The Firm

The Firm is a 1993 movie featuring Tom Cruise and it is based on a John Grisham thriller of the same name. Grisham is known for his legal thrillers so this movie is also of the same genre. Tom is a young lawyer who gets an offer to join a small boutique law firm in Memphis, Tennessee, which he chooses over upshot law firms in New York etc. He is given royal treatment upon arrival with his wife. But slowly he learns of the firm's shady dealings with the Chicago mafia, the Moretto family. Meanwhile he also learns that none of the firm's associates ever resign on their own. They remain lifelong subjected to the firm's culture or are killed in mysterious ways. The FBI contacts him with more juicy details of the firm's illegal wrong doings and warns him to co-operate or end up as body bags like the other associates. His brother is in jail on man slaughter charges so Tom uses that as a leverage to have his brother released from jail while agreeing to co-operate with the Feds.

Directed by Sydney Pollack, this is a nice fast paced thriller, but Tom Cruise lets it down with his wooden acting. Others in the cast are Gene Hackman as his mentor, Jeanne Tripplehorn as his wife. and Ed Harris as the FBI agent.

The book is more fast paced than the movie is and there are more details in the book, which has not been adapted into the movie. 

The Rainmaker

The Rainmaker is a 1997 movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola starring Matt Damon, Jon Voight, Danny de Vito, Danny Glover. It is based on a John Grisham novel of the same. As Grisham is known for his legal novels, this is a legal thriller.

Matt is a new lawyer and his first ever case is against an insurance company for wrongful denial of a medical insurance claim against a patient having leukemia. Settlement is offered but the young lawyer deems it fit to fight it in the court. While the case is going on, the patient dies, so it becomes a wrongful death claim. The patient would have been saved had the insurance company not denied the claim. He wanted bone marrow transplant which was a standard practice in such diseases but for lack of money the patient dies.

The jury decides the case in favour of the patient and awards 50 million dollars in punitive damages. The CEO of the insurance company is arrested trying to flee the company. The insurance company files for bankruptcy which means that the money is gone. Nobody will get anything.

While some aspects of the legal practice in the US can be said to be unethical, if you get a good judge and jury, punitive damages can be had in the verdict. Unfortunately in India law of tort is a farce as punitive damages are never awarded in such wrongful death or similar such cases.

Coppola has kept the interest alive in the movie. Matt Damon has done a good role and so have the others. 

The Chamber

Just finished reading “The Chamber” by John Grisham, a searing portrayal of an aging Ku Klux Klan convict on the death row, his agonies, his cleansing, his relationship with his family, in a slow and deliberate manner that wrenches your guts away. While there is sufficient legalese in the book, it is the morbidity that hits you as a reader. Undoubtedly, one of Grisham’s best.

The Firm

Just finished reading an exciting, throbbing, pulse pounding book "The Firm" by John Grisham. This is one of Grisham's earlier works hence very interesting, His later works are disappointing. This has been later made into a movie, but the movie is not as good as the book. Tom Cruise is wooden in the film and it moves very slowly and ponderously. Goodreads review 5/5

The Firm by John Grisham

This is an exciting, throbbing, pulse pounding book "The Firm" by John Grisham. This is one of Grisham's earlier works hence very interesting. Grisham keeps a fast pace throughout, keeping the readers on the edge. It has been made into a movie also starring Tom Cruise, but I feel the book is better than the movie but I believe they have almost true to the story in the movie. 

The Associate

I just finished reading The Associate by John Grisham, and I must say frankly I am disappointed. He has not given any finishing touch to the story and left it dangling at the end. Its a no-ender. What should have been a "whodunit" becomes a "whthappnd2destory". I will give it a 1 on 5 rating.