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Actors: Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, John Heard, William Atherton, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Pelican Brief |
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Based on the John Grisham novel, THE PELICAN BRIEF is a movie written for the screen, produced and directed by Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men) in 1993.
As two Supreme Court Justices have just been murdered in Washington D.C., Prof. Thomas Callahan, an alcoholic but talented law teacher, and his student Darbie Shaw, try to figure out the reason for these murders. After a week of researches in the library, Darbie writes a short essay she calls "The Pelican Brief". In this brief, she directly accuses the White House and the man who was the main financial support of the last President election campaign of being responsible for these acts.
Callahan brings the brief to Washington D.C. and gives it to his old friend John Heard who works as a lawyer for the F.B.I. The next day, Callahan dies in the explosion of his car and Darbie Shaw decides to contact the journalist Denzel Washington who was already working on the case. John Heard is soon killed and Darbie Shaw gets out of several murder attempts.
Meanwhile, the President has been informed by the F.B.I. of the content of the Pelican Brief. He asks the F.B.I. director to disregard these accusations that implies him, and his chief of staff to definitively settle this matter. As for Washington, his boss doesn't want to print the story before more evidence incriminating the White House is found.
--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Pelican Brief |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 70%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1980's-1999
Legal/Political Thriller?
Yes
Political Plotlets:
- investigating murder of politician(s)
- President abusing power
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- 20's-30's
Hair color?
- red
Hair style
- long, curly (woman)
Body type
- average (woman)
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- muscular (man)
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
Main Adversary
Identity:
- a criminal organization
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- Deep South
City?
Yes
City:
- Washington D.C.
- New Orleans
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- gory visuals of deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- excited
How many deaths in film?
- 4-8
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 4 (a fair amount)
Kind of violence:
- guns
Unusual forms of death
- perforation--bullets
Any profanity?
- None
Lot of special effects?
Yes
Kinds of F/X
- exploding vehicles
If Soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Orchestra/classical
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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