Hackman in the Sonny Capps Scene

I'm too busy to watch movies, but I caught a clip of this that I needed to praise. Unfortunately, you can only see a film for the first time once. I don't know how much I understood on my initial viewing (when I was probably 13), but I enjoyed the glances this time around. Hackman's especially good. He doesn't have much dialogue, but says a lot with his face.

When Cruise attempts to plead the case to the mob guy, Hackman's hesitant, like watching his kid take their first steps over dangerous terrain. Because Hackman's words are too subtle for general audiences, Capps at one point turns to the young gun and says, "You hear that, counselor? That's a veiled threat." Then Capps refers to "our friends in Chicago" and again returns to Cruise: "Hey, you don't know me. I'm a nice guy. You lose a million bucks for me, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm not gonna break your legs." Hackman can't interrupt fast enough, his eyes sliding back to his "protege," checking in on him. Sonny asks, "What'd I say??" Hackman's aphasic. To say what he said would say too much.

Cruise knows this is a reflection of the larger mystery that he still can't piece together, but pushes past this area Hackman's keen to avoid to sell the client. He's given some good lines to establish his character's smarts and entertain the audience, but it also builds suspense for the underlying plot with the breadcrumb of "What's in Chicago?" Surprisingly entertaining for a scene about tax law and talk about "deferred liability."

ETA: Here's the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oDVRgUJzw4