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

Color:

Color (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:

John Grisham wrote the part of Darby Shaw with Julia Roberts in mind. Roberts read the book once it was finished and agreed to the role without even seeing a script.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the movie Jake Weber played a character named "Curtis Morgan". In the rolling credits at the end of the movie they show him playing "Charles Morgan". While Darby Shaw was interviewing Edward Linney in the hospital, Linney said his name was: "Morgan, yep Morgan, his first name is something like Charles, but that's not it." About sixty seconds later Shaw approaches the information desk at White & Blazevich and announces a five o'clock appointment with Curtis Morgan. The attorney that responds to the appointment calls him Curtis Morgan twice before explaining that he died from a mugging. When Shaw requests to have the lock box at Riggs Bank opened she is asked "Who rented this box?" And she replies "My husband, Curtis D. Morgan." The movie has complete continuity with the name Curtis instead of Charles.

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 The 24th Day (2004)

Soundtrack:

The Creole Song

Everyone I have told about the brief is dead.

Take any John Grisham novel and have it brought to screen, written and directed by Alan J. Pakula (Sophie's Choice, All the President's Men. To Kill a Mockingbird), and add Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington as the leads, and you have a movie that is worthy of 141 minutes of your life.

I love political films. You know that if you have read my reviews. Political thrillers are especially great. This one is well worth watching for the story, the directing, and, most especially, for the lead actors. I do not think that Washington and Roberts have ever disappointed me - OK, there was that License to Kill in 1984.

I won't synopsize - you can get that anywhere - but, I will say that you will not be disappointed. It's not a popcorn movie, you have to put some effort into watching it, but the rewards are great. And the chemistry between Roberts and Washington is fantastic!