The Firm (1993)

Directed by Sydney Pollack. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, David Strathairn, Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brimley, Jerry Hardin, Steven Hill, Terry Kinney, Gary Busey, Sullivan Walker, Tobin Bell, Paul Sorvino, Joe Viterelli, Karina Lombard. [R]

Young hotshot Harvard Law grad Cruise is courted by numerous law firms, but the offer made by a small Memphis firm is too enticing to pass up; trouble is, they’re a shady bunch, and before long, both the firm and the FBI are blackmailing him, with his career and very life on the line. Slick legal thriller is convoluted at times and has hardly a believable moment during its long (too long) run-time, but is well-directed and chock-full of finely-tuned performances from its deep gallery of actors, particularly Hackman as one of the few fully-dimensional characters on hand (Brimley is also quite good cast against type as a loathsome heavy). Based on the popular novel by John Grisham; a rare bird for a film about lawyers in that there’s not a single scene set inside a courtroom.

64/100