The Firm Review

Hey there, this is BZ Collins and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hey, it's Mistress

Carrie and you are listening to Studio 2009.

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Hello, and welcome back into our studio. You

are now Inside Studio 2009, only on the GeekCast

Radio Network. This is 31 Days, 31 Podcasts.

I'm, of course, Steve G and Mike. Joining me

once again, as always, is Mr. Dave Draper. Hi,

Dave. How are you? Oh, super. Thanks for asking.

Super Dave, that's right. Good old Super Dave.

Gotta love him. Super Dave Osborne, yep. That's

right, that's right. This is the 120th episode

of Studio 2009, and today we are going down to

Memphis with John Grisham's The Firm, From the

Book to the Movie and Everything Thereafter.

Tom Cruise is Mitch McDeer, so let's head down

to Memphis and visit Bendini Lamberton Lock.

Okay, Dave, when did you first read the book

and then see the movie or vice versa Wow Like

I mean I read the book it was one of those situations

where First of all, my mother was a big fan of

like thrillers and cop novels and that kind of

stuff She was a big Grisham fan. Yep. So I'd

heard about Grisham because and the firm was

like his big I think breakout book It wasn't

his first book, I don't think. No, it wasn't

his first book. Was it his first book? No, it

was not. No, it was not. But it was the big breakout

one. It was the one that got all the attention.

I read it before the movie came out, but it was

like in the hype for the movie. You know what

I mean? Yep. Like there was people talking about

the movie with Tom Cruise was coming out. So

I read the book and then I saw I saw the movie

when it came out. I assume that was ninety four.

Ninety three. Thirty one. Oh, really? Because

you're doing this weird sort of. Yeah, I was

we were we were gonna do this last year on the

actual 30th anniversary of this film and It just

didn't happen. Okay. Well, okay, but point so

it was 93. That's weird. That was the year I

Was a summer graduate of college. So anyway,

like I saw it then when it was in the theaters

and I saw it This weekend on Pluto like I I mean,

it's a good film, but it's it's it's not really

my thing per se So it's not like it's not something

I would revisit. It's not that I didn't like

it It's just that that it's not I don't know.

It's you know with a thriller and the twists

once you have all that it's kind of like yeah,

there's no No real impetus for me to revisit

it per se so I watched it 31 years ago and I

watched it now. So okay. Yeah, so his the first

thing according to Wikipedia I thought it kind

of kill. Yes. Yes. Yes. Actually not a time to

kill I like this and I don't like this. I wish

Wikipedia had just had a full list year -to -year

how his books were released, but how they have

it is... Under bibliography they have novels

they and then they have it by character So Jake

Brigands series, which was a time to kill sycamore

row a time for mercy Yada yada yada and then

they have the rogue lawyer series which is partners

from 2016 and rogue lawyer from 2015 which Oh

partners was the short story in 2016. Okay So

they have it listed by various characters. So

as I'm scrolling here, I'm like, wait a minute,

A Time to Kill is 89, but then it lists, oh,

right, they're by character. So I have to scroll

down to the Mitch McDeer character, and the book

came out in 91. The film came out two years later

in 93. And then they did a sequel to the book.

He did a sequel to the book in 2023, The Exchange,

after the firm. It delves into the life of Mitch

Mcdeer, the protagonist of the firm, exploring

his new challenges 15 years after the events

of the first novel. I do know that the book ends

differently than the movie. Yes, and we will

talk about that. I have that all set up. We will

talk about that. Book and the movie are two very

different endings. But I kind of want to, I might

go on Audible right now after this recording

and grab the exchange after the firm because

I'm really curious. about a firm sequel 15 years

after the events of the original. And then he's

got the stand -alones like Pelican Brief, Client,

Chamber, Rainmaker, Runaway Jury, et cetera,

et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. See, when I was following

the stuff, it was more like that. It was stand

-alones. Each thing was its own thing. He didn't

have series per se. Yeah, because back when we

were following along with it, there wasn't a...

And you can correct me if I'm wrong, so if I'm

misspeaking, that's fine. Dude, I don't know.

You know better than I do. You've got the with

the feet. No, no, no. I'm just saying, I was

nine years old in 89. I didn't really find Grisham

until I was 13, 14, 15, 93, 94, 95. So I think

when we were keeping up with it, when you and

I were probably keeping up with it, like you

said, you were in college. The critical thing

is I was just out of college. If I'd been in

college, there was no way I was reading Grisham.

I was busy trying not to flunk out of college.

My time for Grisham would have been the mid -90s,

which I think is when he was really ascendant,

because he did a Time to Kill first. I don't

know if that did really great, but it did well

enough that he did the firm, and that was huge.

They went back and probably republished Time

to Kill in a new from the author of The Firm.

They always did stuff like that. I was following

him back when his stuff was getting turned into

movies on the regular. Big movies. He might still

be getting stuff on Netflix or something, I don't

know. But it was The Firm, Pelican Brief, Time

to Kill, Runaway Jury, The Client, all those.

At some point, I guess he went into the series.

