The Pelican Brief (1993)

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers (WGA):

John Grisham (book)
Alan J. Pakula (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 December 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth. An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead.

Plot:

A law student uncovers a conspiracy, putting herself and others in danger.

Plot Keywords:

FBI | Supreme Court | Professor | Reporter | Supreme Court Justice

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Julia Roberts	...	Darby Shaw
Denzel Washington	...	Gray Grantham
Sam Shepard	...	Thomas Callahan
John Heard	...	Gavin Vereek
Tony Goldwyn	...	Fletcher Coal
James Sikking	...	FBI Director Denton Voyles (as James B. Sikking)
William Atherton	...	Bob Gminski
Robert Culp	...	President
Stanley Tucci	...	Khamel
Hume Cronyn	...	Justice Rosenberg
John Lithgow	...	Smith Keen
Anthony Heald	...	Marty Velmano
Nicholas Woodeson	...	Stump
Stanley Anderson	...	Edwin Sneller
John Finn	...	Matthew Barr

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for momentary language and some violence.

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:PG (DVD rating) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | South Korea:15 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | France:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12 | Iceland:12 | Ireland:PG (DVD rating) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #32829) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Tulane University - 6823 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The rights to "The Pelican Brief" were bought before the book was even written, John Grisham had written a sample from the book and the rights were bought on the spot.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the end of the film when Cole is in the Oval Office surveillance room there is a time stamp clock running showing the current time. The clock is showing military time and is at 17 hours 37 minutes. The clock also shows the second count as well as the hundredths of a second count. However, the hundredths of a second counter only goes to 29/100s before changing to the next second.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Justice Rosenberg: Any of those signs got my name on 'em?
Gray Grantham: Quite a few.
Justice Rosenberg: What do they say?
Gray Grantham: The usual: Death to Rosenberg, Retire Rosenberg, Cut off the oxygen.
Justice Rosenberg: [laughs] That's my favorite. Of course you, Mr Grantham, did pretty good by me your last time out: Rosenberg equals the government over business, the individual over government, the environment over everything. And the Indians? Oh, give 'em whatever they want.
Gray Grantham: Well with all due respects sir, that wasn't my line, that was a quote.
Justice Rosenberg: From one of your unnamed senior White House officials; senior White House son of a bitch I should have said, who got in there by stirring up these people, one against the other. It never fails to amaze me what a man will do to get into the Oval Office.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Martin Lawrence/Crash Test Dummies (#19.14)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Hippy Ty O

The second John Grisham adaptation of 1993 is a worthy follow-up to "The Firm".

Based on John Grisham's best-selling novel.

Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) is a law student at Tulane who writes her own theory about who arranged for the assassination of two Supreme Court justices and why. The unfortunate thing is, her theory is right on the money, and once it starts circulating it results in a number of deaths. Investigative reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington) turns out to be the one person she can trust and rely on.

"The Pelican Brief" is a solid and entertaining (if lengthy) political / newspaper / legal thriller from the director of "All The President's Men". It keeps its grip thanks to genuinely good film-making and an excellent cast. The climax is reasonably suspenseful.

To screenwriter / director Alan J. Pakula's credit, the villain of the movie - a stereotypically greedy and maniacal tycoon - is deliberately made mysterious and gets no actual screen time - except for an appearance in a key photograph.

I've seen a couple of the big-screen Grisham adaptations, and they have all been pretty good. His novels do make for good movie material. I can't decide which one is the best, though...that's kind of tough.

8/10