Forgotten Film Friday: The Rainmaker

A review by Brooks Rich

I am shocked that this film isn't as well remembered as it should be. This is the last great film from legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, made in 1997 before Coppola forgot who he was and tried too hard to recapture his glory from the '70s. Here he makes a fantastic and well thought out legal thriller, based on John Grisham's novel of the same name.

Matt Damon plays Rudy Baylor, a young law school graduate who ends up at a shady law firm in a bad part of Memphis, Tennessee. Together with failed lawyer Deck Shifflet, played by Danny DeVito, they sue a medical insurance company called Great Benefit, who denied a young man coverage for a bone marrow transplant that would have saved his life. During the course of the trial they go up against slimy and arrogant litigator Leo F. Drummond, played wonderfully by Jon Voight, who thinks he has an easy win against these two inexperienced lawyers.

The Rainmaker isn't just a great legal film, but it is also a great underdog story. The cards are stacked against Rudy and Deck but they persevere, knowing they have truth on their side. Damon brings a great likability to Rudy. This film is around the time of Good Will Hunting so Damon is fast becoming a Hollywood superstar. DeVito is charming and perfectly shifty as Deck. The two make a great pair. They have fantastic chemistry and the banter between them is excellent.

Like a lot of Grisham's novels and stories, The Rainmaker both loves the law and is disgusted by it. Rudy's journey is one of a young man becoming a great trial lawyer and also becoming disillusioned by it. The scenes between Rudy and Leo F. Drummond are powerful as Rudy often can see himself becoming just like his nemesis on the other side of the aisle.

The big surprise is that Coppola directed this film. Not that he does a bad job, he does a fantastic job here, but it doesn't feel like one of those big epic films Coppola is known for. His post-Apocalypse Now catalog does not reflect his best work. I think The Rainmaker stands alone in that mix. If you've never seen this film, fix that immediately. It's available on Netflix right now.

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