dun-Da-Dun-DUN!) The Firm.
MOST INTENTIONALLY EXCITING SCENE: Mitch fleeing from some assassins! Run, lawyer, run!
MOST UNINTENTIONALLY EXCITING SCENE: Mitch being grilled separately by the FBI - and his own security folks from the firm. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or being up shit creek without a paddle. Or needing to take a serious dump in the woods with no toilet paper. Well, you get the idea…
HOTTEST SCENE: The aforementioned “beach seduction” between Mitch and “Ms. Mysterious”. Oh, and the scene where Abby tries to help Mitch by digging some info out of Avery - and pulling a “Ms. Mysterious” on him. Yup, you got it - she tries to get into Avery's pants. Tit for tat, I guess…
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: What will Mitch do? Will he snitch out his colleagues and align with the FBI? Is the FBI right when they say that if Mitch doesn’t work undercover for them, he will go down with the rest of the Attorneys From Hell? Or will Mitch become a money-oriented bastard and let all that money make up for the fact that he’s working from serious criminals? Or will he find another way to do the right thing? What will Abby do to help him? Will private investigator named Eddie Lomax (Gary Busey) whom Mitch approaches for help be able to, you know, help? What about Eddie’s secretary Tammy? What skills does she bring to the table? And what happens when Mitch and Abby find out that The Firm has been breathing down their neck this whole time with wiretaps? How will this shit end? Will Mitch wish he’d just go into Art History or something?
WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH “THE FIRM”: If you like very good thrillers that effectively combine suspense, intelligence, drama, humor, and humanity in perfect doses. And if you are fan of Tom Cruise and the bestselling book by John Grisham - and you don’t mind the tinkering that director Sydney Pollack and adapting screenwriter David Rayfiel did with the novel’s third act.
WHY YOU MAY NOT ENJOY “THE FIRM”: If you are not a Thriller fan, and if you don’t particularly care for the novel. Or, conversely, if you are so loyal to the book that you object to how the ending was changed… If so, too bad - this is an excellent thriller…
BUT, SERIOUSLY: We recently reviewed the John Grisham novel-based THE PELICAN BRIEF (review # 423) - and found it to ultimately be an above-average experience, but not an outright good one. While the novel that THE PELICAN BRIEF is based on was exciting, zippy, and energetic, the film itself is curiously somber, chilly, and somewhat lethargic. The thriller elements are solid, if not smashing, and the character elements are, well, competent at best. Indeed, if it weren’t for Julia Roberts’ innate and almost supernatural ability to portray a character’s emotions with only expressions and no words, it would be hard to have a rooting interest in Darby Shaw, the heroine. If they had cast anyone else in that role, THE PELICAN BRIEF would be an **½ experience, easily - nothing more. In essence, Roberts elevates the film with her star power.
THE FIRM is in similar territory in that it is headed up by a superstar with similarly potent charisma (Tom Cruise) and is also based on a John Grisham bestseller. Unlike THE PELICAN BRIEF, though, THE FIRM is an excellent thriller that hits all the right notes of suspense and character. In our review for THE PELICAN BRIEF, we attributed the difference between the two movies to the directorial styles of the men behind the production. Alan J. Pakula (THE PELICAN BRIEF) employed a more impersonal, almost mechanical approach that emphasized the plot over character, while Sydney Pollack went for character over plot - and used a warmer, more personal touch. The result? We care considerably more for the men and women of the THE FIRM than those in THE PELICAN BRIEF.
To be fair, though, BRIEF’s premise, while catchy and enticing (brilliant law student correctly deduces the answer behind two high-profile assassinations - and is endangered), is not quite as compelling as that of FIRM’s (brilliant but humble law grad is wooed by a powerful law firm that seems like a dream come true - only to be revealed as a nightmare when it turns out it is mob-affiliated). FIRM also gives us considerable background on Mitch McDeere - he is from a blue-collar family with a brother in jail - and is determined to rise above his humble beginnings and make something of himself. It’s this hunger not just to succeed, but to have a better life that is far removed from the one he had growing up, that marks Mitch as a very interesting character. His path takes him through some uncomfortable territory when he realizes that everything he idealized (success and power) mean nothing if you sacrifice your morals - and that one should never forget one‘s roots. Yes, he’s money-oriented - but not so much so that he forgets how to be human and ultimately turn his back on that money for a more meaningful existence (more on this below).
Contrast Mitch with Darby from BRIEF - we know next to nothing about her. Besides the fact that she has a scary-sharp, brilliant mind that allows her to correctly deduce the answer behind the assassinations, and was left a lot of money by a dead relative (which she uses to finance her escape from the baddies), her background is a blank. It’s up to Julia Roberts to try to give us an emotional rooting interest in Darby. She largely succeeds because of that hauntingly expressive face - but think about how much better BRIEF would’ve been if Darby had been given the same breadth of backstory as Mitch? With that clever premise, it could’ve been a classic like the similar THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR - which was also about a too smart-for-his-own-good person (Robert Redford) who stumbles upon a conspiracy, reports it to his superiors - and ultimately becomes a target.
