The Pelican Brief (1993)

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

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers:

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

Stars:

Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Two Supreme Court Justices have been killed. Now a college professor, who clerked for one of the two men, who's also having an affair with one of his students, is given a brief by her, that states who probably, wanted to see these two men dead. He then gives it to one of his friends, who works for the FBI. When the FBI director reads it, he is fascinated by it. One of the president's men who read it, is afraid that if it ever got out, the president could be smeared. So, he advises the president to tell the director to drop it, which he does. But later the professor and the girl were out and he was drunk and when he refused to give her the keys she stepped out of the car. When he started it, it blew up. She then discovers that her place has been burglarized and what was taken were her computer and her disks. Obviously, her brief has someone agitated. She then turns to her boyfriend's friend at the FBI, he agrees to come meet her but before he does someone shoots him and takes his place...

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Plot Keywords:

fbi | supreme court | professor | theory | supreme court justice | 

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Taglines:

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.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for momentary language and some violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 December 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

El informe Pelícano

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

£2,003,591 (UK) (4 March 1994)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

141 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There were scenes filmed for the movie that showed Verheek in DC showing his colleagues 'The Pelican Brief'. These were cut from the final film but a brief glimpse of them is still visible in the theatrical trailer.

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Goofs

Gavin Verheek tells Darby by phone that he is staying at the Westin, by the river. Darby later tells him to take the trolley to a place called the Riverwalk. In reality, the Westin was approximately 1 block from the Riverwalk. The nearest stop to the Westin where Gavin could have caught the riverside trolley (streetcar) was at the Riverwalk.

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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...

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Connections

Referenced in 30 Rock: Cutbacks (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Dancing In The Rain"
Written by Rik Slave, Marc St. James and Patrick Catania
Performed by The Phantoms
Courtesy of Dinosaur Records

User Reviews

Merely an O.K. piece of work

With the exception of "Pretty Woman" and "Glory," respectively, I've never found either Julia Roberts' or Denzil Washington's work to be among my favorites.

Their performances in this movie did nothing, for me, to change this opinion. Hers was just overall annoying, and his so low-key and quiet I wish someone (either on-screen or off-) had had a cattle prod handy to rouse him.

I like Grisham's work overall, and have liked some of the screen presentations as well as, or even better, than the book. This one definitely wasn't one of them. For me, a major problem was not caring an iota for ANY of the characters (lead or minor, good-guy of bad- in the supporting cast).

But seeing it again at this time in our history, viewing Robert Culp's thoroughly-inept,, unintelligent, vacuous President {(ring any bells????), and his devious aide, Tony Goldwyn, (ring the bell again?)}

• and all of the completely smarmy government operatives abounding -

well, it seems that our current reality is imitating art.

The present goings-on, and the past several years with the Iraq fiasco, may have a different scenario than this flick, but the current cast of real characters in D. C. makes those in this film seem less fictitious than was so when it was released, or when Grisham wrote the story.