The Pelican Brief (film)
| The Pelican Brief | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Alan J. Pakula |
| Produced by | Alan J. Pakula Pieter Jan Brugge Bryan D. Gilchrist |
| Written by | Alan J. Pakula |
| Based on |
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham |
| Starring | |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Stephen Goldblatt |
| Edited by |
Tom Rolf Trudy Ship |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
141 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $45 million |
| Box office | $195.3 million |
The Pelican Brief is a 1993 American legal political thriller based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, the film stars Julia Roberts in the role of young law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington as Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham. Music was composed by James Horner. This was the last film to feature Pakula as a producer and writer before his death.
Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated by the professional assassin "Sam" Khamel (Stanley Tucci).
Tulane University Law School student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) writes a legal brief detailing her theory on why they were killed and under whose orders. She delivers it to her law professor, mentor and secret lover Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepard). He gives a copy to his friend Gavin Verheek (John Heard), attorney and special counsel to the Director of the FBI.
Callahan is killed by a car bomb; Darby escapes because she refuses to enter the car with her drunk lover and is subsequently attacked by an unknown assailant. Realizing that her brief was accurate, she goes into hiding and reaches out to Verheek for dire assistance.
Political reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington) is contacted by an informant posing as "Garcia" with information about the assassinations, yet "Garcia" suddenly disappears, and Darby contacts Grantham, who finds her information is valid and accurate.
Darby's computer, disks and files have disappeared from her home, where she is also attacked but manages to escape. She contacts Verheek again and they arrange to meet, but Verheek is murdered by Khamel who impersonates his victim and proceeds to the meeting. However before Khamel can kill Darby too, he is shot and killed by an unknown agent.
...
Wikipedia