John Grisham's The Rainmaker Movie Review 1997

Yet another legal drama from the successful pen of John Grisham. Baylor (Damon) is a young lawyer whose job disappears when his firm is absorbed by a giant company. He fills his time giving legal advice to indigents and mooning over Kelly (Danes), a young abused wife. Then he takes on the case of a couple whose leukemia-stricken son was denied treatment by their insurance company, coincidentally represented by the firm that booted Baylor. Pre-"Jack," Coppola probably wouldn't have gone anywhere near such formulaic franchise fare, and if he did, he could've directed it in his sleep. As it is he creates a serviceable, if not spectacular, piece of entertainment. His main allies are Voight's insurance company mouthpiece and DeVito's ambulance chaser. Damon plays the hero with much less bravado than previous Grisham protagonists.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 137 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Law & Lawyers, Order in the Court, Disease of the Week, American South, Corporate Shenanigans, Memphis, Books to Film: John Grisham, Insurance

Screenplay

Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Herr

Cast

Sonny Shroyer, Matt Damon, Claire Danes, Danny DeVito, Jon Voight, Danny Glover, Virginia Madsen, Mary Kay Place, Mickey Rourke, Johnny Whitworth, Teresa Wright, Dean Stockwell, Red West, Roy Scheider, Randy Travis, Andrew Shue

Cinematography

John Toll

Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Music

Elmer Bernstein