We talked on the off air that I'm a little like,

2023, he did the sequel to the firm. To me, that's

kind of sad. Like, oh, no, I'm excited. It's

me. It's sad because it's like, because when

you brought this up, I'm like, Oh, I haven't

thought about John Grisham in years. And I think

a lot of people probably haven't thought about

John Grisham in years. And it's like, Oh, look,

hey, look, here's your sequel to my most popular

book. Pay attention to me. I do I get sad when

people revisit stuff. That that you know, like

when they when they try to do something different

and then they go back to what what made them

big in the first place Ask like long after the

fact like I said like the whole hey remember

me remember that thing I did that you love, you

know, it's like the It's like Dan Brown doing

another Well, he that was always a series the

the Da Vinci Code the guys the character from

the Da Vinci Code was in a couple of books originally

there was a start out with. But just like, I

don't know, just when they always go back to

like their roots to like get attention again.

I mean, almost kind of like with the prequels

in Star Wars, you know, just going back to the

well one more time to get attention. But again,

there was always this in that case, there was

always a story that had been promised that had

been suggested. So it was like, I don't know.

I'm digging a hole here. I'm sure a lot of people

are happy to see Mitch Mcdeer come back. So you

said the perfect thing. You have not thought

of John Grisham in years. Yeah. And I'm kind

of the same way because I think of, like you've

already said and we've already said, I think

of Think I've only ever seen a time to kill once

the movie and I know I've never read the book

because I saw the movie And I the movie was okay

But it wasn't my thing kind of thing and like

you're saying with the firm the firm is really

not your thing But since it's Grisham and it's

me and it's podcasting. It's whatever fine, but

I'm the same way as you 92 93 94 95 96 the the

whole 91 the whole of the 90s is when I knew

Grisham and Actually, wait a minute. Wait, hold

on. I'm looking at the movie adaptations. That's

why I'm like, wait a minute. It's time to kill

them and come out in 96. The movie did, the book

came out. Yeah, the movie did. The movie got

made after the fact because the firm was the

big hit and everything was riding that wave.

Yeah, exactly. And I liked reading his books.

When I was 13, 14, 15, et cetera, I liked the

firm. I liked Pelican Brief. I liked Rainmaker

Over the Chamber. I did not read Gingerbread

Man. Yeah, those are some of the... I mean, at

this point, they're not later, but at the time,

they were later books and I was like, I sort

of lost interest in doing up with that stuff.

Runaway Jerry, I love Runaway Jerry. If it's

you, if it's somebody else, I don't care. I'm

doing a Runaway Jerry episode, even though that

came out 11 years ago. I missed the 10 -year

anniversary on that one. Really? That was 11

years ago? 2003. No, 2008. Oh, shh. Shit 20 years

ago. Sorry. I thought my mom was still alive

from that one. Yeah 20 2003 I was looking at

it wrong that I'm my my head went the other way

once in 2013 not not 2003 yeah, but He's a writer

that I enjoy reading his stuff. I think his books

are great the ones that I like there's some that

I do want to catch up with and and and and and

see like I said, I didn't even know there was

a see like the firm the movie version of the

firm and even the book too, it's back in this

era of Books and television and not television

film where it's a beginning middle and end and

this is I say this all the time It's okay if

a movie or a book or whatever has a beginning

middle and end and does not leave you on a cliff

or does not leave you Expecting more not wanting

there's a difference between expecting more and

having expectations at the end of something and

then wanting more of that something. I read the

book again and I watched the movie again and

I am perfect. I was perfectly fine with this

story with the firm as it is. And then I started

doing research for this podcast episode and I

found out that there was a sequel and it got

me excited because I'm like, I love these characters.

I'm curious to see 15 years later after the events

of this, what is going on? I'm curious about

it. It's just the way it is. But 1993, Tom Cruise,

the firm. Oh, boy. So I've been taking screenshots

today. I took two screenshots. I did not tag

you in these screenshots, but I took two screenshots.

One of him, it's when he's chasing after Abby.

OK. I made sure it was just him in that frame.

And the quote on Facebook is, Mitch Mcdeer or

Ethan Hunt, can you pick the Tom Cruise character?

Because that running scene when she runs out

of the house. And I know I'm jumping ahead, but

we'll go back. Way ahead. Yeah. But when she

runs out of the house and he runs after her,

the first thing I think of is how he runs. I

mean, the man has a weird running, whatever it

is, what it is. I'm not making fun of it. I'm

just saying the first thing I thought of was

Mission Impossible because we've had seven missions

of Eat Tom Cruise running. And that's the first

thing I thought of. And I thought that was hilarious.

But yeah, Mitch McDeer, we're going to start

here with the film. Well, overall, let me just

say it was it was an interesting thing to rewatch

it. And I don't remember the book super well,

but it really the movie felt very it's hard to

explain. It felt like an adaptation of a book

in the sense that it's not that everything was

rushed per se, but everything was very sort of

clipped. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like like

like a lot of stuff happens in that movie. Yeah,

and that movie's not like four hours long. It's

you know, it's like boom boom boom boom boom

boom boom boom Yeah And and you really sort of

like you feel the wind rushing past your face

as they're getting through this story Yeah, and

a lot of characters really weren't like Almost

no characters were particularly aside from Mitch

and Abby and maybe the Holly hunters character

Like like characters would be introduced and

they'd sort of be there but they they weren't

really developed or you know How hold like part

of part of the fun was it was this was almost

like when we're doing a colombo episode With

like people from the 1970s and 60s and you're

like, hey, I remember that guy Yeah, this was

like how Holbrooke came over the other guy the

other major partner, but he's been in everything

Jerry Harden was Royce McKnight managing partner

at the firm. So Jerry Harden is the actor. Yeah,

he's been in a ton of things Wilford Brimley

always made Wilford Brimley jokes Gene Hackman

is in that. I was like, oh, yeah, he's in that.

