Gene Hackman Grisham Movies

John Grisham, a former attorney from Mississippi, became a popular writer in the early 1990s.  I think attorneys read a lot of cases during law school and then in practice come across different situations that lend themselves to good fiction.  During the 90s and early 2000s adaptations for the popular legal thrillers were fast tracked by studios as soon as they came out and often the screen versions appeared within a year or two of publication.  The books were page turners and the film versions often attracted A-list actors and directors.  Sadly although Grisham continues to write the books and they are well received there has not been a feature film since 2004, though there have been some television projects.  The characters became a little more complex and while a lot of the novels are terrific, especially The Broker, The Testament and The Partner, some of the stories did not have clear villains and may have been seen as less commercial.  Additionally while the first few Grisham adaptations such as The Firm and The Pelican Brief, were box office hits starting with The Chamber the returns became a little more hit and miss.  

Gene Hackman appeared in three Grisham thrillers, as very different characters in each one.  Unsurprisingly Hackman’s performance was the best of all three films, two of which had a large cast.  

Spoilers for all three films below:

The Firm (1993)

The Firm is about a young married lawyer who goes to work for a law firm in Memphis that is a front for a mob family.  Tom Cruise plays the lead Mitch McDeere, and the cast is full of veteran actors such as Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brinkley as a rare antagonist, and Jeanne Tripplehorn as Abby, McDeere’s wife who is one of the best written characters in the film, both strong willed and practical. Tripplehorn gets to show her versatility after her success in Basic Instinct the year before.  Hackman plays Avery Tolar, Mitch’s mentor at the firm.  Tolar is a sharp lawyer but relates to Mitch on a human, practical level.  Tolar has some interesting character flaws in that he drinks during working hours and has a weakness for women.  Right from the start it clear he is attracted to Abby and does little to hide it but as played by Hackman plays it comes across as less creepy and more curious.  He is intrigued by her intellect as much as anything else and late in the film when Abby as part of a ruse offers to get into bed with him Tolar refuses and unhesitatingly warns her of a danger (which costs him his own life) and in a particularly human moment tells Abby that Mitch’s infidelity was a result of a setup (though he neglects to mention he played a role in it).  Hackman is understated and fatalistic in this scene.  Avery is a clear example of how Mitch could turn up.  Avery was once a good man and has not lost his warm nature but he has become so corrupted that there is no way back.  Tastefully, his death, (it is suggested some of the firm’s henchmen drown him) is offscreen.  As he notes, the firm took his life a long time ago.  Avery is only in his mid forties in the book and Hackman was in his early sixties but the casting is perfect as we see a man full of regret and pain in when he should be nearing retirement.

Director Sydney Pollack made two big improvements to his adaptation of the novel, which really kickstarted Grisham’s career even though The Firm was his second novel.  First Pollack changed the third act of the story, allowing Mitch to free himself from both The Firm and its mob connections without losing his license.  Second Mitch confessed his infidelity to his wife (which Pollack films just using looks) which allowed for more dramatic tension between them, and strengthens them both as characters.  It also sets up Abby’s trip to the Caymans where she not only helps Mitch and Tammy (without Mitch knowing until late in the story) but has the aforementioned scenes with Avery which put a lot of human drama into a plot heavy section of the film.  Pollack and his editors Fredric and William Steinkamp (a father-son team- Frederic co-edited many of Pollack’s films and started teaming with his son William around 1980) keep the story moving and while a lot is happening it never is hard to follow.  

The score by Dave Gruisin, who also composed scores for several other Pollack films, is mostly written for the piano, which is rare.  The most notable cues have a jazz blues feel, which is appropriate for the Memphis location of most of the story.   My favorites are the fast paced main title, which captures the rush of the legal world,  and Ray’s Blues which is more reflective.

A side note:  My grandfather used to fall asleep a lot while watching movies.  I showed this film to my grandparents starting fairly late at night and he was wide awake the entire time.  ****

The Chamber (1996)

Hackman plays a former Klan member, Sam Cayhill, who is on death row for the bombing of a Jewish layer in Mississippi many years before.  Chris O’Donnell plays his grandson who is the lead of the film who never knew his grandfather.  The story is about how the two get to know each other in the last days of the old man’s life while trying to keep him from the titular chamber.  Faye Dunaway plays O’Donnell’s aunt and Hackman’s daughter (nearly thirty years after they both were in Bonnie and Clyde).  Dunaway was only about ten years younger than Hackman but Hackman’s character feels older than his 66 years at the time.  