Pollack’s immediate, bracing directorial style also puts us smack-dab in Mitch and Abby’s situation - rather than at a distance, like with Darby’s (because of Pakula‘s chillier approach). Most of us can relate to what the McDeeres go through: graduating from school, trying to find your niche, charting your path through the world, finding where you belong, finding your place. In THE FIRM, their path unfortunately takes them right into the middle of the proverbial viper’s nest - and they must escape from it before it’s too late. Speaking of escape, readers of the the novel probably know by now that Pollack and Rayfiel changed the ending for the movie. Some loyalists disagree with this move, citing disloyalty to the novel. I agree 100% with what Pollack and Rayfield did. Without spoiling it for you folks, the new ending allows Mitch to be a more honorable, decent, less money-oriented person - and allows him and Abby to retain their integrity. The ending of the novel was, quite simply, cheap and cynical - basically making Mitch as bad as the villains. I remember reading the book when it first came out and thinking: “THIS is how it’s supposed to end? With the hero being just as money-hungry as the bad guys?”
It also helps immensely that the supporting characters of FIRM are vibrant figures with vivid personalities, unlike the bland, nearly-interchangeable sideline players of BRIEF. Gene Hackman brings his usual dynamic presence as Avery Tolar, Mitch’s mentor who is not quite as cynical as he makes himself out to be. Hackman paints Avery in contrasting colors of good and misguided, ably suggesting the aura of an aging “bad boy” who is looking for something more meaningful - but doesn’t realize it. Avery has some great scenes with not only Mitch, but also Jeanne Tripplehorn’s Abby. Hackman and Tripplehorn have an interesting unexplored chemistry that makes you lean forward everytime they are onscreen together. Very intriguing.
Hal Holbrook is suitably slippery as the head of the firm, while Wilford Brimley instantly makes us re-think how villains are portrayed with his surprisingly menacing turn as William Devasher, the firm’s security consultant who instantly suspects Mitch of disloyalty to the firm. Brimley is so widely-known as the grandfatherly “Quaker Oats Guy” on TV that he’s the last person you’d think would be a baddie - but the contrast works wonderfully here: behind that paternal/avuncular façade, is one scary guy you wouldn’t want to tussle with. Ed Harris is fine in his equally ambiguous role of Wayne Tarrance, the FBI agent trying to get Mitch to snitch on his superiors. Tarrance is a guy who doesn’t quite care what happens to Mitch - so long as he gets the goods that he wants - but he grossly underestimates Mitch’s wily resourcefulness. Indeed, one of this movie’s great pleasures is watching the three-way game of “Cat and Cat and Mouse” between Devasher, Tarrance, and Mitch.
Then there’s Gary Busey whose oddball aura is perfect for the quirky Eddie Lomax, the P.I. who gets caught (badly) in the crossfire along with Mitch. The male supporting players are rounded out by David Strathairn, Mitch’s older incarcerated brother Ray, who starts out as a source of embarrassment for Mitch - but then ends up giving Mitch some valuable assistance late in the game. Another reason FIRM is so much more satisfying than BRIEF is because of Mitch’s arc of becoming less money-oriented and more family and friend-oriented. This includes the renewal and healing of his troubled relationship with his brother, proving once again that - for better or worse - family is everything.
Finally, special mention must go to the women of the cast - who are more than just eye candy on the sidelines. Jeanne Tripplehorne takes a role that Robin Wright had to drop out of because of pregnancy, and makes it her own. Tripplehorne was a strong presence as the secretive psychologist in BASIC INSTINCT, and plays a more open character here. Abby McDeere has a sharp intelligence about her that is belied by her gracious elegance - and allows her to intuit, way before anyone else, that all is not well at the firm. Because Abby starts out far less money-oriented than Mitch, she is not as dazzled by the “bells-and-whistles” of wealth as he is. This makes it a lot easier for her to sense something is very wrong and to correctly surmise that the firm may be too good to be true. Abby also has a lot more to do in the suspenseful third act of the film than she did in the novel. Same goes for Holly Hunter’s Tammy Hemphill who, in an echo of Darby in BRIEF, witnesses the death of her lover (Eddie Lomax) and must go on the run to stay alive and help Mitch resolve the whole thing without getting themselves killed. Kudos to Pollack and Rayfiel for making these women active players in the unfolding story - and not just fretting on the sidelines.
Then there’s Karina Lombard, who makes a strong impression with just a few minutes of screen time as the enigmatic beauty who seduces Mitch to give the firm something to hold over him. Lombard holds the screen with her ethereal, exotic beauty - and her role somehow feels bigger than it is because of her haunting presence. Tripplehorn, Hunter, and Lombard give us characters that are just as memorable as their male counterparts. Good job, ladies…
In the end, THE FIRM is vastly superior to THE PELICAN BRIEF. More than any other genre, the Thriller Genre tends to be plot-heavy. But just like any other genre, these movies must have characters that we can get behind - otherwise all the thrills, chills, chases, and scares will fall flat. If you don’t care about someone, why should you be concerned about whether they survive or not? THE PELICAN BRIEF barely escaped being an average experience because of Julia Roberts’ skill. Fortunately, THE FIRM has a much stronger, far richer story that didn’t have to depend on Tom Cruise’s charisma to save it. It’s a very good movie on its own. With Cruise, Hackman, Tripplehorne, and the rest of the stellar cast, it becomes an excellent one.
In closing, please see the trailer for the new current TV series that continues Mitch and Abby’s dilemma. Josh Lucas and Molly Parker take over the roles from Cruise and Tripplehorne…