Yeah, Harris is in that. The guy who plays Adam

Schiff from the original Law and Order, original

DA, is the CIA guy? Yeah, he's the CIA guy. FBI

guy. FBI, whatever. Where is that line? Damn

it. Oh, here it is. Here it is. So the funny

thing about the firm, and I never knew this because

I have not won. Look. We have movies that we

watch all the time, okay? We have things that

we think about all the time. Ever since 2015,

almost nine and a half, 10 years ago, La La Land

Records, the soundtrack company, the movie soundtrack,

TV soundtrack company, released the firm soundtrack,

and I have it, and I have the music. I have all

the music by Dave Gruessen, and I have all the

songs that... We'll talk about this a little

bit later, but... Only song I have ever enjoyed

from lia love it is money from this movie So

when i'm going through all this stuff and i'm

looking at stuff and i'm like, oh my god So you

mentioned the guy from law and order, which is

steven hill who played adam shift, right? Yes.

Yes. Okay When I looked at his when I looked

at his filmography My the I stopped at one point

just dead stop came to my script here and wrote

down Stephen Hill, ex Tom Cruise, past mission,

future mission. What an impossibility, because

Stephen Hill was on the original Mission Impossible

show, and obviously Tom Cruise would go on to

be Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible. I never

knew, my point ain't even saying any, I never

knew that. I didn't even think about that. I

didn't know Stephen Hill was on the original

Mission Impossible. Yeah. I mostly know Peter

Graves and Leonard Nimoy and Martin Landau. He

didn't even let me finish because there's Gary

Busey, Paul Savino shows up at the end and I'm

like, oh my god, it's Paul Savino. Yes, it is.

And this one is a little more relevant to our

more modern audiences. Freaking Jigsaw. The guy

who plays John Kramer in the Jigsaw movies is

the assassin. Oh He's the he's the albino assassin

because in the 90s everybody hated albinos Tobin

Bell the Nordic man. Yeah I didn't even know

people Yeah, very boring conventional way with

a silent pistol Yeah, I mean and then like it

was funny cuz there's one point like he's got

a partner who gets wounded and I'm like Later

on in the film. I'm like, where's limpy and then

right at that moment limpy shows up behind Tom

Cruise I was like, oh there's limpy No Yeah,

no, this is this movie is and you say that a

lot of characters don't get a lot of time to

do I feel he does Oh, no, I felt they did Really

beyond like The closest would be, like I said,

Holly Hunter and Gene Hackman. There's this whole

thing between Gene and Abby, Gene's character

and Abby's character. And that gets developed

a little bit, but just enough so that the plot

can move. But that's the whole thing. Everything

gets developed just enough so the plot can move.

There's the other guy. I can't remember the actor's

name. I think... He's the other young lawyer

at the firm. He's kind of Lamar and Terry Terry

Kenny was Lamar Quinn Lamar Yeah, like he's in

it. Yep, and does stuff and like I said, he's

kind of his friend Yeah, like like like that's

the whole thing. Like I he's more of his friend

in the book They basically I mean you got a you

got a condense. Oh My whole point was this entire

movie feels like a condensed soup version of

the book. Yep you've got to condense 432 pages

into a 154 -minute movie. That's a lot. And there

are differences, and there are two very different

endings, which I absolutely love. I love that

they just didn't, you know, and we'll talk about

the ending in a minute, but now this cast, I

feel like, again, like we've said, Wait, I have

not seen this movie since maybe, honestly, probably

the same issue. I really think the last time

I saw this was sometime in 95, 6, or 7 on VHS.

Or maybe I caught it on TV with all the curse

words bleeped out or something. Oh my god, this

movie has such Tom Cruise lines. Mean obviously

they're written for his character and everything

else but like the like when he curses when he

says fuck when he's in the office and then He

says something else later. I've got the audio

somewhere, but I forgot what the actual thing

is but I enjoyed this like I would watch this

again and also for me part of it is that score

the score in the songs that there's a couple

of songs I don't care for but the why I love

it song. There's no song I like, but the date,

the, the jazzy kind of, it's like jazz meets

mystery music. I don't know what you would call

the tech music. I don't know. But like the, the

overall theme in this is that everybody knows

what the theme is. And I can't, unfortunately

you can't put music in podcasts unless you own

it folks. Not anymore, anyway. If you see the

trailer, if you hear a piece of this music, you're

going to know what I'm talking about. Can I just

confess something? I literally just watched it

yesterday and I can't remember any of the music.

That's okay. I completely understand. But it's

just one of those things where I just love this

experience. I just absolutely love it. I think

it's great. I think there are so many different

characters and so many different movies today.

Sometimes movies today will have like various

actors in them, but they kind of all blend together

as kind of the same character because writing

today is what writing was the back then. And

granted, this was a novel first, not a movie

first. So this is a adaptation of a novel. And

the man can write. Grisham can write. He's an

amazing writer. He's an accomplished writer over

his career, and he was a lawyer before that.

So, you know, going from being a lawyer and being

in politics and all that stuff to being a...

