Rewatchables Reference

• The entire chase sequence when Cruise discovers the firm is onto him – he goes into Hackman's office to get files, Holbrook confronts him, Brimley comes in, Ed Harris calls, and then it's Tom Cruise running through Memphis. One of the best 15-minute sequences of the '90s.
• Cruise guessing his own salary during the job interview – one of the only scenes where we see his intellect at work.
• The Sonny Capps scene in the Grand Cayman with Jerry Weintraub.

• The Dave Grusin piano score – constantly adding humor, melancholy, and romance. Nominated for an Oscar. The score completely changes the character of the movie and is unlike anything else.
• The casting of character actors who went on to bigger things: Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), Tobin Bell (Saw), Terry Kinney (Oz, Billions), Margo Martindale (Emmy-winning career).
• Memphis as a setting – they use the city in a non-stereotypical way that gives the movie a fading Southern metropolis vibe.
• Peak Tom Cruise – this is a perfect example of '90s Cruise as the biggest movie star in the world.

• The runtime – 2 hours and 35 minutes is at least 20-30 minutes too long.
• The beach scene where Cruise cheats on his wife could have been 10 seconds.
• Tom Cruise doing backflips on the streets of Memphis. Nobody in real life has ever spontaneously done back handsprings on a sidewalk.
• Tom Cruise eating a rib from the top like a popsicle at the rooftop party.
• Jeanne Tripplehorn's plan to just fly to the Cayman Islands – how did she know what hotel he was at? You can't just go to the airport and say 'Grand Cayman, please.'

• Jason Patric turned down the role of Mitch McDeere – two years later he'd appear in Speed 2: Cruise Control.
• Sydney Pollack wanted to gender-flip Gene Hackman's role and cast Meryl Streep, but John Grisham objected.
• Robin Wright turned down the Abby role taken by Jeanne Tripplehorn.
• Halle Berry auditioned for the role of the young woman on the beach (Karina Lombard).

• Wilford Brimley as William Devasher – the Quaker Oats guy turned terrifying head of security. 'Not just screwing, Mitch. Two kinds of intimate acts. Oral and whatnot.' He's his own planet in this movie.
• Runner-up: Jerry Hardin as Royce McKnight – was literally in every single thing for 20 years. Deep Throat on The X-Files.

Gary Busey as Eddie Lomax – coming off 'Point Break', trying to reinvent himself as a crazy character actor. This is when the wheels started coming off. He's one of the worst parts of the movie.

• Gene Hackman hasn't been in a movie since 2004's Welcome to Mooseport. He's been retired in New Mexico riding electric bikes. They accidentally 'killed' Gene Hackman at Grantland when a headline made it seem like he had died.
• Quentin Tarantino wanted Hackman to play the Robert Forster role in Jackie Brown. He turned it down.
• Jeanne Tripplehorn was in a six-year relationship with Ben Stiller during this movie.
• There was a TV series called The Firm in 2012 that lasted one season.

• Wilford Brimley – his most iconic non-Quaker Oats role. Though Cocoon and The Natural are strong competitors.
• Jeanne Tripplehorn – 'Basic Instinct' was her first movie, then she's Tom Cruise's wife in a gigantic hit. This was her peak before Waterworld happened.
• Holly Hunter – she had The Firm and The Piano in the same year, though 'Broadcast News' and Raising Arizona are strong competitors.
• John Grisham – three of the top six bestseller spots, a Tom Cruise movie, and seven more adaptations coming.

• The entire premise doesn't make sense – Mitch is supposed to be a crackerjack Harvard lawyer but never asks who the firm's clients are or how it makes its money.
• The FBI has been investigating the firm for four years, but nobody at Harvard has heard about it.
• Ed Harris and another FBI agent order steak sandwiches to go at 3 AM and they're ready in 35 seconds.
• Avery Tolar (Hackman) just rolls over and tells Abby everything after being drugged – the whole plan to get him to flip relies on extremely convenient circumstances.

• Did Tom Cruise kick Wilford Brimley to death? He was definitely not allowed to play in the NFL the following week.
• Did Gene Hackman's character actually die or kill himself?
• What happens to Lamar (Terry Kinney)? He's introduced as a big character and then just vanishes.
• What's the best John Grisham movie? The Firm, 'A Time to Kill', or The Client?

• Dave Grusin's score – the piano score is what makes the movie stand out 25 years later. It gives the film a feel unlike anything else and would never be done this way anymore.
• Strong cases for Cruise, Brimley, Hackman, Grisham, and Pollack.