Sydney Pollack’s 1993 lawyer-suspense flick, The Firm, accomplished much more than sending audiences a warning about devious law firms. The brainwashing Memphis law firm at the center of the plot takes advantage of its clients and associates, through practices of duplicity, manipulation, and deceitfulness. The Firm, based on the best selling novel by John Grisham, entails an underlying purpose of opening the public eye to the possibilities of a government that is not always "for the people" because it can and will cheat its people. The film’s main purpose may be blockbuster entertainment to some people, but Grisham’s story line also relays recurring, subtler messages that downplay the idealization of lawyer lifestyle and bash the myths of the glorified law profession. The way in which The Firm’s messages are conveyed and its purposes fulfilled is through the simple act of conversation.
The themes of deceitful government and lawyer idealization are evident shortly into the movie. Mitch McDeere, a young, ambitious, money-thirsty man, is the firm’s latest associate. During a seemingly humdrum scene, a lunch conversation between Mitch and his mentor, Avery Tolar, the film’s purposes surface. Though Avery’s reasons for studying law, his yearning for golf games and long tan legs, fit the stereotype of unfeeling, money-loving, womanizing lawyers, Mitch’s reason did not fit a stereotype. In truth, Mitch did have a deep desire for wealth, but he confessed that the stimulus for his law practice was "what the government can do--to anybody." The lunch scene encompasses the movie’s messages into one limited conversation. The exchange is followed by an ironic observation by Mitch that they are apparently not a couple of idealists. Mitch’s observation is not ironic in that it is false, but that it knocks down the stereotype of idealist lawyers.
Another instance where words play a vital role in understanding many themes is when Mitch and his wife, Abby, find out from friends Lamar and Kay that two of the firm’s lawyers have been killed. "There’s been an a--- Marty Kozinski and Joe Hodges were killed," Kay sputters upon the McDeere’s arrival. She had begun to explain that the cause of the men’s death was a boat explosion in the Cayman Islands, but by omitting the word "accident" and using the word "killed," she clues the audience in to some underhanded actions that might be taking place in the utopian firm. Unfortunately, Mitch and Abby are still too blinded to let a strange formulation of speech spoil their brainwashed view of the firm.
From the beginning of the film, Abby was slightly suspicious of the silver-coated benefits Mitch was receiving. After their encounter with Lamar and Kay, Abby pointed out that Kay had seemed more scared than sad about the lawyers’ deaths. To backtrack even further, Abby thought the firm was "weird" before Mitch had accepted his recruitment. The audience learns that Bendini, Lambert, and Locke is a "small Memphis firm, but a large family," which is later revealed to incorporate the Moralto family, or the Mafia. She also views the firm as odd for several other reasons. Its associates are "all white, all male, all married." For women, "working isn’t forbidden," and "the firm encourages children because it promotes stability."
The audience is made suspicious throughout Mitch’s recruitment. Bendini, Lambert, and Locke "keeps each other’s secrets," a practice similar to the Mafia’s "code of silence." Both regard silence and secrets as "the social glue that keeps Italian-American mobsters," or law firms, "and their associates and families together" (Goldberg). A firm that offers a low-interest mortgage rate, pays off student loans, and bids a salary of twenty percent higher than the highest offer thus far, is almost always too good to be true. Immediately after the scene in which Abby agrees to move to Memphis, the audience is dropped in on a meeting between the partners, where the first mention of Chicago, home to the Mafia, is thrown to the audience. In this informative conversation, Bendini, Lambert, and Locke also discuss the elimination of the two lawyers they suspect are working against them: "Have you talked to Chicago?" "I have. It’s not good. We’re gonna have to do something." The partners also mention Abby’s phone calls from the hotel, which makes the audience aware that their phones are tapped. These pieces of evidence all reflect on the theme of law corporations as conspirators, manipulators, and people who take over your life.
There are other subtle hints, intended for the audience, whose purpose is to inform the audience and allow them to realize deception before the McDeeres do. Mitch’s first day at the job is greeted by a shutting door that reads "Kozinski" and hides men searching through files. While the name Kozinski means nothing to Mitch, the audience has already been dropped in a scene where Kozinski’s elimination had been discussed.
Another crucial part of the plot’s development through conversation was when the F. B. I. visited Mitch at the coffee shop. They conveniently dropped firm statistics to Mitch to make him start wondering about things. They spoke of four dead lawyers in less than ten years, all being under the age of forty-five. Their purpose was fulfilled, because in the next scene Mitch is caught viewing portraits of the dead lawyers, and later he looks up their names on the Internet. The F. B. I. serves as one of Mitch’s superiors in the film, and later achieves Jeffrey Brown’s description of the "superior" in the Action-Cop genre. The F. B. I. accomplishes their role by telling the hero, Mitch, to "butt out" (2). The ironic part about Mitch’s F. B. I. "superiors" is that Mitch eventually cuts his own deal, instead of one with the Feds, in order to save his career, salvage his marriage, and not get disbarred. As a result, Mitch "wins his life back," and he warns the audience about a deceptive government agency, completing one of the film’s purposes.
The film’s other purpose, to tear down the idealization of the law career, is completed through Mitch’s words in the final scene. As he and Abby drive back to Boston, Mitch talks of going back to a "small, unknown law firm with a lot of potential." This statement is the final dissipation of the stereotypically rich, big-city, lawyer lifestyle as Mitch realizes its not all glory.
Not all viewers appreciated The Firm’s suspense and clue-dropping conversational tactics. Movie critic David Bromwich who claimed that the dialogue was "rigorously held to four exchanges per bite" (21). One thing critics can agree on that The Firm has going for its transition to the silver screen is its suspenseful method of divulging the ending.
The Firm uses subtle hints in conversation to reveal information that is key to the plot but intended for the eyes and ears of eager audiences. The plot’s inevitable result is presented to the audience one simple conversation at a time. While clues to the deceit at the heart of the firm’s work are made evident to the audience, the characters themselves remain ignorant of their deception. The themes of an ideal- or not so ideal- profession, a scandalous central government, and a corrupt law firm are all revealed through acts of simple conversation.
Bromwich, David. "The Firm." The New Leader. 9 Aug. 1993: 21.