Well, to be fair, and I think the movie touches

on it, it doesn't really, like, focus on that,

but... Part of being a lawyer and part of being

a politician, both, is being a storyteller. When

you're in front of the jury, you're telling a

story to them. It's not as mind -boggling that

a guy who was a successful lawyer would become

a successful author. I phrased that a little

wrong. I didn't mean to pick on you. Storytelling

is a skill in being a good attorney. or a good

trial attorney anyway. I mean, like Mitch actually

is more like the boring numbers guy, which is

how he gets them in the end, the boring numbers

stuff. He's not the guy in front, he's not, you

know, like Sam Watterson in Law and Order giving

the final thing to the jury. Jack McCoy. Jack

McCoy. I love Jack. I almost said Sam McCoy.

Good old Jack. Oh man, I love that guy. So great,

but yeah, no, I I enjoyed this I enjoyed the

hell out of this and It was so fun. I don't have

a I think the only thing I noticed this time

around because again I've only seen this twice

two or three times in 31 years. I Never noticed

before when Holly Hunter says Who do you think

he was referring to when he said his partner

went after Busey dies? Yeah Because she was his

partner because he she was under the desk and

doing all the She says she said something like

that. Yeah, because yeah Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah,

I never noticed that before even though I kind

of figured it out Obviously the the years ago,

but like this time I because I was paying again

i'm trying my best folks when I when we do these

podcasts That's why I don't watch these movies

or tv shows or whatever until like We write like

right up to literally I finished the movie like

an hour ago. So because I want to make sure it's

fresh in my mind and I never I never paid attention

to her character not because I didn't want to

but I just never caught on to her saying well

you know who do you think he's referring to when

he says hey you know this is my you know I've

got a. Personal go do this or go do that or whatever

else. It was her the whole time Yeah, smart as

hell. Absolutely. I absolutely love Tammy's character

in this there isn't a bad character in this.

It's all good It's a and such to work diverse

acting from various actors The the roles were

cast perfectly. There's nobody else in that lit.

Okay, so if this released in 93, which it did

June 30th of 93, I think is what I saw on Wikipedia

Remembering correctly, you're right Let's say

it got produced a year and a half before or even

just a year before I Don't think just thinking

back on actors and actresses in 92 1992 91 92

I don't think there's anybody else that could

play these roles. I Don't know like again the

the early 90s. I was in college. I was not No,

but I was I was doing things I was So I wasn't

really paying attention to mass media and stuff

like that. I mean, we would see movies, but we

would see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We would

see a Batman movie or a Star Trek movie. I would

watch stuff when I would get home, but I wasn't

paying attention to the pop culture scene like

that. I don't know. I don't know who was out

there who could have done it in 92. I mean, it's

a good... The thing is, because it was... the

firm was such a big thing, they were obviously

going to bring their A -Team to this movie. Oh,

absolutely. It's like how the Harry Potter books

are like a hoo -hoo of British cinema. Oh man,

I forgot. So Janine Triplehorn, because we'll

go through... I mean, we don't have to go through

Mr. Cruz's stuff, but we, you know, but Janine

Trivelhorn, I had forgotten. I remember this

now, but I had forgotten her debut was as Dr.

Beth Gardner in Basic Instinct from 92. Her debut

was next to Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone.

That's amazing. She did Reality Bites. Unfortunately,

she did Waterworld. That movie sucks. I hate

that movie. Wow. That movie is horrible. I mean,

you're not wrong, but like, it's just like, I

hate that movie. That's like picking on that.

No, I'm not picking on it. I'm making a special

kid. It's like, come on, man. Doesn't that movie

have enough problems without hatred? Well, I

mean, it does. You know, it probably has enough

stock considering Josh bought all the toys. So,

you know, not all of them. Not all of them. There's

there was one cool water world toy and. Like

to a small mini collection, so uh -huh. Yeah.

Well the trimaran is cool. Come on. It's a cool

boat It's a cool boat. Yeah, the movie is bad,

but it was a cool boat. Yeah, exactly She was

also in very bad things Mickey blue eyes time

code Let's see what else Her most recent movie

was Anna or Anya from 2020 And then she's got

a few TV roles. She was in Big Love from 2006

to 2011. Oh, okay. She was in one episode of

Frasier in 2003. Yeah, so there's that. We want

to talk about Lex Luthor's filmography. You know,

my problem is I come from a world in the time

where The idea that we have to talk about Gene

Hackman's filmography. He's almost offensive

Well, it's gene fucking Hackman. I Understand

that but it I did more than being like a comedy

Lex Luthor in Admittedly the the superior the

best Superman films but like his Luther isn't

even that good Oh, no, it's not the best Luther.

That's John Shea and Clancy Brown. Well, Clancy

Brown, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, Gene Hagman

was a big star in the 70s and 80s and, you know,

still still had power in the 90s. You know, it

is weird that he's got like this. I mean, it's

not a nothing role. In fact, it's a very pivotal

role, but there's not much he doesn't do much

in the thing. Like I said, there's this weird

The whole film feels weird because the firm is

supposed to be this sinister place. Yeah, but

like aside from Wilford aside from Nice and fun

and likeable, I mean I'm not sure if it was a

brilliant casting decision or a bad casting decision

It's like I say it's brilliant because you like

all these guys and you don't you don't really

get a sense that they're like aside from the

fact Like aside from when they go to the Caymans

and he meets the client the client is obviously

a thuggish mob guy Yeah, jerk, but like jeet

is just as lovable and apparently we find out

I guess he's kind of a decent guy. Yeah, like

and he I Assume he gets murdered by like by jigsaw

Jigsaw gets off the plane in the Cayman Islands.

