Popular Culture in Memphis

Authors most often associated with Memphis and the Mississippi Delta are an interesting assortment of people. There's Civil War historian Shelby Foote, of course, and literary heavyweight William Faulkner, whose stories of the people and characters of a segregated South are indelibly etched in American pop culture. The great playwright Tennessee Williams also spent formative years in Memphis, and he wrote and produced early works here. But let's face it: No other writer put Memphis on the pop-culture map in a bigger way than John Grisham did in the 1990s.

The former Memphis-area attorney wrote a string of best-selling legal thrillers, including The Firm. When Tom Cruise (and then-wife Nicole Kidman, who now calls Nashville home with country-singer hubby Keith Urban) came to Memphis to star in the book's film version, directed by Sydney Pollack, the city was completely star struck. Screaming fans waited on street corners for a glimpse of the famous actor. Locales featured in some of the movie's scenes became tourist hot spots, and a cottage industry sprang up to promote the city's association with the Memphis-area film shoots that followed.

Among the many Grisham films, some are more memorable than others. Susan Sarandon was terrific in The Client. Joel Schumacher directed that film, which co-starred Mary Louise Parker and Tommy Lee Jones. Matt Damon and Danny DeVito did star turns in The Rainmaker, and Matthew McConaughey became an overnight sensation after his first big starring role in A Time to Kill. Less commercially and critically successful was The Chamber, with Gene Hackman playing a death-row inmate.

In non-Grisham movies, there have been several significant offerings. European filmmaker Milos Forman chose to film The People Vs. Larry Flynt in Memphis.