The Rainmaker (1997 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



 "How do you know when a lawyer is lying?

"His lips are moving."

 

"What's the difference between a hooker and a  lawyer?

The hooker will stop screwing you after you're dead."

 

"Everybody loves lawyer jokes, especially lawyers.

They're even sort of proud of them.

Why do you suppose that is?"

 

~(Rudy Baylor)~

 

 

"Every lawyer, at least once in every case,

feels himself crossing a line he doesn't really mean to cross.  It just happens.

And if you cross it enough times,

it disappears forever

and then

you're nothing but another lawyer joke. 

Just another shark in the dirty water."

 

~(Rudy Baylor)~

The Rainmaker (1997 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Rainmaker is a 1997 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon. Coppola wrote the script, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham.

Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Roy Scheider, Mickey Rourke, Virginia Madsen and Mary Kay Place also star. This was the final film appearance of Academy Award-winning actress Teresa Wright.

Plot

 

Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) is a graduate of the University of Memphis Law School. Unlike most of his fellow grads, he has no high-paying employment lined up and is forced to apply for part-time positions while serving drinks at a Memphis bar.

Desperate for a job, he reluctantly goes to an interview with J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone (Mickey Rourke), a ruthless but successful personal injury lawyer, who makes him an associate. To earn his fee, Rudy is turned into a veritable ambulance chaser, required to hunt for potential clients at a local hospital.

 

(jump to ending)

 

It is a great triumph for Rudy and Deck, at least until Keeley attempts to flee the country and Great Benefit declares itself bankrupt, thus allowing it to avoid paying punitive damages to the Blacks, as well as any future judgments in class-action lawsuits. There is no payout for the grieving parents and no fee for Rudy or Deck. Dot Black expresses satisfaction that at least they put Great Benefit out of business and is now unable to hurt other families like hers.

Convinced his success will create unrealistic expectations for future clients, Rudy abandons his practice to instead teach law with a focus on ethical behavior instead.  He leaves the legal profession after just one successful case.

 

***

 

The biggest shock of my life happened right out of veterinary school. 

 

Immediately,

first job as an associate veterinarian at Bird Road Animal Hospital located Miami, Florida,

Dr. Deriso began trying to teach me the way veterinary medicine works in the real world; 

treating the client, not the patient, being the number one rule. 

You feel them out and tell them what they want to hear.

 

That's how you keep them coming back.

 

One day he even went so far to fault me:

 

"You have this need to be...

Honest!" 

 

Believing this to just be him, moved on after one year to a job in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

Over the years, roaming from job to job,  learned this attitude to be the norm...

not the exception.

 

However,

now realize the clients themselves are just as responsible for veterinarians giving up trying

and

switching to just surviving life itself.

 

Now,

if clients have the income to have their pets referred to veterinary specialists where human quality medicine is practiced from the start, such as Georgia Veterianary Specialist here in Atlanta, Georgia, 

without having to ask for a payment plan,

then that's a different story.

 

But...

it's up to the lay veterinarians to suffer the stress of sorting out those clients who can afford to be referred and those who can not.  The communications can be very complicated and difficult leading to misunderstandings; the lay veterinarians get stuck with.

 

It's the lay veterinarians who have huge accounts receivables, or writting off expenses outright;

 not the veterinary specialists.

 

As one client told me:

 

"I have many bills to pay...and to be honest...the vet's bill is the lowest of my priorities."