Movies

It was something else, seeing The Rainmaker again, 20 years later. The plot, the cast, the look of it, it all has that Coppola touch and thathas to be with truth, the way he, Francis Ford Coppola sees it. Beautiful, powerful and moving but the most powerful element after 20 years turns out to be Johnny Whitworth. What a gorgeous, soulful performance. It took me by surprise, I remember the character from my first viewing but this time his is the character who affected me the most. Imagine in a cast that includes Teresa Wright! Yes, Teresa Wright, Dean Stockwell as well as Matt Damon, Mary Kay Place, Jon Voight, Danny De Vito, Mickey Rourke, Claire Danes. Time does extraordinary things. It reveals the center of the center of the truth.

This film was sort of a comeback for Francis Ford Coppola, considering that he had not really made any films since "The Godfather Part 3", other than "Jack". In this film Matt Damon plays a young lawyer fresh out of law school, who by chance meets up with spitfire paralegal Danny DeVito, and takes on a huge and difficult case. Fully entertaining throughout, although the ending is almost completely unbeleivable, which is the only negative aspect of this film. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good courtroom drama, I thought it was one of the better ones that I have seen. I rate it *** out of ****, or maybe even a little higher.

This film hits on all cylinders, at least until the ending. I have read the Grisham novel, but it was far enough in the past that it did not spoil the film for me, at least for the most part. Matt Damon was OK here, but the supporting cast stole the show, DeVito, Claire Danes, Jon Voight. Especially good in a small part was Virginia Madsen. And it was very interesting seeing Teresa Wright, the teenage star of Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" as the elderly Miss Birdie. The film's ending seemed like it just ran out of steam, though. Maybe it's just because I had read the book. I recommend this movie anyway. Grade: B