How did Sam (Matt Dillon) know to go to hire Ken (Bill Murray) as his defense attorney?
Remember the end-credit scene with Suzie and Ken--they had it set up from the get go (Ken was hip to Suzie's end-game). But none of that would have worked had Sam not gone to Ken to hire him.
Maybe I missed it, like Suzie dropping a hint somewhere ...
Eh?
Suzie was manipulating everyone. She probably recommended Sam go to that specific lawyer.
shareI think that’s why the film often has a third character around (Kelly’s car-washing friend, Ken’s secretary) so that the main characters have to keep up appearances before their true nature’s are finally revealed to the audience.
But yeah, Suzie was pupeteering everything and would have instructed Sam to hire Ken.
Watch it again. After Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards) makes the allegation, Sam's fellow school counselor and colleague Art Maddox (Dennis Neal) says, "You're going to need an attorney." Sam replies that it will be nearly impossible to find any local lawyer willing to go up against attorney Tom Baxter (Robert Wagner) and the Van Ryans in court.
The implication is that Suzie orchestrated and instructed Ken Bowden (Bill Murray) to reach out to Sam, offering his legal services to defend him (despite that fact that Bowden's specialty is personal injury cases), given that no reputable criminal defense attorney would be willing face-off against Sandra Van Ryan/Tom Baxter/District Attorney Bryce Hunter alliance as Sam explained.
So, when you cannot get any decent lawyer to represent you, and a shady ambulance chaser wearing a wrinkled sky blue leisure suit and working out of a dingy strip mall, ends up being your lawyer - was it happenstance? Probably not. Clearly, it is no coincidence that Suzie was working with Ken all along, and that Ken just happened to become Sam's defense attorney. Suzie clearly arranged for Ken to approach Sam, who was reluctantly receptive to Ken's offer ...given that no other lawyer would dare touch the case.