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Two Blokes Talking Tech

Movies: The Firm

09 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the plot of 'The Firm' and who are the main characters?

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I'm going to make them an offer again.

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9.867 - 16.195 Trevor Long

I feel the need. The need for speed.

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He's watched every movie more than once. He's Stephen Fennec.

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21.362 - 23.886 Stephen Fenech

Go ahead. Make my day.

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He's watched the latest Disney movies with his kids. But that's about it. He's Trevor Long.

35.89 - 42.4 Stephen Fenech

You talking to me?

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Together, they bring you the best movies you've never seen.

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Have a look for you.

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I will find you. And I will kill you. Rent BioStream the latest and greatest movies on fetch. Watch on a big screen Hisense TV. Say hello to my little friend! The best movies you've never seen. The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. With Steven Fenwick and Trevor Long. This is the captain. Brace for impact.

Chapter 2: How does Tom Cruise's character navigate his new job at the law firm?

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We're talking about the early 90s, late 80s, early 90s. And this was a phenomenal bestseller. It sort of was a – it was a story because – it was a story because he was a lawyer. John Grisham was obviously a lawyer and just tinkered away with this novel. had written one before this called A Time to Kill, which would eventually become a massive bestseller because of this.

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And this kind of put him on the map. And so there was a lot of buzz around this when they said, oh, they're going to make a movie. Tom Cruise is going to be Mitch McDeer. And the book was so well known that this was massive news. Right. Gene Hackman, interestingly, you look at all the posters and advertising for this film, his name is nowhere to be seen. Oh, right.

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Because his contract said that his name had to come before the title and in all the promotional materials. Tom Cruise's contract called for his name and his name only to come before the titles and all promotional materials.

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208.545 - 208.786 Trevor Long

Oh, my Lord.

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So Hackford thought, who does this bloke think he is? So he said, pull my name off everything. Doesn't want to be on it. Didn't want to be second billing or anything. So he thought, well, I'm not going to be anything. I'm not going to go, who's this young upstart? That's hilarious. And so in the film, his name, though, when the credits, it comes after Cruise.

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I'd love to hear what Gene Hackman... Still before the title, though. It's Tom Cruise now. Do you know what I mean? Like reflecting on who Tom Cruise is now. It's fascinating. One, Ed Harris was in this movie, too. And interestingly... He never really rated the screenplay. He says, yeah, it's all right. But he was friends with Sidney Pollack, the director, and with Tom Cruise.

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He goes, okay, I'll do it. Yeah, right. But I thought his part was pretty good. He did good. This was in 1993, okay? So we're talking the firm's released, but there was another book of his adapted in the same year. which was called The Pelican Brief.

Chapter 3: What are the ethical dilemmas faced by Mitch McDeere in 'The Firm'?

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I've heard of that one. And that starred Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington. Right. So how's that? So they were making it in the same year? Yeah. That's wild. They were released in the same year. So I think Firm came out, I think, first, and then Pelican Brief came out later. But yeah, amazing. Did you have any idea of this movie? You'd heard of it, surely.

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I feel like I've heard of the book because my mum's a big John Grisham reader, big book reader. So I feel like I'd heard of the book. I guess I would have presumed it was a movie. That's it. Righto. The film only took – It made $100 million at the box office and only took 23 days to reach $100 million at the box office. Wow. It was also nominated for two Oscars. Four.

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You tell me who you reckon. Like a supporting role? Supporting actress. Right. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Screenplay? Yeah. No. Music score.

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321.716 - 322.217 Stephen Fenech

Oh, yeah.

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Music was great. The piano was great. Do you know what? I'll tell you this now. What it felt like, it felt like the organist, the pianist, was like playing along live. Do you know what I mean? It did feel a bit like that.

Chapter 4: What role does Gene Hackman play in the movie and how does he influence the plot?

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It just felt like they were just there with you in the room, which goes to the sound system later. But it wasn't like it was just, here's a track, we'll put it here. It was like, hey, just watch this movie and play the piano. Yeah. Well, a lot of movies do that. They have the score. I know, but it didn't feel scripted. It felt like it was just happening. It was like organically part of the movie.

