The Firm (1993)

I love both the book and the movie! Fun thrillers

Great score by Dave Grusin

Gene Hackman looks at Jean T with more believable lust than Tom can muster.

Tom's almost old enough to star in the proposed sequel, "The Infirm."

R3 he comes across as a dirty old man

This is one of those movies that if it is on TV while I am flipping thru the channels, I always stop and watch it. It is fun and suspenseful but also has moments where it is goofy, like the fact that diabetic Wilford Brimley is the Firm’s muscle.

Holly Hunter and Hal Holbrook in random supporting roles are fun to see too

Did Holly really deserve an Oscar nomination for this?

It's a delightfully re-watchable film, with great performances, production design, and especially music. And the novel is even better, with a bolder ending that's completely different from the film's boy scout treatment.

Holly Hunter is a treat as Tammy, the trucker's wife who saves the whole scheme with nary a thanks. But the movie is stolen by Hackman's Tolar, who fits in perfectly as the rogue-with-a-heart. His interactions with Jeanne Tripplehorn are the best in the film, and they have stronger chemistry than the actress had with her onscreen husband.

I think Wilford Brimley is perfect as the head of security. He is nasty and rough and a son of a bitch.

R9 Exactly. Devasher in the novel is more of an outright villain, and a sexual deviant as well. But Brimley's version of him adds just a little bit of softness. He's ruthless, but he's also the sweet old man from Quaker Oats and Cocoon.

Mr. Diabeetus scared the shit out of me in this movie

Inspired a memorable Mr Show sketch.

I don't know why, but I do not enjoy reading Grisham's novels. I want to like them, but I just don't.

Movies based on his books, however, tend to be really fun to watch and, as R8 says, rewatch.

The Client, The Rainmaker, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, Runaway Jury, A Time to Kill – all of them eminently rewatchable.

How would you like to be under the desk giving a BJ and then he gets shot? Holly Hunter was great in that and I loved that she sailed off with Ray.

R13 did you try The Firm, A Time to Kill, or The Pelican Brief? Those are his three best.

Terrific flick. Pollack is a gifted director

Tom and Jeanne’s house in the film is on Tuckahoe Lane, one of the prettiest little streets in East Memphis.

Jeanne got some good parts when she was with Ben Stiller then she faded out

Tom as a lawyer is as believable as Marky Mark as an astronaut.

I always liked Hal Holbrook in this. I think he is such an underrated actor.

R19, he was about as convincing as Esther Williams on horseback!

Tammy Cruise has never looked capable of working a doorknob, much less getting through the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.

I confuse this one with the one where the law firm is run by Satan.

No, Holly Hunter did not deserve a nomination for this. But I can't get too upset about it considering how much I love her in other movies. My favorite moment in the movie is David Strathairn's scene with Holly Hunter at the end.

R23 That's The Devil's Advocate

I liked Jeanne Tripplehorn in this. She is underrated

How did they always manage to make Cruise look statuesque? Someone reported that he's about 5' 7" with a triangular shape (wide hips).

He stood on a box.

I enjoyed it at the time but I can't watch Tom Cruise in anything now. All of you know why.

Hollywood has always been clever is hiding actors who were short. Alan Ladd is a good example. Mostly cast opposite taller leading ladies he had to either stand on a box or they in a ditch so that it appeared he was taller.

Love this movie.

[quote]Hollywood has always been clever is hiding actors who were short.

How about when they were insane R30?

A great thriller and Hackman is a legend .

Hackman MAKES the movie. Although it’s perfectly calibrated and perfectly cast - even Margo Martindale as Cruise’s secretary!

The movie was good even though I loathe Tom Cruise. But as a fan of the book, I warned other book fans that although it had the same characters, the story in the film was very different.

Sydney Pollack said there would always be a part in his films for Allyn Ann McLerie but she is not in this.

Wilfred Brimley has always annoyed me so I find it very satisfying when Tom Cruise kicks the shit out of him near the end

Always enjoyed it. Good script, good pace, some genuine suspense, good cast. Tripplehorn in another movie where she's not the focal point but plays a big role - like Basic Instinct.

