Plot
A young lawyer joins a prestigous law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.
Release Year: 1993
Rating: 6.7/10 (47,041 voted)
Critic's Score: 58/100
Director:
Sydney Pollack
Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman
Storyline Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan...
Writers: John Grisham, David Rabe
Cast: Tom Cruise
-
Mitch McDeere
Jeanne Tripplehorn
-
Abby McDeere
Gene Hackman
-
Avery Tolar
Hal Holbrook
-
Oliver Lambert
Terry Kinney
-
Lamar Quinn
Wilford Brimley
-
William Devasher
Ed Harris
-
Wayne Tarrance
Holly Hunter
-
Tammy Hemphill
David Strathairn
-
Ray McDeere
Gary Busey
-
Eddie Lomax
Steven Hill
-
F. Denton Voyles
Tobin Bell
-
The Nordic Man
Barbara Garrick
-
Kay Quinn
Jerry Hardin
-
Royce McKnight
Paul Calderon
-
Thomas Richie
Taglines:
Power can be murder to resist.
Release Date: 30 June 1993
Filming Locations: 125 Front Street, Downtown, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $42,000,000
(estimated)
Gross: $262,300,000
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The seaplane in the film belongs to William R. Booth, who played the seaplane pilot. He and Tom Cruise met while Cruise was learning to skydive in DeLand, Florida. Booth also owns the largest manufacturer of parachute containers.
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
When Mitch is talking to the man from the justice department on the bench by the reflecting pool, you can see the Washington Monument and the Jefferson memorial in the background. The Jefferson Memorial is on the wrong side indicating the shot is reversed.
Quotes: Abby McDeere:
Somewhere, inside, in the dark, the firm is listening.
User Review
An excellent legal thriller. One of Tom Cruise's best performances.
Rating: 9/10
In The Firm, Tom Cruise plays an extremely intelligent young lawyer who
takes a job with a tremendous firm, having been seduced by their huge
financial offerings. "The Firm" begins to sound very creepy very early in
the film, when it becomes known that `the firm' has never had a divorce,
`the firm' encourages children,' `the firm' is a big, happy, 41 member
family. Unfortunately, it seems that another interesting little side note is
that no one has ever left `the firm' and lived.
Mitch McDeere (Cruise) is hired by `the firm,' and at first, everything is
great. The firm loves him enough to pay back all of his student loans all at
once, and he is completely taken in by everything, even down to the way that
the firm furnished his new house, in his beautiful new neighborhood (`To
make you feel at home. Hope you don't mind.'). The lives of Mitch and his
wife Abby (Jeanne Triplehorn) are completely and drastically changed when he
is hired by the firm, setting up a disorienting atmosphere, especially when
strange things start happening, people getting killed by boat bombs and
whatnot.
Gary Busey plays a small, seedy role, and it works really well because he's
best at playing seedy characters. Ed Harris also delivers a good performance
as an FBI agent trying to coerce McDeere into helping them investigate the
big bad firm. It seems that McDeere has been helping the firm in its illegal
activities, making him guilty without him even knowing about it. If he
doesn't help the FBI, he'll go to jail with the other 40 members of that
big, happy family.
The Firm really gets going once McDeere starts trying to investigate, making
copies of incriminating files, etc. Some things may have gone a little too
far, like the conveniently placed pillow truck, but as a whole, The Firm is
a great thriller. It may not be quite as good as other John Grisham
adaptations, The Rainmaker, in particular, but The Firm's complex and
fascinating plot, as well as good direction and acting, makes it way above
average.
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