The Pelican Brief (1993)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

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:

To research his role as reporter Gray Grantham, Denzel Washington spent time with Washington Post editors and reporters.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Darby and Gray are being chased through the parking garage, the manilla envelope and papers in her hand change position repeatedly 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 24th Day (2004)

Soundtrack:

Coach (Theme)

The Good & Bad Of The Pelican Brief

Some of things I really appreciated from this political thriller was (1) no sappy romance taking away from the suspense and story; (2) very little profanity; (3) a number of interesting scenes that kept your attention for the full 141 minutes; (4) solid acting by the two leads, Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts; (5) nice visuals and nice sound.

What I didn't appreciate was the usual Hollywood screen versions of the John Grisham novels, which means a fair amount of Liberal agendas, some subtle, some not so subtle. The message anyone against saving wildlife like the penguins has to be either crooked or a violent thug is preposterous. Early on, we hear a TV broadcaster proclaiming that the killings of two Supreme Court justices might have been by some group that also bombed abortion clinics, ACLU offices, etc. Of course - villainous right wingers hurting good-guy left wingers - what else? Isn't that the way it's always portrayed in the movies??

Too bad that bias political propaganda is in here because most of this film is just a very good suspense film and well done at that. Washington and Roberts are both fun to watch and they are up against so many suspicious-looking characters that it's a paranoid viewer's delight. They keep you guessing who you can trust and who you can't, which is fun, and helps make the time on this movie fly past.