He's coming for him. Oh Find out later on that

that he drowned in the tub Oh, that's right.

Because he committed suicide, probably. Did he?

Or something. I don't know. I was curious. Did

he commit suicide? Or did they? Did the albino

dude get him? I don't know. I'm not sure. Go

on. No, go on. No, no, no. Go ahead. I don't

even know where I was going with it. Okay. With

Gene Hackman, folks. Like, okay, so. His debut

was in a movie called Mad Dog Call C O L C O

L L as a policeman in 1961 so 30 years later

in the 90s, I think like This is like he had

a bunch of films. Obviously the French connection

French connection There's Superman 1 2 & 4 because

he wasn't in 3 But the 90s, man, like Gene Hackman

everywhere. I absolutely love his acting. So

just to start, Unforgiven in 92, he was Sheriff

Bill Lohan. Oh yeah. He was in Unforgiven in

92. He was so good in that. Yup. The Firm in

93, Geronimo, an American legend in 93. He was

Nicholas Earp in Wyatt Earp in 94. The Quick

and the Dead. Crimson Tide and Get Shorty in

95. The Birdcage Extreme Measures in the Chamber

in 96. He was in two Grisham movies. I believe

it. Yeah, no, absolutely. Speaking of absolutely,

Absolute Power in 97. And then he did. He was

in Twilight. Not. Really? Not the not. No, no,

98. This is He played Jack Ames. Twilight is

a 1998 American neo -noir thriller film, directed

by Robert Benton, written by Sir Paul Newman,

Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherspoon.

I'm not clicking on it, so it doesn't tell me

what the hell it's about, but it's not The Sparkly

Vampires, it's a separate one. He blended his

voice to General Mandible in Ants in 98, and

then another one of my favorite roles. is him

as Edward Brill Lyle in Enemy of the State with

Will Smith in 98. I loved that. Absolutely loved

that. Just for you old people, he was in Bonnie

and Clyde. He was in The French Connection, as

I said, The Poseidon Adventure. Yep. Young Frankenstein.

Yep. Like he he he is a Hollywood legend. Yes.

He is and now that I'm looking down through this

He's got three Grisham novels and he's got my

favorite. I've already mentioned it in this one

of my favorites I've already mentioned in this

episode that I want to do a podcast on it next

year sometime He's got like I already mentioned

the firm in the chamber and then he was Rankin

Fitch in the runaway jury in 2003 Yep. Oh, yeah,

that's right. He was yeah, he was Royal Tenenbaum.

Yep. Yep. Yep And then TV credits not as much

as movies, but still it's interesting Not surprising

there for the long time. No for the longest time

there was a stigma If you were a movie actor

about being on TV, that's changed now. Yeah,

that's like it was it was a it was a big stigma

if you it was considered lowering lowering yourself

to be on TV. Absolutely. And of course, we're

forgetting that famous episode of South Park.

Yes. Hack man. Hack man. We're not going to go

through all this because I can practically tell

you by memory most of it. But I mean, it's Tom

Cruise. Like, I mean, he's got controversies.

He's got litigation. He's got all kinds of stuff.

But If that was the case in 1993, he was still

considered cool and on top of the world. I don't

remember when Rain Man fell exactly, but that

was the movie that sort of pushed him from being

a box office guy to being people considering

him a serious actor. So he had it all back then.

But I mean the outsiders taps Risky business

all the right moves legend risky business was

his first like tap. He was in taps, but he was

like the he was Yeah, he was the main character.

Yeah, risky business was his big breakout role.

Yep And then obviously Top Gun the color of money

my favorite in 88 was cocktail. I love that movie

That's a movie. Okay, so we I have the soundtrack

to that movie, all the actual songs that are

in it, but the rest of it, that's a soundtrack.

I want a soundtrack company to release, because

they haven't yet. In 1990, it was Days of Thunder.

In 1992, it was A Few Good Men. That was a good

movie. Yeah, I love that movie. It didn't direct

itself. There was an all -star -in -our -lives

sketch where Rob Reiner is part of the White

House press corps. Few Good Men was nominated

for Best Picture, but he wasn't nominated for

director. So the whole thing was he kept asking

the president's press secretary, movie didn't

direct itself, Mr. Secretary, movie didn't direct

itself. Oh, absolutely. And in 1994, Interview

of the Vampire, and then in 1996, He started

a front while he the people started a franchise

and they they start well, you know what I mean

I mean He did a movie and it was successful.

So the studios decided to keep it going Uh -huh,

and I've seen every one so far and the only one

I don't particularly like is the seventh one

Because I don't think yeah, I mean I know AI

is a villain, but I don't think AI is that great

of a villain for anything Apparently, it's making

copies of itself. Yeah, it is. So yeah, Mission

Impossible, he was himself, as Austin Powers

and Goldmember, that was hilarious. War of the

Worlds, Tropic Thunder. I need to watch Tropic

Thunder. Oh, he was amazing in Tropic Thunder.

Yeah, people always tell me about Tropic Thunder.

