The Firm

Pollack's conventional race-against-time version of John Grisham's best-seller soft pedals on the novel's conspiracy-paranoia atmosphere, makes goons of the Mob, and shows signs of having been rewritten. But it does have Cruise as the go-for-it law graduate, whose now rather faded physical charm takes nothing from his dumb-but-earnest ingénu appeal. The plot has Cruise scorn the advances of the big Eastern law firms for a small 'family'-oriented outfit in Memphis, only to find rottenness at the heart and hearth of the New South. Adorning the film, in supporting roles, are its saving graces: Hackman's moving and dissolute consigliere/father-figure; madcap investigator Busey and floozy helpmeet Hunter; and Bell's eerily engaging white-haired psychopath.