I had no idea and had to look up that they were both in "The Firm" together ... but I don't recall the movie at all, or the relevance to Connerty's attemps to recruit the bald girl, whose name I cannot remember right now.
shareIt was a discussion about potential strategies the prosecutor could use to get at Axe, and what type of people would be needed to execute those strategies.
Just a guess on the actor references:
The Ed Harris one I think was from "Appaloosa", meaning if the feds can't catch someone doing something illegal, they could just make some new laws. Tom Cruise reference was from "A Few Good Men", the courtroom scene with Jack Nicholson, where he used his own ego against him.
Or it could be "The Firm", Tom Cruise was a subordinate to Ed Harris, but he did not realize at first he was working for a shady mob lawyer, when he found out, he turned against him, but not necessarily working with the feds. Because the feds were not looking out for his best interests.
There was no way for Taylor to fit into those strategies or any other that require no leverage, so Taylor is telling him in a roundabout way to come up with a different plan.
Looking again, I believe "The Firm" is the best fit. Taylor got promoted, and now has access to all the documentation of the trades, similar to how Tom Cruise's character had access to all the case files at the firm. In "The Firm", he set up a small front company with an office in a nearby building, and used that cover to secretly copy the incriminating files, which he used as leverage to keep from getting killed or forced into being a witness for the feds.
"you need a Tom Cruise", means Connerty needs an insider, but they can't get at Taylor because there is no leverage. Taylor has no reason to cooperate, and is now ensuring even more due diligence is being done on the trades and the documents are on the up-and-up. Axe is now getting guys to set up separate entities to do the dirty stuff, but Connerty believes Taylor has knowledge of those deals as well. The only thing close to leverage he has is Taylor's conscience, which is what kept Tom Cruise's character from going along to get along.
"Ed Harris" could be referring to Axe or Chuck, depending on who said it.
Ah, got it, thanks
shareEd Harris was the agent that tried to recruit Tom Cruise as a source in the Firm.
In that scene Connerty=Ed Harris; Taylor= Tom Cruise.
Taylor made fun of Connerty when he first made the analogy because he used an actor name and a character name together instead of using both actor names or both character names.