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Did it win either of those? No. The actress nominated was Holly Hunter. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. But get this right. She lost to Anna Paquin, the young girl who was in the film The Piano. It was a Kiwi movie. Ozzie Blake's in it. Geoffrey Rush.

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373.157 - 373.738 Stephen Fenech

No? No, no, no.

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He's not. The Piano? But you're thinking of Shine and he plays the piano in Shine. I was somewhere close. You're in the ballpark. But she lost to Anna Paquin in The Piano. Now – Holly Hunter that year was nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress for The Firm and Best Actress for The Piano, and she won for The Piano that year. Oh, so she won Best Actress for The Piano.

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She won Best Actress, lost Best Supporting Actress on the same night. To her co-star. Yeah, on the same night. That's not a bad person to lose to. Absolutely. So your co-star wins. Yeah, the Best Music Original Score, they lost to Schindler's List, won that one. Okay. Pretty good. Righto, this is your last exit before the freeway. If you haven't seen The Firm, you can catch it on Fetch.

Chapter 5: How does the film depict the legal and moral implications of working for a firm tied to organized crime?

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Fetch is an all-in-one entertainment service. Great value entertainment, more content in just one place, very smart and easy to use. And you can get flexible packs at simple monthly prices to get all the entertainment you need. You can access live TV channels, monthly movies, streaming apps and games on one easy menu and find what you want.

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to watch faster with an intuitive interface and a universal voice search. There's 30 free-to-air channels, 25 lifestyle channels, 11,000 movies, 30 movie box movies to watch every month, all part of your $3.99 subscription every month. And the packs that you can get to watch for a bunch of different channels, there's five different packs, ultimate variety, vibe, knowledge, and kids.

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The individual packs like kids or knowledge, they're eight bucks. It's $8 to add a package on. And for all of them, the ultimate, it's $25. $25 a month for about 40-odd extra channels, which is brilliant value. And of course, then there's the streaming apps.

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And as we've said a million times, if the program that you want to watch, the movie that you want to watch is on the streaming platform that you're already subscribed to, in this case, I watched The Firm on Stan via Fetch. It presented that to me straight away. I didn't have to rent or buy it, even though that was also an option.

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If you want to find out more, if you want to get yourself a Fetch, they're available at major retailers and you can buy them and find out more information at FetchTV.com.au. Rightio, you've now seen The Firm. You watched it on Stan, did you watch Stan? Yes. Okay. And so please share your, definitely the first time you've seen it, so share your first impression.

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You know what I like about this movie is you have no idea what it's about for some time, but it's not boring. Yeah. It's just an engaging story about a young guy graduating and starting a job, coming into the workforce and moving with his wife and all. It's just an engaging story about a character. And then you start to go, hang on a minute, what's going on? And then, oh, hang on.

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So it really draws you through. That I liked a lot because while there are parts that I felt predictable in that I was trying to work out what was going to happen, The general plot line is not predictable at all, and I really enjoyed that. So, yeah, I think it's a great basis for a story. You can see why Grisham's – how many books has he written about legal stuff? Well, they're all about it.

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You know what I mean? You can see why because you can make anything out of anything, which is brilliant. And what's your social media post on that? On this one, Tom Cruise running fast in a movie. Yes, that happens in The Firm, of course, but it's not any sort of action movie. This is a gripping story about a legal firm and a young graduate making his way in a new world.

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Lots of characters to enjoy and a cracking cast too.

Chapter 6: What are the significant plot twists and their impact on the story's climax?

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Yeah, brilliant cast. If I... If I recognise a cast, then it must be good.

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577.313 - 578.376 Trevor Long

Do you know what I mean? Solid.

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I'm a goose. But when I go, hang on a minute, that's Adam Schiff from Law and Order. Or, you know, like when I'm noticing people, I'm like, hang on a minute. Yeah, right. That's cool. That is big. I read the book, as I said. Saw it at the movies because, like I said, this was a massive release because of the hype around the book was massive. The fact that it was being made into a movie.

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I know you're not a massive reader, but as a reader, I'm thinking, I read this book and really enjoyed it. I can't wait to see how they've interpreted it for a movie. I've always wondered that about the book-to-movie transition because – I'm the kind of person. We will discuss if I know the story, why would I want to watch the movie?

