History Film / TheFirm

[[caption-width-right:295:"[[ShoutOut They made him an offer he ''should have'' refused.]]"]]

--> '''Mitch''': It's [[BoringYetPractical not sexy, but it's got teeth!]] Ten thousand dollars and five years in prison. That's ten and five for each act. Have you really looked at that? You've got every partner in the firm on overbilling. There's two hundred-fifty acts of documented mail fraud there. That's racketeering! That's ''minimum:'' 1250 years in prison and half a million dollars in fines. That's more than you had on [[AlCapone Capone]].

Mitch [=McDeere=] (Cruise) is a recent Harvard Law graduate who is offered a prestigious position as a litigator at the law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke, headed by co-founder Oliver Lambert (Hal Holbrook), and soon finds himself showered with gifts, money and a new car. At the same time, he strikes up a friendship with senior partner Avery Tolar (Gene Hackman) and begins to learn the ins and outs of the law field. Mitch and his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) are living the good life - until two associates who worked with the firm are mysteriously murdered. Unaware of what's going on, Mitch is contacted by the FBI, headed by Agent Wayne Tarrance (Ed Harris), and told that the firm is a corrupt group of lawyers with [[AmoralAttorney massive influence]] and connections to the [[TheMafia mob]]. Faced with the prospect of losing his career and his wife, and with more people being murdered, Mitch realizes the only way he'll get out alive is to follow his own plan.

* BaldofEvil: Wayne Tarrance, arguably.

* Sir-not-appearing-in-this-trailer: Gene Hackman wasn't in any of the promotional materials. In fact audiences were shocked when he showed up.

** At one point, Mitch says (in regards to Tarrance's threats that Mitch must cooperate) that "They don't run me, and you don't run me," a reference to a line spoken by JamesCaan in 1981's ''Thief'', which featured a hitman facing similar circumstances.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Avery Tolar, by suicide.

* ChekhovsSkill: When Avery Tolar first meets Mitch near the beginning, he makes it very clear that all lawyers should keep a careful eye on what they bill a client, and tells Mitch to remember it well. It comes back at the end of the film when Mitch defrauds the firm by making it look like they overbilled all of their clients (including the mobsters).

--> '''Mitch''': It's [[BoringYetPractical not sexy, but it's got teeth!]] Ten thousand dollars and five years in prison. That's ten and five for each act. Have you really looked at that? You've got every partner in the firm on overbilling. There's two hundred-fifty acts of documented mail fraud there. That's racketeering! That's '''minimum:''' 1250 years in prison and half a million dollars in fines. That's more than you had on [[AlCapone Capone]].

* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Mitch successfully ensnares the firm by using lawyer-client privilege to reach an agreement with the Morolito mob while proving every legal partner was guilty of overbilling their clients, thus allowing him to keep his status as a lawyer.

* XanatosGambit: Mitch pulls off a beautiful one by the film's climax.

A [[Series/TheFirm television series based on the film]] began airing in January 2012 on {{NBC}}, and was developed by Entertainment One Productions. The plot picks up [[TimeSkip ten years]] after the events of the movie, with Mitch (played by Josh Lucas) and his family deciding to leave the FBI's Witness Protection Program in order to "take back their lives". After he attempts to start his own law firm in Washington, [=McDeere=] is solicited by a bigger firm, Kinross & Clark, who brings him onboard as a litigator. At the same time, the son of one of the mob bosses indicted as a result of Mitch's actions a decade before swears vengeance on the attorney and his family.

** The film's tagline is one to ''TheGodfather''.

!!'''The 2012 television series provides examples of:'''

* ContinuityLockout: The pilot episode dispenses with most of the {{Expospeak}} and assumes viewers have seen the 1993 film or read the novel.
* NewJobEpisode: The pilot episode. Mitch is attempting to run a small law firm out of the back of a travel office before getting integrated with a bigger law firm by the episode's end.
* {{Rewrite}}: In the film, Mitch severed his ties with the firm without revealing the mob's involvement (and specifically told the head of the Morolito family that he had saved them from being ripped off for millions as a result). The series changes the story so that the Morolito heads were imprisoned as a result of the investigation, with the son of one of the mobsters swearing revenge on Mitch after his father's death.
** This is actually a rewrite of a rewrite. In the novel, Mitch and Abby end up in lifelong exile in the Caribbean.
* TheScrappy: In-universe. Mitch's fledgling firm is considered to be this by every other law firm in the Washington area. Kinross & Clark brings him in for ulterior reasons.
* StartMyOwn: Mitch starts his own firm in the pilot episode, only to integrate into Kinross & Clark.
* TimeSkip: The television series takes place a decade after the events of the film.
* WitnessProtection: It is revealed that Mitch and his family were under protection from the Feds for the past decade, and have only emerged at the beginning of the series.

A television series based on the film began airing in January 2012 on {{NBC}}, and was developed by Entertainment One Productions. The plot picks up [[TimeSkip ten years]] after the events of the movie, with Mitch (played by Josh Lucas) and his family deciding to leave the FBI's Witness Protection Program in order to "take back their lives". After he attempts to start his own law firm in Washington, [=McDeere=] is solicited by a bigger firm, Kinross & Clark, who brings him onboard as a litigator. At the same time, the son of one of the mob bosses indicted as a result of Mitch's actions a decade before swears vengeance on the attorney and his family.

* {{Rewrite}}: In the movie, Mitch and Abby get to drive away from the firm (and Memphis) [[spoiler:without exposing the firm's ties to organized crime.]] In the novel, [[spoiler:after Mitch ''does expose'' the firm's ties to the mob,]] he and Abby get to spend their lives in exile sailing a yacht around the Caribbean.

* {{Rewrite}}: In the movie, Mitch and Abby [[spoiler:get to drive away from the firm (and Memphis) without exposing the firm's ties to organized crime.]] In the novel, [[spoiler:after Mitch ''does expose'' the firm's ties to the mob, he and Abby get to spend their lives in exile sailing a yacht around the Caribbean.]]

''The Firm'' is a 1993 legal thriller, based off the 1991 novel by JohnGrisham, starring Tom Cruise as a young attorney who gets in over his head when he begins working for a law firm with many secrets.

A television series based on the film began airing in January 2012 on {{NBC}}, and was developed by Entertainment One Productions. The plot picks up [[TimeSkip ten years]] after the events of the movie, with Mitch and his family deciding to leave the FBI's Witness Protection Program in order to "take back their lives". After he attempts to start his own law firm in Washington, [=McDeere=] is solicited by a bigger firm, Kinross & Clark, who brings him onboard as a litigator. At the same time, the son of one of the mob bosses indicted as a result of Mitch's actions a decade before swears vengenace on the attorney and his family.

* TheScrappy: In-universe. Mitch's fledgling firm is considered to be this by Kinross & Clark.