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OverviewAI-generated
The Pelican Brief is a 1993 American drama and crime film directed by Alan J. Pakula, who also produced and co-wrote the screenplay with John Grisham. The film stars Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, and Hume Cronyn. It is based on the novel by John Grisham and features music by composer James Horner. The narrative is set in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., with filming taking place in New Orleans.
Produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Netflix, the movie has a runtime of 141 minutes. It was released on September 17, 1993, with a budget of $45,000,000 and generated revenue of $195,268,056. The film holds an IMDb rating of 6.6 and a TMDb vote average of 6.598. It is available via video on demand and is part of the Museum of Modern Art collection.
Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, The Pelican Brief is referenced by 196 other articles, and connects out to Variety, Chicago Sun-Times and New York City.
It is catalogued under topics including 1990s legal thriller films, 1990s mystery thriller films and 1990s political thriller films.
Its subject is documented across 39 Wikipedia language editions.
Film · TMDB
6.6A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.
Cast
- Julia Roberts as Darby Shaw
- Denzel Washington as Gray Grantham
- Sam Shepard as Thomas Callahan
- John Heard as Gavin Vereek
- Tony Goldwyn as Fletcher Coal
- James B. Sikking as Denton Voyles
Themes
- based on novel or book
- judge
- professor
- mission of murder
- supreme court
- legal thriller
- dramatic
- suspenseful
This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
Key facts
- Directed by
- Alan J. Pakula
- Screenplay by
- Alan J. Pakula
- Based on
- The Pelican Brief , 1992 novel, by John Grisham
- Produced by
- Alan J. Pakula Pieter Jan Brugge Bryan D. Gilchrist
- Starring
- Julia Roberts Denzel Washington Sam Shepard John Heard Tony Goldwyn James B. Sikking William Atherton Robert Culp Stanley Tucci Hume Cronyn John Lithgow
- Cinematography
- Stephen Goldblatt
- Edited by
- Tom Rolf Trudy Ship
- Music by
- James Horner
- Distributed by
- Warner Bros.
- Release date
- December 17, 1993 ( 1993-12-17 )
- Running time
- 141 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $45 million
- Box office
- $195.3 million
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Based on
- The Pelican Brief
- Creator
- Alan J. Pakula
- Collection
- Museum of Modern Art
- Director
- Alan J. Pakula
- Screenwriter
- John Grisham
- Cast member
- John Finn
- Composer
- James Horner
- Producer
- Alan J. Pakula
- Production company
- Warner Bros. Entertainment
- Cinematographer
- Stephen Goldblatt
- Narrative location
- Washington, D.C.
- Filming location
- New Orleans
- Duration
- 135
- FilmAffinity ID
- 253667
- Distribution format
- video on demand
Show 7 more facts
- publication date
- 1994-03-10
- film editor
- Tom Rolf
- title
- The Pelican Brief
- distributed by
- Netflix
- after a work by
- John Grisham
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 51/100
Sources (14)
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Pelican Brief is a 1993 American legal thriller film based on the 1992 novel 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. The film, which features music composed by James Horner, was the last film that featured Pakula as both writer and director before his death in 1998.
The Pelican Brief was released by Warner Bros. on December 17, 1993. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $195.3 million against a $45 million budget.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Pelican Brief” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.