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So that's a fascinating take that you want to, you're actually watching it as much because you enjoyed the story, but also because you want to see how they interpret it and how they present it. Exactly right.

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Fascinating.

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See if it matches the picture you had in your head when you were reading it. But more on that later. Book, film, more on that later. Let's talk about the cast. And of course, Tom Cruise plays Mitch McDeer. And we've seen him in Top Gun. Risky Business, Mission Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Minority Report. We've done all of those. Wow. Yeah. With Tom Cruise. He is our number one. He's our man.

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Even Michael Douglas, I think. Michael Douglas had a few as well. That's a job for next week. I might ask AI to do the research for us. Yeah, okay.

Chapter 7: What are the differences between the book and movie adaptations of 'The Firm'?

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Ask Claude. Gene Hackman plays Avery Toler. He was in Superman. The Poseidon Adventure, The French Connection, which we will do, and Crimson Tide. So we've already done Superman, Poseidon Adventure, and Crimson Tide. I'm like, Alex Luthor's here. What's going on? Yeah. Jean Triplehorn. Did you recognize what movie she was from? I feel like... She's in two movies we've done. Oh, really? Yes.

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Because I got... I'll be the brutal male here. She's gorgeous, right? Of course. There's something – there's this stunning natural beauty about just her face, right? And I went, oh, my God, she's gorgeous. And I spent a bit of time thinking about it and then I went, is it that movie that was like on the boat? Waterworld. Waterworld. Yes. Yeah. Did you look that up or you remember that?

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No, because I remember because it was really just her and a little boy and Kevin Costner. That was kind of it. But what are the other movies she was in? No idea. She shows a little bit more of herself. Oh, really? Basic Instinct. Ah, right. Opposite Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone was the other actress. I think Sharon Stone is the only people think about with that movie. Maybe.

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She was also in another movie called Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow. We haven't done that. We will get to it. It has become a lexicon.

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Chapter 8: What lessons can be learned from 'The Firm' regarding ambition and morality?

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Hang on, it's on the list. You know, I've sent you the list of things that are on the list. Mine are on the list. Yeah, it's very long. What I've promised, yeah, thanks, mate. You sent me the list that AI said on. Here's all what Stephen promised. I got AI to listen to every, all 240 episodes we've done and find every instance of Stephen saying, it's on the list. It's on the list.

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And it's a long list. Well, we can't do every, we can't do 10 movies a week. We've got to do it on the list.

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756.233 - 756.513 Stephen Fenech

Anyway.

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You've got to remember, Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Gene Tripple, there's also Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook, who plays the boss of the firm, Ed Harris, Wilford Brimley. Wilford Brimley from Cocoon. Gary Busey. Busey. Remember the investigator? Yeah. David Strathairn, who plays his brother in jail. I don't recognise him. And Stephen Hill from Law and Order. I'm like, what's going on here?

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I'm like, hang on, that's Adam. I'm watching a lot of Law & Order right now, so yeah. I knew you'd recognise him. Righto, before we get to the top scenes, let's have a chat about Hisense. And you know what? It's a new era with their new RGB mini LED TVs. These have brand new backlight technology. So the RGB, which is red, green, blue... These are mini LEDs that now form the backlight of the TV.

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So not only are they creating color, they're also creating the brightness and the result is next level picture quality. You'll see the improvement in the color, in skin tones, the contrast, the whole bit is even better than ever before. It also, it's all run through by the Hi-View AI engine, so controlling all of those backlights as well to create that stunning picture.

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Also on the audio side, it's got 4.1.2 multi-channel surround sound, and available, of course, in several sizes. We're talking about the UR9 series, which is available in 65-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch, and well within the reach of customers who want to experience this amazing new technology. So it's great to watch your movies, to play your games, watch your sport in an all new level of quality.

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Check it out. The Hisense RGB mini LED range in stores now, but you can also check it out at their website, hisense.com.au. Right, yeah, let's jump in here. The start is interesting.

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So we know, we find out that Mitch McDeer, which is Tom Cruise's character, is a Harvard Law graduate, humble background, and he's being scouted by a number of firms before settling on Bendini, Lambert and Locke, which is a boutique firm in Memphis. You think a lot of these graduates that either go to New York or sort of big cities are But he decided on Memphis.

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