I need to watch it. And the only reason why I

haven't watched it is because I'm not a Ben Stiller

fan. Yeah, I mean he's a big part of the film.

So I know he is that's exactly And yeah, so we

get dead reckoning and we had time I still haven't

seen Top Gun Maverick. I've been I've been a

really avoiding that But but yeah, I mean that's

that's mr. Cruz overall the firm just so good

and then Holly hunter like Her like let's talk

about an actress who has a very varied filmography

She debuted in the burning in 98 and 1981 is

what I meant to say that 98 1981 the burning

She did Raising Arizona in 87. Yeah, she was

broadcast news in 87 She was in I think with

Richard Dreyfus. Yes. She was in always in 89

The piano in 93, obviously the firm. Copycat,

home for the holidays. And then, go ahead. I

was gonna say, I was jumping ahead, she was the

senator who got blowed up in Superman vs. Batman.

Oh yeah, that's very true, Batman vs. Superman,

poor Senator Finch. But I would say one of her

biggest roles happened in 2004 because she is

the voice of Helen Parr, aka Elastigirl, in The

Incredibles. She's done a bunch of TV. There

was a show. Oh, that's right. So you mentioned

the original Bonnie and Clyde? Yes. I watched

the 2013 miniseries about it. This was the...

I think it was on tnt And again, it goes back

to music for me. I had the music I had the soundtrack

from a lot of line records. It was on 80 history

in lifetime But um, yeah, she played uh, she

played where's her name? She played uh, emma

parker bonnie's mother in that I absolutely love

that and I swear there was another one that she

did She's supposed to be um It says upcoming

but she's supposed to be in Star Trek Starfleet

Academy as captain and Chancellor or whatever

that is So there's that But yeah, no So the difference

in the ending folks the difference between the

book and the movie I found this online somewhere

In the book, after Mitch is wise to everything,

he hits the road and gets the FBI to bust his

brother out of jail over a prisoner wall, and

he eventually meets up with him and Tammy in

Panama City. They elude the police throughout

the South while both the FBI and the mafia are

on his trail at the same time, and eventually

escape when Abanks comes. by boat and takes them

from a pier out of the country. Mitch, Abby,

and Ray end up living their life in obscurity

on the islands. So that's the book ending. The

movie ending, in the movie, however, it's not

nearly as intense. For starters, Ray doesn't

go out over the prison walls. Some papers are

signed and he just walks out the front door.

As for the climax, there is no massive manhunt.

Instead, he sees that the firm is overbilling

clients, so he has the friggin' balls to confront

the Moraltos and tell them that that's the big

secret he knows. So the mob is just like, oh,

okay, whatev. So now he's off the hook from the

mob, from the FBI has paid him almost a million

bucks. He quits the firm and goes back north

in the book. Would be unheard of to quit knowing

what he knew in the end They just leave Memphis

and go go back to Boston. I think I like the

book ending better as far as like the overall

story But the movie ending is okay It's fun.

It's it's very sort of Serviceable. Well, it's

it's like it kept reminding me of how the story

about how they got Al Capone for tax evasion,

you know, yep It's because he he gets he takes

the front like the whole thing is the FBI wants

to take the firm down now What they really want

are the mafia clients, but what Mitch does is

he he manipulates things? Because then what they

want him to do is to break is to give is to give

them confidential information Which will screw

over his ability to be a lawyer ever for again,

right? Even if he even if he even if he manages

to like, you know escape any charges or whatever

He gave away confidential information, which

he's not allowed to do as a lawyer. He comes

up with a scheme to expose the fact that the

firm has been overbilling everybody, including

the mafia guys. The scene with Paul Savino is

he's convincing the mafia guys to sign off on

this thing, admitting that they were overbilled

for their services. Technically, the FBI is able

to take down the firm. They're like, yeah, but

they're gonna they're just gonna the mobs just

gonna go to some other firm He's like, well,

that's not my problem. That's you know, at least

you get these guys taken out Yep, but he's able

to do it all legally all nice and and and above

well I mean, there's a lot of shenanigans a lot

of like hiding stuff and yeah But he's able to

do it in a way that he's able to continue to

practice law I mean nobody's allowed to quit

the firm because the firm is a going concern

at the time with the mob on its side at the end

of the film Like the firm is screwed and the

mob is, you know, kind of like ready to cut them

loose. So yeah, he's able to like leave and go

to Boston. And part of it is that the way they

get rid of apparently everybody is they take

them down to the Cayman Islands and go diving

and then things go wrong. That's the, you mentioned

a banks, which, you know, for people who haven't

seen the film, a banks is this guy who owns the

diving company. I think his son or his dad, his

son was killed in one of those. accidents probably

as a collateral so yeah so so the whole thing

is there's this little I don't know if it's in

the book but it felt like in my head it was like

a very grishamy thing to like do this little

sort of oh they're over billing and we'll prove

they're over billed and that way I'll be able

to like keep my license and do all this was very

sort of it's explained very well it's explained

so that you understand what's going on Someone

who's not a lawyer, but it is almost like a nerdy

inside baseball Going after Capone for for not

paying your income tax. Yeah, absolutely Which

doesn't do they reference that I I feel like

they mentioned that at some point They don't

okay. So he said what he just talks about the

over billing. Yeah, okay They don't actually

say tax evasion. Well, no, no, no, no, no. But

I mean, mention the fact that they got Capone,

like specifically mention Capone. Oh, I can't

remember if they did or I was just thinking that.

