The firm

Directed by Sydney Pollack
Produced by John Davis
Sydney Pollack
Scott Rudin
Screenplay by David Rabe
Robert Towne
David Rayfiel
Based on The Firm
by John Grisham
Starring Tom Cruise
Jeanne Tripplehorn
Ed Harris
Holly Hunter
Hal Holbrook
David Strathairn.
Music by Dave Grusin
Cinematography John Seale
Edited by William Steinkamp
Fredric Steinkamp
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates June 30, 1993
Running time 154 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $42 million
Box office $270,248,367


The Firm is a 1993 American legal thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise , Jeanne Tripplehorn , Gene Hackman , Ed Harris ,
Holly Hunter , Hal Holbrook, and David Strathairn. The film is based on the 1991 novel The Firm by author John Grisham. The Firm was one of two films released in 1993 that was adapted from a Grisham novel, the other being The Pelican Brief.
Plot
Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise ) is a young man from an impoverished background, but with a promising future in law. About to graduate from
Harvard Law School near the top of his class, he receives a generous job offer from Bendini, Lambert & Locke, a small, boutique firm in Memphis specializing in accounting and tax law. He and his wife, Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn ), move to Memphis and Mitch sets to work studying to pass the Tennessee bar exam. Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman ), one of the firm's senior partners, becomes his mentor and begins introducing Mitch to BL&Ls professional culture, which demands complete loyalty, strict confidentiality, and a willingness to charge exceptional fees for their services. Seduced by the money and perks showered on him, including a house and car, he is at first totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his new employer, although Abby has her suspicions. Mitch passes the bar exam and begins working long hours that put a strain on his marriage. Working closely with Avery, Mitch learns that most of the Firm's work involves helping wealthy clients hide large amounts of money in off-shore shell corporations and other dubious tax-avoidance schemes. While on a trip to the Cayman Islands on behalf of a client, Mitch lets himself be seduced by a local woman. But the encounter is a set-up and their tryst on the beach is photographed by people working for the firm's sinister "head of security", Bill DeVasher (Wilford Brimley ), who uses it to blackmail Mitch into keeping quiet about what he knows.
Mitch realizes he is now trapped, but after two associates of the firm die under mysterious circumstances, he is approached by FBI agents who inform him that while some of BL&L's business is legitimate, their biggest client is the Morolto Mafia family from Chicago. The firm's senior partners are all complicit and have any junior employees who threaten to betray them murdered. They warn Mitch that his house, car, and office have probably all been bugged. The FBI pressures Mitch to provide the Bureau with evidence they can use to go after the Moroltos and bring down BL&L. Mitch knows he faces a stark choice. If he works with the FBI, he believes that even if he stays alive, he will have to disclose information about the firm's legitimate clients—thus breaking the
attorney–client privilege and risking
disbarment . However, he believes that if he stays with the firm, he will almost certainly go to jail when the FBI takes down both the firm and the Moroltos. Either way, his life as he knows it is over.
Mitch devises a plan that allows him to cooperate with the FBI by finding proof that the firm's partners are guilty of overbilling . By mailing these bills to their clients, they committed mail fraud --thus exposing them to RICO charges. He begins secretly copying the firm's billing records, but is eventually discovered by De Vasher. Evading De Vasher and his thugs, he finds the Morolto brothers and, offering himself as a loyal attorney looking out for his clients' best interests, leads them to believe that his contact with the FBI and copying files at the firm was merely an attempt to expose illegal overbilling. If they agree to let him turn over their billing invoices and guarantee his safety, he assures them that as long as he is alive, any other information he knows about their legal affairs is covered under attorney-client privilege and will never be revealed. Understanding the deal he is offering them, the Moroltos agree to let Mitch go and he is able to give the FBI all they need to prosecute the partners of the firm. He does all of this without breaking any laws, thereby being able to keep his status as a lawyer.
The film ends as the McDeeres leave their house in Memphis and return to
Boston , driving the same car in which they arrived.
Cast
Tom Cruise as Mitch McDeere, a promising recent Harvard Law graduate.
Jeanne Tripplehorn as Abigail "Abby" McDeere, Mitch's wife.
Gene Hackman as Avery Tolar, Mitch's mentor at the Firm.
Holly Hunter as Tamara "Tammy" Hemphill, Eddie's chain-smoking secretary and lover who greatly aids
Mitch McDeere in copying and stealing the files in Memphis and later the Cayman Islands.
Ed Harris as Agent Wayne Tarrance, the agent in charge of the investigation into the Firm; Mitch's primary contact with the FBI.
Hal Holbrook as Oliver Lambert, senior partner at the Firm.
Jerry Hardin as Royce McKnight, managing partner at the Firm.
David Strathairn as Ray McDeere, Mitch's brother who was in jail for a
manslaughter conviction
Terry Kinney as Lamar Quinn, Mitch's friend who works at the Firm.
Wilford Brimley as Bill DeVasher, officially the head of security at the Firm—unofficially the Firm's main hitman.
Sullivan Walker as Thomas Abanks, the owner of a scuba diving business.
Gary Busey as Eddie Lomax, a
private investigator and former cell-mate of Ray McDeere.
Steven Hill as F. Denton Voyles, FBI director
Margo Martindale as Nina Huff, Mitch's secretary
Paul Sorvino as mob boss Tommy Morolto (uncredited)
Joe Viterelli as mob boss Joey Morolto
Jerry Weintraub as businessman Sonny Capps
Tobin Bell as the Nordic Man, Morolto hitman
Dean Norris as the Squat Man, Morolto hitman
Karina Lombard as a girl who seduces McDeere.