The Rainmaker
An idealistic young lawyer and his cynical partner take on a powerful law firm representing a corrupt insurance company.
- Director:Joseph Anthony
- Genre:Comedy / Romance / Thriller / Western
- Runtime:121 minutes
Cast
Matt Damon : Rudy Baylor
Danny DeVito : Deck Shifflet
Claire Danes : Kelly Riker
Jon Voight : Leo F. Drummond
Mary Kay Place : Dot Black
Rudy Baylor is a graduate of the University of Memphis Law School. Unlike most of his fellow grads, he has no high-paying job lined up and is forced to apply for part-time positions while serving drinks at a Memphis bar.
Desperate for a job, he reluctantly is introduced to J. Lyman “Bruiser” Stone, a ruthless but successful ambulance-chasing lawyer, who makes him an associate. To earn his fee, Rudy is required to hunt for potential clients at a local hospital. He meets Deck Shifflet, a less-than-ethical former insurance assessor, now a paralegal who has failed the bar exam six times. However, Deck is resourceful in gathering information and practically an expert on insurance lawsuits.
Rudy has just one case, one of insurance bad faith. It could be worth several million dollars in damages, but his personal life is falling to pieces and he is about to declare himself bankrupt. When his employer is raided by the police and the FBI, he and Deck set up a practice themselves. They file suit on behalf of a middle-aged couple, Dot and Buddy Black, whose 22-year-old son Donny Ray is dying of leukemia, but could have been saved with a bone marrow transplant, denied by their insurance carrier Great Benefit.
Rudy passes the Tennessee bar exam but has never argued a case before a judge and jury. Now he finds himself up against a group of experienced and devious lawyers from a large firm, headed by Leo F. Drummond, a showman attorney who uses unscrupulous tactics to win his cases.
The original judge assigned the case, Harvey Hale, is set to dismiss it because he sees it as one of many so-called “lottery” cases that slow down the judicial process. But a far more sympathetic judge, Tyrone Kipler, takes over when Hale suffers a fatal heart attack in his swimming pool. Kipler, a former civil rights attorney, immediately denies the insurance company’s petition for dismissal.
While preparing his case, Rudy seeks new clients and meets pretty Kelly Riker, a battered wife whose husband Cliff’s savage beatings have put her in hospital. He persuades Kelly to file for divorce, but this leads to a confrontation with Rudy that results in the abusive husband’s death. To keep Rudy from being implicated, Kelly tells the police she was alone and killed her husband in self-defense. The district attorney declines to prosecute her. Read more
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