The Firm [Re-pack] [DVD]

We were caught out by starting this film way too late in the evening. So ordered a copy to do catch up with. Glad we did as this has gone onto the preferred viewing shelf now.I won't give anything away, but good performances from all, Cruise at his best, believable marriage break and make up, Hackman at his cheesiest. Great plot, good tension, build up holds interest and we found ourselves watching it for a second time a week later.Frighteningly, it is all quite believable, but you do wonder how a law graduate did get caught up with the Firm, but then, that's how it works...Very watchable, not only for fans of those among the cast, but for all those who want a good plot to follow. Fully recommended.

……..based on a novel by John Grisham. A very young Tom Cruise is the newly qualified Harvard Lawyer, head hunted by a firm of around 40 lawyers.He is offered an employment package he can’t refuse, his young wife, a trained school teacher loves her job.They move, accepting the new law firm job.He discovers discrepancies, he is approached by the FBI, and is told his law firm works for the Mafia.Which he doesn’t believe, but tests theories himselAway working on a seminar, he finds himself a witness to an attack on a young woman, he goes to her aid.His problems really start from this point.He loves his wife, and is sickened by his own behaviour.He uses his law knowledge and wits to find out more, he plucks uo the courage to tell his wife “everything”….Their expensive house is bugged by the firm, they endeavour to behave normally, at the same time looking for ways out.He dies not wish to lose his hard earned lawyers licence, lose his wife, or endanger any innocent people.He has to find ways to obey the law, and protect himself and his wife.John Grisham’s writings are clever and insightful of the USA laws.Gene Hackman plays Tom Cruise’s mentor in the firm…….his own outcomes are interesting and to be learned from.As is the naivety of keen ambitious young lawyers, who might embroil themselves in deep hot waters.

This is an intelligent, engaging and mostly very successful thriller based on the book of the same name by John Grisham. Tom Cruise stars as Mitch McDeere, backed by an incredibly strong ensemble class that includes Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Garey Busey and a handful of movie regulars (such as Wilford Brimley and Hal Holbrook), who you will instantly recognise even if you can't place them right away.Young Mitch McDeere, fresh out of Harvard Law School and with his young wife (Jeanne Tripplehorn) is recruited into the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert and Locke. Plunged into the "big league" and put under pressure to exceed when he sits the Bar Exam, young Mitch is completely thrown when he runs into two complete strangers (Ed Harris and sidekick) in a late-night diner. They drop some curious hints about the Firm that young Mitch has just joined, sending the lawyer on a wild, roller-coaster journey into the unknown - one that involves crooks, mobsters, Private Investigators and more.As the pressure rises, as suspicions grow and as Mitch needs to figure out the good guys from the bad guys, things are only just beginning to get interesting...This is a well-crafted thriller, replete with some excellent performances, a mostly-taught plot and just about the right amount of suspense to keep things moving along. The film does deviate from the book in a few places (mainly, it is guessed, because the subtle incracies of the book would be hard to convey on screen, as well as an attempt to ratchet up some tension).Overall, whilst the film may have lacked the stand-out performances of say Jack Nicholson's Colonel Nathan R Jessup from "A Few Good Men", it carries every bit as much quality from a cracking case and screenplay. It's also very clear to see why, after that movie, that Cruise was chosen for the lead role - despite his association with action films at the time, he turns in a convincingly intense performance here.Just one observation specific to the BluRay edition, which is that the transfer quality is pretty poor - I have DVD discs with better picture quality than this BluRay... Could do with a clean-up...

Whether you like Tom Cruise or not this is a classic and is one of those films which you can come back to every few years and thoroughly enjoy. Gene Hackman was great. Highly recommend.

When Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) graduates 3rd in his class from Harvard, he accepts an offer from a small family law firm in Memphis. At first things seem overwhelmingly great for Mitch and his wife Abbey, as they are showered with money and good 'ol southern hospitality.But things are not as they seem and Mitch soon finds himself in a lose-lose situation; caught between a firm from which 'leaving is not an option' - indeed no one has ever left alive - and the FBI, whose involvement will leave him disbarred and with a mafia contract on his head. We share the brilliantly acted panic as Mitch spirals deeper and deeper into unavoidable chaos, dragging his suspicious wife with him. He wants out, but on his terms and with his life intact. It seems impossible...

Alongside 'In the Line of Fire' and 'The Fugitive' 1993 gave me 'The Firm', three thrillers that still to this day, I never get bored of.When Mitch McDeere is hired by a small Memphis law firm, he seems to have landed completely on his feet. Which, in drama, is just when he discovers that there is more to this law firm than meets the eye, and which may yet put him and his wife in the way of jeopardy.It looks pretty good on Blu-ray, has a great Dave Grusin score and under the direction of Sydney Pollak is slick and highly enjoyable.

Starts promisingly, soon degenerating into incomprehensible nonsense. Plot differs wildly from the novel.

I was advised to purchase this item, as it was the best of the trilogy - ie. Runaway Jury & The Client. all of which I had seen and I was not disappointed.