Readers are usually disappointed when a favorite book is translated to film. If you are looking for a Grisham thriller here, you will be disappointed. But, if you are looking for a courtroom drama with a great cast, then this is a great film.

Matt Damon shines as Rudy, recently out of law school, who sets up an office with Deck Schifflet (Danny DeVito) who is still trying to pass his bar exam. He also finds a place to stay with Miss Birdie (Teresa Wright) who has hired him to handle her estate papers.

Rudy is drawn to the plight of Kelly (Claire Danes),a working-class girl whose husband has battered her with a baseball bat. But the real drama is centered on Great Benefit, an insurance company that has refused to pay a claim of one of its policy holders.

Dot Black (Mary Kay Place) whose son is dying of leukemia is suing the company for denying her claim. In the courtroom, the unpolished Rudy is forced to square off against Leo F. Drummond (Jon Voight),a corporate lawyer who knows all the tricks of the trade. This David versus Goliath battle is well worth watching.

Damon, De Vito and Voight, along with Claire Danes and Danny Glover shine in this film.

So, forget the book and enjoy a great film.

One of my favorite films of the last decade of the last century is The Rainmaker. It kind of got lost in the wake of all the fuss over Good Will Hunting and the joint Oscar Matt Damon and Ben Affleck took home for that original effort, but I'm a big fan of this up to date Frank Capra like courtroom drama.

The Rainmaker was a studio project as opposed to Good Will Hunting and it has an impressive cast list to support Matt Damon as newly minted attorney Rudy Baylor taking on a big insurance company in a big civil lawsuit. Jon Voight, Virginia Madsen, Bruce Willis, Danny Glover, Dean Stockwell, Roy Scheider, are all in this. Cast wise it is as impressive as that film adaption of that other John Grisham novel, The Firm, also by the way set in Memphis, Tennessee.

But I think that the supporting cast member that really makes the whole film work is Danny DeVito. Dec Shifflet, para lawyer extraordinaire who hasn't come around to passing the bar exam, is absolutely sensational as the street smart legal eagle without a license whose street smarts are some of the best ever put on the screen. How he was overlooked in the Oscar sweepstakes in 1997 is beyond me.

The Rainmaker marked the film farewell for Teresa Wright who plays Mrs. Birdsong, Matt Damon's landlady. Matt cuts Teresa's lawn on the weekend and writes her will in his spare time. By the way, check the scene where he handles Teresa's inquisitive son. Matt wasn't totally without street smarts himself.

The main plot is involving the suit of a young man, dying of leukemia, who is suing his medical insurance carrier because they would not approve the treatment needed to save him. It's a story that Frank Capra would have jumped on during his career. Young idealistic attorney takes on insurance company in his first trial. The insurance company and their hired legal guns headed by Jon Voight.

As you watch Damon in court you see the faint shadow and hear the faint echo of Gary Cooper or James Stewart. But even those guys had some help from the Danny DeVitos back then. Good to have at least one savvy rogue on your side.

The Rainmaker is good courtroom drama and there isn't a player going that doesn't want one of those. And here Matt Damon got it in what was his first starring role. How better to begin a career.

Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) is fresh out of law school. He has no family, or any connections. He starts to work for notorious lawyer Bruiser Stone (Mickey Rourke),and with street smart Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito) who can't pass the bar. They take on a case against a health insurance company who refuses a claim from a seriously sick boy. Meanwhile, he falls for Kelly Riker (Claire Danes) who is in constant fear of her abusive husband.

This is a simple David vs Galioth story from the pen of John Grisham and the directing skills of Francis Ford Coppola. There are big time talents involve in this. Matt Damon is superb in the boyish charm department. Danny DeVito likewise is superb. The acting in this movie is top notch. However the Claire Danes battered wife storyline is too simple and too separate. It doesn't really connect with the rest of the movie. The romance seems to be sidelined in importance and short shrifted. It needs more attention. On the other hand, the courtroom drama has good fun and good tension.