After making his master pieces ("The godfather I and II" and "Apocalypse now") between 1972 and 1979, Francis Ford Coppola never had the same success with other movie. He directed near a dozen of films in the 80's and 90's, and probably the most acclaimed were "The cotton club" (1984), 'The godfather III" (1990) and his adaptation of Bram Stroker's novel "Dracula" (1992). In 1997 he repeated a formula well known by him: adapt a novel to the big screen. He chose a story about a young lawyer, Rudy Baylor (fairly interpreted by Matt Damon) and his first experiences in the law world. There are four topics I would like to talk about this film, "The rainmaker" (1997). (1) Direction by Coppola. As a filmmaker, he proved that he is still capable of telling stories combining humor, drama and deep emotions. Coppola is very skillful developing his characters and has the ability to select a good cast to work with. Besides Damon (who is OK in his role), the director selected professional and experienced actors to support secondary roles. Mickey Rourke (as the folkloric Bruiser Stone), John Voight (as the big firm partner, Leo Drummond), Dany Glover (as the sympathetic judge), Danny Devito (excellent performance as the almost-lawyer Deck Shifflett) and even in minor roles was supported by good actors like Roy Scheider (Great Benefit CEO), Dean Stockwell (as the corrupt and hard smoker judge Hale) and Virginia Madsen (Jackie Lemanczyk). Other good thing about the director is his ability to move the characters to the exact point where they deliver a solid and convincing acting performance, including young actors in main roles, like Damon, Clare Danes (as the beaten wife) and Johny Withworth (as the young character dying of leukemia). As I mentioned in the title, Coppola is still a good director. (2) The criticism against two major American institutions: lawyers and insurance companies. As always, the poor and low income population is the affected. During the movie we can see what reality is along the "land of opportunities": big institutions and firms don't care about the individuals but for money. Individuals are only the means to get income, nothing more. There are interesting procedures used by the insurance institutions to get the majority of the income with the minimal expense (related with claims and reimbursements). In the other hand, lawyers are radicalized: since the young and idealistic attorney through the experienced and money oriented firm partner. Every lawyer in the movie represents a kind of attorney and the different believes. (3) Stories developed. During the film we follow at least four different sub-plots: the young wife beaten by her husband, the great trial against the insurance company, the tragic tale about a young man dying of leukemia and the old lady and her will. Rudy Baylor is personally involved in the different stories and we are moving from drama to romance, from tragedy to humor. Good combination and balance. (4) Finally, I would like to comment about Danny De Vito's role. With no doubt, is the best developed character of all. He is the responsible of most of the humoristic scenes but at the same time is the key element. He has a lot of connections, experience and non-sensibility manners to get what he wanted. De Vito developed his role with energy and comedy. He is the one that stole the movie for him self.
Hope that Coppola has the opportunity to direct a few more movies like this. If well, "The Rainmaker" is not his best film by far, the picture is a good example of what he is still capable to do. I recommend this picture to see it, discuss it and have a good time.
Hope that Coppola has the opportunity to direct a few more movies like this. If well, "The Rainmaker" is not his best film by far, the picture is a good example of what he is still capable to do. I recommend this picture to see it, discuss it and have a good time.