Before comics and video games, the biggest IP in Hollywood was books, especially top sellers. Enter John Grisham, a novelist whose latest writing generated as much expectation and anticipation as the last MCU film does now. Studios bought the rights for his thrillers even before they were released, and stars fought to get to be the lead character in the adaptations. Here are the best movies based on John Grisham’s books, ranked.
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7 A Painted House (2003)
Hallmark
A Painted House is a unique book and movie for Grisham, as a semi-autobiographical story explaining his upbringing. As so, it is a less intense and stressful story than most of his writing. The earnest Hallmark TV-movie tells the story of Luke Chandler (a very young Logan Lerman) and his experiences with love and danger when his family hires extra help to farm cotton in 1952. Even though it’s a TV-movie, the cast is pretty well-known: Scott Glenn, Robert Sean Leonard, Pablo Schreiber, and Arija Bareikis.
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6 Runaway Jury (2003)
20th Century Fox
When a stockbroker is gunned down in his office, her widow sues the gun manufacturers. To avoid a bad sentence, the gun manufacturers hire Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman), an expert at picking up favorable juries. His rival is lawyer Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman). Both are surprised when one of the jury members says he can help influence the verdict, and an auction for the jury’s decision starts. Runaway Jury is a dark view of how the judicial system can work, full of twists and turns and with an incredible cast. Not only Hackman and Hoffman, but also John Cusack and Rachel Weisz. Surprisingly, the smart adaptation by Gary Fleder (Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead) bombed at the box office.
Hoffman and Hackman had been roommates in the ’60s before they became famous, and had never worked together before, so the director wrote a scene for them: Hoffman told IGN: “You know what happened in this movie, he was cast before I was because they’re trying to get a movie together. Then, I get cast, and maybe I was one of the last principals to get cast. The director [Gary Fleder] discovers that we knew each other years and years and years ago and hadn’t worked together, and goes back to the writer and says, ‘We don’t have a scene for them together,’
5 The Client (1994)
Warner Bros.
The Client tells the story of an 11-year-old (Brad Renfro) who learns where the body of a murdered senator is buried. Louisiana lawyer Reggie Love (Susan Sarandon), takes care of the kid and protects him from the U.S. attorney trying to destroy him, Roy Foltrigg (Tommy Lee Jones), and the mob. This class-conscious thriller was both a box office and critical success, and earned Sarandon an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. As in most Grisham adaptations, the lead roles are juicy, and both Sarandon and Lee Jones make a meal of them. The cast is full of known actors, from Mary-Louise Parker and Anthony Edwards to Anthony La Paglia, Bradley Whitford, and William H. Macy.
4 The Pelican Brief (1993)
Warner Bros
Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington starred in this conspiracy thriller directed by Alan J. Pakula. Two Supreme Court justices have been assassinated, and when young law student Darby Shaw (Roberts) writes a dissertation that it might be because they were against an oil tycoon, they try to kill her. Only a reporter for the Washington Herald, Gray Grantham (Washington), can help her. The Pelican Brief was a thrilling film full of twists and turns (as most Grisham stories are) that took advantage of its two charismatic stars (it’s one of Washington’s best ’90s movies) at the height of their powers. As with most of the writers’ adaptations, the supporting cast is also stacked: Sam Shepard, Tony Goldwyn, Stanley Tucci, William Atherton, Cynthia Nixon, and John Lithgow also star.
3 A Time To Kill (1996)
Regency Enterprises
A Time To Kill was Grisham’s first book, and after the success of The Firm’s adaptation, it was made into a movie. Both the novel and film tell the story of lawyer Jake Tyler Brigance (Matthew McConaughey in one of his best performances, the one that made him a star). Brigance defends a Black man, Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) after he has killed the men who sexually assaulted his daughter. The lawyer tries to give Hailey a fair trial in a deeply racist southern town, while also being threatened by white supremacists, who even burn his house down. The idea of defending vigilante justice might not be the best, but the courtroom drama had incredible, chill-inducing performances by both McConaughey and Jackson, as well as Sandra Bullock, and Kevin Spacey.
2 The Rainmaker (1997)
Paramount Pictures
This Francis Ford Coppola movie tells the story of a young, pro bono lawyer (Matt Damon), who fights in court against a big insurance company for negligence, after a 22-year-old died of leukemia because the insurance company didn’t pay for his marrow transplant. The Rainmaker was one of Damon’s first leading roles (and one of his best dramatic performances), and he upped his actor game playing against actors of the stature of Danny DeVito, Jon Voight, and Claire Danes. This underdog, idealistic story is one of Grisham’s best adaptations, and incredibly well directed and acted, but was surprisingly a box office failure, as it had everything to succeed.
1 The Firm (1993)
The Firm is Grisham’s greatest movie adaptation ever. It’s also the first that Hollywood did, and the one that opened the gates for all the other films on this list. This legal thriller tells the story of hot shot lawyer, Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise in one of his best dramatic performances) who, after getting hired by one of the biggest firms in Memphis, discovers some of the firm’s darkest secrets. Once McDeere discovers what’s happening, he starts getting threatened and realizes his life is in danger. This thriller was a box office success, and was the reason Grisham became one of the most adapted writers.
The film directed by Sydney Pollack is a stressful, thrilling ride, and also had a great lead role for Cruise and Gene Hackman as the evil lawyer at his firm. Pollack’s direction and an incredible original score (nominated for an Oscar) also helped. As in most of Grisham’s adaptations, The Firm also had great supporting performances by Jeanne Tripplehorn, Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brimley, Ed Harris, David Strathairn, and especially Holly Hunter (who earned an Oscar nomination for her role).
