Stars: Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, Stanley Tucci, William Atherton, Hume Cronyn, Robert Culp, John Heard, John Lithgow, James B. Sikking, Tony Goldwyn, Tony Goldwyn, John Lithgow

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Summary: Two Supreme Court Justices are assassinated one night. A thousand miles away a law student works on the theory of why they were killed. Her report puts her in grave danger and anyone else who reads it...

Julia Roberts (ERIN BROCKOVICH) stars in THE PELICAN BRIEF as sharp law student Darby Shaw whose querying mind gets her into trouble. A faithful adaptation of John Grisham's (THE FIRM) best-selling novel, this taut thriller follows the travails that beset Shaw when her theory on the cause of the deaths of two Supreme Court Justices lands her name on the conspirators' hit list. When Shaw teams up with reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington--THE HURRICANE) they find themselves dodging deadly assassins in a suspenseful story that weaves complex narrative strands. The well-cast film also features a cameo by playwright-actor Sam Shepard (TRUE WEST).

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Another John Grisham legal thriller comes to the screen, pairing Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts in a film directed by Alan J Pakula, who is known for dark-hued suspense pictures such as Klute, The Parallax View, All the President's Men, and Presumed Innocent. The Pelican Briefisn't up to the level of those films, but it is a perfectly entertaining movie about a law student (Roberts) whose life is endangered when she discovers evidence of a conspiracy behind the killings of two Supreme Court justices. She enlists the help of an investigative reporter (Washington) and the two become fugitives. The charisma and chemistry of the leads goes a long way toward compensating for the story's shortcomings, as does a truly impressive supporting cast that includes Sam Shepard, John Heard, James B Sikking, Tony Goldwyn, Stanley Tucci, Hume Cronyn, John Lithgow, William Atherton and Robert Culp. --Jim Emerson

Aspect Ratio:	Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive Menus, Production Notes, Scene Access, Trailers
Subtitles:	Arabic, English
Year:	1993
Release Date:	September 25, 1998
Runtime:	135 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 012989
Keywords:	Brief, General, Wide, Screen, Pelican, Thriller, Grisham
Genre:	Thriller