Underrated Movies: Francis Ford Coppola’s Quiet Gem “The Rainmaker”

June 18, 2012 by

I recently saw Francis Ford Coppola's 1997 adaption of the John Grisham novel, "The Rainmaker" again and it was great. I think I like this movie a bit more than others. It is much more of a character study (I'm a sucker for those) than plot driven, and has a bit of a slow pace. But I loved the depth of the characters presented. It felt much more personable than most films. The accent was on how each of them felt as opposed to what each of them was doing.

Overall, this film wasn't met with much critical acclaim but it does have an average critic score score of 72/100 on metacritic. 

A young Matt Damon leads a fantastic cast that includes Danny Devito, Danny Golver, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, and Mickey Rourke. Damon's character is naive, but has drive, smarts, and compassion which makes him see like a kid taking on the big guys. Devito is great as his side kick. 

Here's the first part of the plot summary from IMDB:

Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) is a graduate of the University of Memphis Law School. Unlike most of his fellow grads, he has no high-paying employment lined up and is forced to apply for part-time positions while serving drinks at a Memphis bar. Desperate for a job, he reluctantly goes to an interview with J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone (Mickey Rourke), a ruthless but successful personal injury lawyer, who makes him an associate. To earn his fee, Rudy is turned into a veritable ambulance chaser, required to hunt for potential clients at a local hospital.
 
Soon he meets Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito), a less-than-ethical former insurance assessor turned paralegal who has failed the bar exam six times. Deck is resourceful in gathering information and practically an expert on insurance lawsuits.
 
I enjoyed this piece from Roger Ebert's review that stresses the characters:
 
I have enjoyed several of the movies based on Grisham novels (“A Time to Kill,'' “The Pelican Brief,'' “The Firm''), but I've usually seen the storyteller's craft rather than the novelist's art being reflected. Coppola says he picked up “The Rainmaker'' in an airport, was intrigued by the story and asked to direct it. What attracted him, I imagine, was the richness of the supporting characters: Miss Birdie, Deck, Bruiser, Kelly, and the scorned woman from the insurance company. The gallery is so colorful that this could almost be a movie based on a Carl Hiaasen story. By keeping all of the little people in focus, Coppola shows the variety of a young lawyer's life, where every client is necessary and most of them need a lot more than a lawyer.
 
Here it is on Netflix and here's the trailer:

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