The book does not have a particularly driving plot and I did not find the film to be too involving despite the cast.  There are some nice touches as Hackman recognizes O’Donnell (who he had never met) as his grandson because his voice is like Hackman’s son.  The film, which examines some of the morality of the death penalty, might have been more affecting but it came out several months after Dead Man Walking which covered similar dramatic territory but with more nuance.  Notably Raymond J. Barry appears in both films.   In Dead Man Walking Barry plays the father of the victim that Sean Penny’s character is accused of killing who eventually lets go of his anger in a beautiful performance.  In The Chamber Barry is a Klan member who worked with Sam on the bombing who threatens Adam and Sam in an effort to stay out of jail.  While Barry has a scary sneer and a hard voice the character’s thinness only serves to draw contrast to the much better film.  

The Chamber is directed by James Foley, who has made good films such as Glengarry Glen Ross and also bad like Who’s That Girl (though I did like Madonna’s songs in it) and he does a good job establishing the setting.  The films was scripted by good screenwriters William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, All The President’s Men and Ghost and The Darkness which came out the same month as The Chamber) and Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams, Sneakers) but the story does not have a lot of the fun of a typical Grisham thriller.  There are a lot of melodramatic lines “You don’t look like you could save a turkey from Thanksgiving” that weaken the film.  Chris O’Donnell’s Adam is very earnest given his character had lost his father to suicide as a result of some of his own father’s actions.  Hackman has to sell his character’s partial redemption going from a racist pig who mocks his grandson’s sincerity to a man who lets go of his hate and makes a “kind” comment to an African American guard played by former athlete Bo Jackson.  Hackman as always has great screen presence and he is heartbreaking in his only scene with Dunaway where Sam recognizes an ability to absolve his daughter of guilt over a previous crime of his but in all honesty if the story did not have Grisham’s name attached I am not sure it would have even been purchased.  The death row material is too dark for a fun thriller. Client Eastwood’s True Crime also handled similar material far better a few years later.**

Runaway Jury

One of Hackman’s final roles was in this story about the manipulation of juries in a trial in which a widow of a man killed in a workplace shooting sues a gun manufacturer.  Hackman plays Rankin Fitch, the lead jury consultant of the defense who uses a variety of technical and unethical tricks to stack the juries in his client’s favor.  The film also stars John Cusack, Rachel Weitz, Dustin Hoffman, and the recently passed Bruce McGill as the judge.  Fitch is smartly dressed and Hackman prowls through the quickly edited film trying to make sure he is tipping the scales in his favor, often engaging in a battle of wills with Weitz.  It turns out that Weitz and Cusack have a specific vendetta against Fitch.  Cusack is fun as the charismatic Nick Easter when he is manipulating the jury but it is never clear how he got the jury notice in the first place which presumably is part of the plan.  I confess I have not read the book yet, which may explain this detail, but I know in the book the lawsuit is against a tobacco company instead of a gun manufacturer. 

Dustin Hoffman plays the more ethical Wendell Rohr who is also presented with an opportunity to bribe the jury but declines.  The role is much less flashy than Fitch and Hoffman is a little overqualified for it but it is nice to see the humanity he brings to his limited screen time.  There is an enjoyable face off between Fitch and Rohr in a bathroom where they debate their ethics.  The scene is contrived for an opportunity for both two time Academy Award winners to face off (the film otherwise has them in the same room a lot but they never interact) but it works, even though it is a little derivative of the far better diner scene between Pacino and De Niro’s characters in Heat.   

Director Gary Fleder, who directed the entertaining thrillers Don’t Say A Word and Kiss The Girls manages this complex story (scripted by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and others) expertly with notable help from editors William Steinkamp (who also edited The Firm as well as another Grisham film A Time To Kill) and Jeff Williams.  The team all know that the idea is to present a fun, intelligent thriller that touches on some heavier themes while not dwelling on them.  Hackman has a fine closing moment in which he loosens his collar and has a drink to process his client’s loss only to learn what drove it all.  It would have been appropriate if this had been the end of Hackman’s career but he did one final film “Welcome to Mooseport” with Ray Romano which I have not seen but I know is not too beloved.  

Runaway Jury is a good time at the movies with interesting characters and I happily recommend it.  ****

In summation The Firm and Runaway Jury are good Grisham films enhanced by Hackman’s work but also assisted by a top notch cast and filmmakers.  The Chamber is well intentioned but defeated by its inconsistent tone.  Perhaps if William Steinkamp had edited The Chamber it might have worked as well as the other two films.  


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