Category Archives: 1997

The Rainmaker

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The Rainmaker                  4 stars

I got a chance to finally see the legal drama The Rainmaker based on the John Grisham novel which I somehow missed back when it came out in 1997. It is a well-paced story that keeps the viewers interest throughout its 2 hour and 15 minute running time. The basic story is rather conventional, a young lawyer just out of law school (Matt Damon) finds himself taking on an expensive law firm representing a corrupt insurance company. The company preys on poor working people by selling health insurance policies that don’t payoff when presented with valid claims. The film helped propel Damon to star status after Harvey Weinstein noticed him and wanted him in the movie. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola who wanted to make it a movie after just happening to read the Grisham novel. The film is graced with an amazing cast of talented actors that includes Mickey Rourke (as a sleazy lawyer), Danny DeVito (as the oddly named Deck Shifflet), Jon Voight (an even more sleazy lawyer), Claire Danes (who was just seventeen), Teresa Wright (in her last performance), Mary Kay Place, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, Roy Scheider and an uncredited Danny Glover. The plot is straightforward enough to easily follow and is driven by many dramatic moments in the courtroom. The young Claire Danes finds herself in a subplot with Damon that doesn’t infringe on the main story. Anyone who is a Matt Damon fan or a lover of legal dramas should include The Rainmaker on their to see list.

The Last Hand

The Last Hand                    ½ star

This week I went back in time to 1995 to find an old DVD release called The Last Hand. This is a dreadful film noir movie with cheap sets, convoluted writing and bad acting. It is set in a small Nevada town where some locals get together for a regular Friday night high stakes poker game. On one particular night, the usual loser Benny, hits it big and wins around $30,000 only to be killed by a gunman while driving home. Benny’s son, Clyde shows up the next day to find out what happened to Benny, but the cops are uncooperative, being controlled by one of the casino owners. As Clyde follows the path of Benny’s last hours he finds a maze of bad debts and mistrust among the card players and two of their lady friends that leads to more murders. There is also the matter of Benny’s will and the deed to his ranch that may reveal the motive of the killer. By the time I got to the end most everybody was dead and I didn’t care how it was going to turn out anyway. Then the filmmaker slapped on an ending that didn’t make sense to say nothing of the plot holes and seeming coincidences in the story. One notable point is that Benny is played by Batman’s Frank Gorshin. There is also a young woman, Grace played by Hudson Leick in her second film appearance, before she got the role of Callisto in Xena, Warrior Princess. Stay away from The Last Hand. As I say, I watch these movies so you don’t have to.