The Rainmaker

The Rainmaker is a 1997 American legal drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on John Grisham's 1995 novel of the same title. It stars Matt Damon, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Mary Kay Place, Mickey Rourke, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Roy Scheider, Virginia Madsen, and Teresa Wright in her final film role. Plot Unlike most of his fellow graduates of the University of Memphis Law School, Rudy Baylor has no high-paying job lined up and has to apply for part-time positions while serving drinks at a Memphis bar. Desperate for a job, he meets the bar's owner, J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone, who is also a ruthless but successful ambulance chaser, who hires Rudy as an associate. To get paid by Bruiser, associates pay their way by finding cases and working them up for trial. Rudy responds saying he has cases, including an insurance bad faith matter he boasts could be worth several million in damages. Interested in the case, Bruiser introduces Rudy to office paralegal Deck Shifflet, a former insurance adjuster of questionable ethics. While showing Rudy around the office Deck tells him he failed the bar exam six times. However, Bruiser employs him because he is resourceful, finds cases, is adept at gathering information, and because his prior work experience in the insurance industry means he knows how to go after them.