The Pelican brief ( film ) - wikipedia 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 Julia Roberts Denzel Washington Sam Shepard John Heard Tony Goldwyn James B. Sikking William Atherton Robert Culp Stanley Tucci Hume Cronyn John Lithgow Music by James Horner Cinematography Stephen Goldblatt Edited by Tom Rolf Trudy Ship 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 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. The film, which features music composed by James Horner, was the last film that featured Pakula as a writer or producer before his death. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reception 3.1 Box office 3.2 Comparison with the Grisham book 4 References 5 External links Plot Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated by the professional assassin `` Sam '' Khamel. Tulane University Law School student Darby Shaw 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. He gives a copy to his friend Gavin Verheek, 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 is contacted by an informant calling himself `` 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 again attacked but manages to escape. She contacts Verheek and they arrange to meet, but Verheek is murdered by Khamel who impersonates his victim and proceeds to the meeting. Before Khamel can kill Darby, he is shot and killed by an unknown person. Darby contacts Grantham and agrees to meet him in New York City, where she gives him the details of her brief that speculates the assassins were loyal to Victor Mattiece, an oil tycoon who intends to drill for on a Louisiana marshland, a known habitat of an endangered species of brown pelicans. A court appeal to prevent such harm is expected to reach the Supreme Court. Darby surmised Mattiece, hoping to turn the case in his favor, is behind the Justices ' murders, given their history of environmentalism. When Grantham tells her about `` Garcia '', they discover that the man is Curtis Morgan, a lawyer in the oil and gas division at the White & Blazevich, in Washington. Darby visits White & Blazevich, pretending to have an appointment with Morgan, and is told he had been killed. Suspecting that his murder was related to the incriminating information, she and Grantham visit his widow who gives them a key to a safe deposit box. Darby visits the bank to retrieve the contents of the box. After barely escaping death by a car bomb, they reach the Washington Herald building where they review the documents and a videotape recovered from Morgan 's box. The tape confirms Darby 's theory, as Morgan documents prove his own discovery that Mattiece ordered the assassination of the Justices. With this evidence, Grantham writes his story. He gives the FBI a chance to comment and FBI Director Voyles confirms that Darby 's `` Pelican Brief '' was delivered to the White House. He reveals the President ordered the FBI to `` back off '', CIA agents were investigating Mattiece and one of them killed Khamel to save Darby 's life. A plane is arranged for Darby to flee the country. Darby is watching a TV interview of Grantham where it is revealed that Mattiece and two partners at White & Blazevich have been indicted in federal court, the President 's chief of staff has resigned, and the President ( who received $4.2 million in contributions from Mattiece ) will not run for office again. Grantham deflects speculation that Darby is fictional, but does agree that she is `` almost '' too good to be true. Darby smiles. Cast Julia Roberts as Darby Shaw Denzel Washington as Gray Grantham Sam Shepard as Thomas Callahan John Heard as Gavin Verheek Tony Goldwyn as Fletcher Cole, President 's Chief of Staff James B. Sikking as F. Denton Voyles William Atherton as Bob Gminski Robert Culp as The President Stanley Tucci as Khamel `` Sam '' Hume Cronyn as Justice Rosenberg John Lithgow as Smith Keen, editor at Washington Herald Anthony Heald as Marty Velmano, senior partner at White & Blazevich Nicholas Woodeson as Stump Cynthia Nixon as Alice Stark Jake Weber as Curtis Morgan ( a.k.a. Garcia ) Ralph Cosham as Justice Jensen Reception The film received mostly mixed reviews from critics. Pat Collins, from WWOR - TV, said that the film was, `` A heart - stopping, spine - chilling, adrenaline - pumping, run - for - your - life thriller. '' Roger Ebert praised the film and gave it 3 / 4 in his review. It currently holds a 52 % rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists : 2008 : AFI 's 10 Top 10 : Nominated Courtroom Drama Film Box office The film was a box office hit and grossed $195,268,056 worldwide. Comparison with the Grisham book The film mostly follows Grisham 's plot, but concentrates much more on Darby Shaw 's point of view and omits considerable sections of the book depicting behind - the - scenes events at the Supreme Court, White House, FBI headquarters and elsewhere in the corridors of power. The film has Denzel Washington as the journalist Gray Grantham, while the book specifically notes that Grantham is white ( though on friendly terms with some African - Americans ). That might be related to the film omitting a final scene where Darby and Gray start a love relationship. In the book Gray Grantham works for the real - life Washington Post, which was changed in the film to fictional Washington Herald. References Jump up ^ `` AFI 's 10 Top 10 Nominees '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 2016 - 08 - 19. Jump up ^ `` Pelican ' Soars at the Box Office Movies : The mystery, with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, takes in more than $16 million. ` Mrs. Doubtfire, ' ` Schindler 's List ' also do well. ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010 - 11 - 30. Jump up ^ `` ' Mrs. Doubtfire, ' ' Pelican Brief ' propel final week and ' Jurassic Park ' chews up the competition as industry receipts hit $5.2 billion. ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010 - 10 - 26. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : The Pelican Brief ( film ) The Pelican Brief on IMDb The Pelican Brief at AllMovie The Pelican Brief at Box Office Mojo The Pelican Brief at Rotten Tomatoes Works by John Grisham Novels A Time to Kill ( 1988 ) The Firm ( 1991 ) The Pelican Brief ( 1992 ) The Client ( 1993 ) The Chamber ( 1994 ) The Rainmaker ( 1995 ) The Runaway Jury ( 1996 ) The Partner ( 1997 ) The Street Lawyer ( 1998 ) The Testament ( 1999 ) The Brethren ( 2000 ) A Painted House ( 2001 ) Skipping Christmas ( 2001 ) The Summons ( 2002 ) The King of Torts ( 2003 ) Bleachers ( 2003 ) The Last Juror ( 2004 ) The Broker ( 2005 ) Playing for Pizza ( 2007 ) The Appeal ( 2008 ) The Associate ( 2009 ) The Confession ( 2010 ) The Litigators ( 2011 ) Calico Joe ( 2012 ) The Racketeer ( 2012 ) Sycamore Row ( 2013 ) Gray Mountain ( 2014 ) Rogue Lawyer ( 2015 ) The Whistler ( 2016 ) Camino Island ( 2017 ) Short story collections Ford County ( 2009 ) Short stories The Tumor ( 2015 ) Non-fiction The Innocent Man : Murder and Injustice in a Small Town ( 2006 ) