The Client

On the edge of New Orleans, Mark Sway, a street-smart teenager, stumbles into a national nightmare when he witnesses the apparent suicide of Jerome Clifford, a famed Louisiana attorney tied to the mob. Before dying, Clifford reveals a critical clue about the location of a senator's body, hinting at powerful secrets. Mark's discovery pulls both the FBI and Barry Muldano, known as The Blade, into his orbit; the mob and federal agents quickly sense that the boy knows more than he can tell. Caught between forces and under pressure to protect his younger brother, Mark finds himself negotiating a dangerous minefield where truth and loyalty collide. The tension fuels a cat and mouse chase. Every move is shadowed by danger.

Released in 1994 and directed by Joel Schumacher, The Client adapts John Grisham's courtroom thriller with a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, Robert Getchell and Grisham himself, bringing the author's legal drama to the big screen. It marks a faithful adaptation.

The film cost about $45 million to produce, and it earned $117,615,211 worldwide, signaling solid box office returns for a mid-1990s courtroom thriller anchored by a young lead, and supported by strong performances from Sarandon and Jones, domestically strong too.

Critics praised Brad Renfro's portrayal and Susan Sarandon's performance, with some noting Schumacher's precise pacing though others found the tone uneven. The film probes how a child's chance encounter pulls adults into a dangerous moral puzzle, where truth, loyalty, and survival hang in the balance, and law faces its limits.

While not a cult classic, The Client helped cement the 90s trend of tense legal thrillers built around a fearless child protagonist. Visuals like the courthouse corridors and the alley confrontations linger in memory, signaling the era's appetite for high stakes moral drama. Its setup influenced later family oriented thrillers.