The Client

The Client (1994), directed by Joel Schumacher, is a sharp legal thriller you can watch online on iFILM. Eleven-year-old Mark Sway witnesses the suicide of a mob lawyer — and before the man dies, he tells Mark where a murdered senator's body is hidden. Now two forces are closing in: the mob wants the boy silenced, and a federal prosecutor wants his testimony on the record, preferably without offering anything in return.

Brad Renfro plays Mark as a kid who has already learned not to trust adults on faith. He shops for a lawyer himself, landing on Reggie Love — Susan Sarandon in a role that earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Reggie is not famous, not connected, but she is the only person in the film who is actually on Mark's side. Tommy Lee Jones plays the DA as a man who needs a conviction more than he needs the truth.

The screenplay is adapted from John Grisham's novel and keeps what makes Grisham work: a legal system that is more interested in winning than in protecting anyone. The power sits with a child who knows one thing he shouldn't. Stream The Client (1994) online on iFILM.