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

Also Known As:

El informe Pelícano (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
L'affaire Pélican (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Pelikanfallet (Finland: Swedish title) (Sweden) [sv]
Дело о пеликанах (Russia) [ru]
A pelikán ügyirat (Hungary) [hu]
Achter gesloten deuren (Netherlands) [nl]
Die Akte (Germany) [de]
Dosije Pelikan (Serbia) [sr]
Dossier Pelicano (Portugal) [pt]
Il rapporto Pelican (Italy) [it]
L'informe pelicà (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
O Dossiê Pelicano (Brazil) [pt]
Pelikaanimuistio (Finland) [fi]
Pelikan notatet (Denmark) [da]
Pelikani memorandum (Estonia) [et]
Pelikanovo porocilo (Slovenia) [sl]
Raport Pelikana (Poland) [pl]
The Pelican Brief (Greece) [el]

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:

The President questions Cole's idea of addressing the nation while wearing a cardigan sweater; this is based on a real-life incident in which then-president Jimmy Carter addressed the nation in a cardigan during the height of the fuel shortages in the 1970s.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Darby Shaw and Thomas Callahan are in class Darby's hair changes between shots.

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 Simpsons: Lisa the Drama Queen (#20.9)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Dancing In The Rain

Hitchcock would have been pleased

You gotta love Alan Pakula. His Pelican Brief is true to the source material but manages to complement it with artfulness learned from Hitchcock and the events portrayed in All The President's Men (also directed by Pakula).

The result is a thriller which never has to resort to the hackneyed or the obvious. Even the chase scene in a car park manages to be a little different.

He has casted brilliantly (perhaps Fletcher Coal should have been older?) but his masterstroke is commisioning James Horner to provide the score. At times sparse and at others boldly chromatic it jangles the nerves as Julia and Denzel duck and weave their way through a maze of unease.

A great way to spend two hours.