The Rainmaker (DVD, 1998, Widescreen)

Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) is fresh out of Memphis State Law School in this adaptation of John Grisham's powerhouse novel. He falls into a number of cases which the movie deals with, but the most important is the case of Donny Ray Black, who is dying of leukemia. Donny has an individual health insurance policy but has been denied a bone marrow transplant over and over by Great Benefit Insurance Company because they say that this type of transplant is experimental and NOT COVERED. Donny's mother, Dot Black, (played by Mary Kay Place), has a letter written to her by the insurance company which accuses her of being stupid, stupid, stupid. This along with testimony by a fired employee of the insurance company, Jackie Lemancyzk (Virginia Madsen) makes your blood boil; she testifies that all initial claims were to be DENIED according to the insurance company policy manual. And finally, the CEO of the company (Roy Scheider)has to read from the policy manual that bone marrow transplants are to be allowed because they are now cost effective.

The insurance company relies on the fact that most people would not seek legal help. And too, most people will just let it go when a big company tells them NOT COVERED! The highly paid defense lawyer Leo Drummond (John Voight) tries to overwhelm Rudy with legal magic tricks and smoke and mirrors, but a favorable judge (Danny Glover) bends over backwards to help Rudy as an inexperienced lawyer. But there is one final irony in the movie that you will have to see to believe.

In a second subplot of the movie, Rudy meets Kelly Ryker(Clare Danes) as he chases ambulances at the local hospital. She is a very badly abused housewife whom he tries to help and ends up killing her husband in a domestic showdown.

In a third subplot, Rudy helps his elderly landlady draft her will.

This movie review would not be complete without mentioning Rudy's assistant Deck Schifflet (Danny De Vito) in a great role for him. He was a master at finding the right legal precedent and legal reference in the Tennessee Code and source for objections during the trial. As an almost midget, he provided some comic relief but made the difference many times as Rudy was so inexperienced.

This movie needs to be seen now as never before. We are in an era of health care manipulation by big insurance companies with many highly paid employees and with many other people in this country having no insurance because of cost and pre-existing conditions. You will forever be haunted by the face of Donny Ray Black dying of leukemia as he was filmed for the trial and with great pain announcing that he was denied coverage for the procedure that would save his life.

The book on which this movie is based was my favorite John Grisham novel. While the movie is not as good as the book, it hit a bullseye in what Mr. Grisham was trying to say and entertained us too. It is a winner!

Very compelling work. One of Matt Damon's best performances. Almost made me want to pursue law myself. Danny Devito and John Voight play a tremendous role in the movie as well. Great work, highly recommended.

This is a very interesting movie about a young lawyer who becomes an ambulance chaser due to his lack of experience. You will find a terrific cast of characters in this movie along with excellent directorship by Francis Ford Coppola. A great movie to keep in your collection. Learn about insurance companies as well!

I was hoping the star-studded cast would be able to pull it off, but if you've read the book, half the story never made it to film. BIG chunks of the story are left out. Maybe if I hadn't read the book first, I would've enjoyed it more? Of a 5-star rating system, I give it 2stars. Too much was left on the cutting room floor.

One of Grisham's best! Matt Damon is great! Great acting by entire cast. Excellent movie! Right up there with THE FIRM!