Yeah, I don't remember off the top of my head.

Is there anything else about the plot or the

actors, the actresses we need to talk about?

I mean, again, Gary Buse is in it for like five

seconds. Okay, it's funny because I like I watched

the movie in two parts and the first part like

Mitch goes to Gary Busey's office I meet Holly

hunter and I'm like, oh my god Holly hunters

in this. Yep, because again, it's been 30 years.

Yep, and then like I Around that time. I turned

it off for the night. I came back and it's literally

like it must be five minutes later Like the guys

come in and go you're asking too many questions

bang bang. I'm like Jesus Like if you're watching

this in the theater if you blink you miss Gary

Busey's whole performance Like I said, it was

that whole compressed, sort of like we took a

big book and we squished it down to fit the show.

You never see him ask any questions. Just like

one minute, hey, can you ask some questions?

Next minute you're asking too many questions,

bang. And that's where, that's where Lempi gets

shot. Cause Busey has a gun under his desk and

he shoots, shoots the other guy. He does not

shoot Jigsaw. Although Wilford Bremley shoots

Jigsaw at the end by accident, by mistake. Yes

he does. That was that was awesome So yeah, the

the thing I wanted to bring up was which surprised

me so I pay attention to a lot of Music whether

it's movies or TV shows or whatever. I think

that's obviously clear right folks and When like

I knew this sound I knew the score I knew the

sound of the movie I just never knew up until

nine and a half years ago who actually did it

and it's a guy by the name of Dave gruesome and

he debuted with his filmography in 1967 he did

four different things and I know none of them

Divorce American style water hole number three

the graduate. I know I've heard of the graduate,

but I don't think is there a real graduate Yeah,

the original graduate It's a 1967 classic. Yeah,

no American cinema. Absolutely Not saying it's

not and then the Scorpio letters and then he

did a bunch of other things Throughout the late

60s early 70s into the 80s and 90s now The 90s

he's got the firm The three that I know the four

that I know that and there's one that I'm I absolutely

need to see if the score is out there But so

he's got the firm 93 he's got Selena from 97

so the movie about Selena that they did and then

hope floats with Bullock and who was in Harry

Connick jr I think is in 1990, yeah, in the Harry

Connick Jr. with Hope Floats. And then 1999,

25 years ago this year. Oh, wow. It was also

directed by Sidney Pollock. I didn't even know

that. We got to look at that in a minute. Starring

Harrison Ford and Kristen Scott Thomas. It is

Random Hearts based on the 1984 novel by Warren

Adler. So Dave also did the music for that. The

last thing he did was something called skating

to New York in 2013. I don't think he's currently

He might currently still be active. He's still

alive. So that's you know, that's a good thing

but No, and the music in this so good It is absolutely

so good and they actually did try They've already

tried with the firm. I hope they don't try again

ever but in 2012 they tried to do a tv series

somebody pointed this out to me and i just ignored

it i don't remember who pointed this out to me

back in 2012 but i'm just like no just no no

don't and stop Listen, it's picked up for a first

-run syndication by Global and Canada, NBC in

the U .S. before release. Television adaptation

is set 10 years after the novel and the film.

So, okay, so the television adaptation is set

10 years after the novel and the new novel that

Grisham wrote that came out last year is set

50... I'd rather read the novel than watch this

TV show because I'm sorry, Josh Lucas is no Tom

Cruise. Well, no, but they're gonna get Tom Cruise

for... Random TV show but like out of everybody

in the regular cast for this Josh Lucas, I recognize

and Juliet Lewis Juliet Lewis played Tammy in

In this But everybody else I don't I don't recognize

any of them, which is crazy silly and whatever

Overall the firm I absolutely love it. I will

be watching this. At least you listen to the

music. I don't know what it is about that Lyle

Lovett song for some stupid reason now. I had

it on repeat for 20 minutes earlier. I'm like,

oh my god, what am I doing? Any other thoughts

you would like to say about this film, sir? No,

it's a good film. It's fun to watch. There's

a neat, there's one sequence I thought I was

impressed with that I thought was cool towards

the end. He gets on a Sky Tram and then the Abino

like runs across, there's like a bridge. That

was kind of a neat, exciting little action sequence.

Yeah, that was good. Yeah, the action sequences

that are here are really, for 1993 standards,

are really awesome. No, they're okay. They're

it's it's it's not an action movie. So, you know

Well, right movie so it's it's a it's a thrill

I mean you you could be fooled into thinking

it's a mission impossible movie with all the

running he does But yeah, no, absolutely like

and I mean I get it This is stupid and I know

it's stupid But by the time he was in cocktail

in 88 to the time he's in the firm in 93 I know

that's what five years difference if I'm doing

my math, right 8 to 13 or eight to nine whatever

you know what I mean it's whatever yeah like

he seems younger in the firm than he did in cocktail

even though he's older he's got this weird Dorian

Gray thing going on where he just gets younger

and younger every year yep absolutely also like

I just randomly clicked on a thing and I didn't

realize this that the guy I keep calling limpy

Other assassin that's Dean Norris. He's a Hank

from Breaking Bad Yeah, love that guy. Someone

would have rightfully yelled at us for like missing

that. Yeah for not mentioning Dean Norris. Absolutely

Love that dude. He's awesome. He was in a bunch

of other I mean, obviously he's been in a bunch

of stuff, but let's see here Yeah, he's called

the squat man in this movie. Yes. Oh my god.