So many memorable scenes - Terry Kinney sitting in his backyard with the sprinkler hitting his leg over and over when he realizes the co workers were murdered on their business trip.

"Gene Hackman looks at Jean T with more believable lust than Tom can muster."

There's never a scene where there needs to be lust.

Wasn't The Firm based on The Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, AR.

It wasn't a problem with diminutive Constance Frances Marie Ockelman, r30. They made seven films together, including three films in which they appeared as themselves (Star Spangled Rhythm, Duffy’s Tavern and Variety Girl).

Love the score by Dave Grusin

This film his different now that Gene Hackman passed

Hackman was so charismatic in this

Cruise seemed out of place in this. Gene Hackman, as always, was superb.

I thought it was perfectly cast

I actually don't think the score by Grusin works for the film. I find it distracting and some of the cues incredibly awkward (there's one right after the funeral scene which is a tense and mysterious moment and then Grusin's twinkly piano comes up for a transition scene completely ruining the mood.) I know when I first saw the film when it was released my friend also loved the music so it's probably just me. I would enjoy listening to the music by itself but as a film score I don't like it.

I think I hold a grudge against Tom Cruise because he went from being a riveting actor to action films where he didn't need to act.

There is only one use of the word "fuck" and it is said by Jeanne Tripplehorn

Correction, there are two uses of the word "fuck," the aforementioned Tripplehorn and the Wilford Brimley's infamous quote, "what do you think I am, the fucking night watchman?"

Jeanne Tripplehorn. Never got her.

I never thought I'd hear Wilford Brimley say the word oral.

The beautiful model Karina Lombard (who’s also in “Wide Sargasso Sea”) has a small role in this.

[quote]R51 Jeanne Tripplehorn. Never got her.

She finally ended up being really good in the series BIG LOVE.

R3 "more believable lust than Tom can muster". This was just about the 2nd last film Tammy attempted with a heterosexual character - Eyes Wide Shut finally nailed that coffin.

This is a classic Cruise role: a cocky young hotshot who learns a valuable lesson.

Tom's asshole was at peak looseness during this era.

I barely remember the movie but there was a twin theatre near me and the bill was...

The Firm Free WIlly

Seriously! I assume some teen got their giggles from doing the marquee.

Holly Hunter did not deserve an Oscar nomination for this role. She was already nominated for The Piano.

They should have gave the nomination to Joan Cusack for Addams Family Values.

The movie in which Cruise was physically most attractive.

They couldn't make Mud Island galmorous no matter how hard they tried.

On the topic of Mud Island I feel like Barbara Garrick should be a DL icon. She's the Stepford-ish wife of one of the firm's law partners who blows Cruise's cover when he's hiding out at Mud Island. She makes an impression in her handful of scenes and likewise steals moments in Working Girl, Sleepless in Seattle and all the Tales of the City miniseries. She also had an odd cameo in the Mary & Rhoda TV movie (being discussed elsewhere) as an art gallery curator who rejects Valerie Harper's photographs. Barely a couple lines and no character name; I wondered why she would take such a nothing part. Anyway I've always liked her and just wanted to give her props here

The only Tom Cruise movie I can watch.

R62 your idol is a cross between Jennifer Grey and Tracy Ulman.

Tom's running scene reminds me of Faye's jogging in Mommie Dearest.

This movie could've been better with Elizabeth Shue and Bryan Brown in the Jean and Gene roles. Perhaps a song by The Beach Boys.

I get this movie mixed up with The Devil’s Advocate.

Wilford Brimely and Tom Cruise were the same age in this

Pelican Brief was mnore suspenseful

I read Grisham so long ago but he always wrote decent page turners.

Terry Kinney’s hair was ridiculous.

The book was so much better, but the film was perfectly cast.

R42 the Rose Law Firm’s specialty was government finance. Muni bonds…I doubt it

^R41

R73 but the secrecy, etc.

There are no secrets in muni bonds. Trust me 🤣

Little Rock was a hotbed of corruption what with Saudi money, the Stephens clan and investment bank, the Nelson natural gas family, Alltel, Systematics which wrote software for central banks, and all teh rest. The Firm would have been much spicier had it been based in LR.