The movie Rainmaker as directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is the 6th adaptation amongst the novels written by John Grisham wherein Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon), a young lawyer in Memphis is seen looking for a job. He lands one with a dubious lawyer’s office of one Bruiser Stone, who happens to be under FBI’s investigation. Bruiser gives Rudy the job on the stipulation that he would arrange for his own clients. Of the two cases that Rudy does manage to get, one pertains to a poor young leukaemia patient Donie Ray Black who is denied a legitimate claim by an insurance company. One day, Rudy and his assistant Deck Shiffler (Danny DeVito), after having discussed at length, conclude that there is no point in continuing to work in Bruiser’s shady office in view of the FBI investigation becoming quite serious against him. They took their respective cases and left to start work on their own.
Having now become on their own, they together forced the great Benefit Insurance Company and its five lawyers to face them in court. The movie depicts the remarkable performance of Leo Drummond (Jon Voight), who is the high profile and powerful lawyer of the insurance company. Coppola has given the character of Drummond ample clout and opportunity to match the smartness of Voight’s capabilities. This role could have been conveniently over played and underwritten but the role and the performer were created to complement each other. Almost the entire film gives details of the court case which in itself becomes the most fascinating twist. It appears that most of the films that depict court room scenes provide lot of time to the crimes in detail and to the out of court inferences, finally culminating with the climax scenes in the court rooms. But the Rainmaker follows the story in the court room for almost the entire movie.
There are sub plots too in the movie. While Rudy is ineptly chasing an ambulance he meets Kelly Riker (Claire Danes), and falls in love with her. The other sub plot relates to the second case that Rudy had managed to get while working with Bruiser. It pertains to an old woman (Teresa Wright) in whose house Rudy is a tenant. The old woman wishes to write her will again so as to exclude her family and instead include a televangelist from Texas. Although these sub plots were inter woven within the film they were of meek importance in relation to the main storyline. Such instances were not touching on the main story though they added a pleasant flavour to the film.
The matter of Kelly being made a victim of spousal abuse can be questioned because the film made the viewer to be prejudiced in violently hating her husband just in the same way that the viewer gets influenced against the performance of the insurance company. Rudy is constantly portrayed as considering violent revenge against Kelly’s husband, which makes the movie to appear as if the hero gets pleasure in exterminating the villains. However the hatred portrayed in the movie appears to be for a righteous cause. But the excess violence does make the audience to think about the validity of adopting such themes in terms of killings and executions.
One thing wrong with the film was the easy conflict which just faded away too fast. Although the insurance company was unfair and very cruel in refusing the claim, the victims proved to be extra sympathetic. The film did not provide for discussion on health issues and insurance procedures. It is not the intention to say that the movie was not good, but it could be more satisfying. It certainly provides for an exciting entertainment in the well made and genuine court room drama (Schwarzbaum, 1997).
Works Cited
Schwarzbaum Liza, The Rainmaker, November, 1997,
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,290339,00.html, Accessed on 3rd June 2009