He was in police academy six city under siege

I didn't even recognize him in Lethal Weapon

2, but he's in that. Total Recall, Gremlins 2,

The New Batch, Desperate Hours, Terminator 2,

Judgment Day, he was the SWAT team leader. Well,

Terminator, whatever. Yeah, but I mean like,

he was wearing a baklava in Terminator 2, okay,

oh my god, I can't believe I didn't, I can't

believe like two decades before he had his big

break, I didn't recognize him. as a random SWAT

guy in a movie. But I mean, some of those random

guys and gals and stuff, they stand out sometimes.

Sometimes. You know, he's got credits in movies

that I didn't even remember him being. Like,

literally, when I hear Dean Norris, that's the

first thing I think of is Breaking Bad. That's

the first thing I think of. But he was a guard

in Money Train. Money Train is the one with Wesley

and Woody. Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson from

95. He's in Gattaca with Ethan Hawke. He's in

Starship Troopers. He's in The Negotiator. Like,

I mean, he was in The Cell. I think that was

a Jennifer Lopez thing. Yeah, that was the one

with Jennifer Lopez. The guy whose name I always

forget. He's a serial killer, and she's hooked

up to his dream machine. It's weird. Or it's

her dream machine. She's hooked up to his mind.

Yeah, Vince. Oh, I didn't know Vincent. Yeah,

I didn't know. I can never remember. I think

he's a very good actor, actually. Yep, yep, yep.

And then, like I said, the TV credits is I didn't

realize he was Father Jerry Downey in NYPD Blue

for three episodes. No, I didn't remember that

either. Yeah, but Dean Norris got to love that

guy. He's an awesome actor. Yeah, I didn't even

recognize him in in the firm. No, I was just

he was just limpy Yeah, he was just there. Absolutely

or the squat guy apparently as the character

was named What? How is he? Maybe a brother. Okay,

so he's got a credit here for this year in 2024

law and order organized crime, which is the Chris

Maloney spin -off of SVU, whatever it says he's

Randall Stabler He's gonna be playing that recurring

role season four and I need to I need to read

up on law and order because I I do not know who

the hell that is But uh, but yeah folks the firm

I suggest the book I will suggest the movie but

i'm as much as I love the movie and I love the

experience of watching the movie I probably want

to give it a four and a half I would give the

movie a four. It's well done. It's interesting.

I don't know that it's the perfect movie, so

it's a four. It's a good score. Yeah, absolutely.

All right, folks, we're gonna go to a quick podcast

ad break. You're gonna hear some podcast ads

and some of the stuff, and we will come back

to close the show right after this. Well, unfortunately,

Mitch... Let me ask you something. Are you out

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google search CaptainRugglesGaming. It's game

time and I'll see you, but on the battlefield.

Hey Jared, I have this idea for a new show for

the network Yeah, what is it? You know how I

liked the 1990s comic book series the new warriors

Yeah, yes. Yes. Mm -hmm. Yep, and you know how

at the long boss crusade. We're trying to get

the YouTube channel going Yes, yes also correct.

Well, thanks so How about you and me do a livestream

show about the new warriors? You've never read

the books before, and I have them, so that's

a great setup. We could give it a catchy name,

like, Come Out to Play. Don't you think that's

the greatest idea? Sure, sure, sure, Delvin,

that's a great idea. Just one question. Yeah?

Why do you have me dangling off this ledge, holding

me by only one arm? Oh, yeah. Well, you'll get

it soon. I hope Come out to play a new Warriors

podcast comes to you live on YouTube every second

Tuesday of the month at 8 p .m Eastern on the

long box crusade channel If you can't watch it

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out to play Hello, everyone. This is JD from

the In Session Film Podcast. Each week we review

the latest from Hollywood, California. Well,

yes, Brendan, we also give top three lists. OK,

yeah. Thanks again, Brendan. Additionally, you

can hear us talk other movie news, trailers,

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related topics and even rants and raves of the

week. On top of our main show, every Friday,

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can listen to the In Session Film podcast on

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.com. Listen to the In Session Film podcast every

Monday and Friday. Subscribe today and hear me

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Here at Lyrically Audacious, we turn just about

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and at johnreedscomics .com. See you then. Hi,

welcome to Upnerd. What is Upnerd? Upnerd is

a podcasting network of shows hosted by me, The

Uneven Flow. People have told me I like to talk

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Fine You Pick, a show where one host picks a

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the next episode, the other host picks the movie.

Each show will have a breakdown of why it is

that movie was picked by that host, after which

will be a discussion about what it is we just

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3. Similarly to Fine New Pick, one host picks

a television series and the next week the pick

alternates to the other host. Here the episodes

of the show are chosen by the Top 3 episodes

and the Bottom 3 episodes, as rated on IMDb .com.

Yes, this is probably the worst way to watch

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I'm your lawyer gentlemen. Alright folks, we're

back here inside studio 2009 episode 120 We've

got 11 to go to hit 31 days 31 podcasts. Can

I make it? I don't know because I don't know

I'm a little worried about you honestly You know,

I'm not complaining I'm just saying there's something

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We've made it to this so far. I hope everyone's

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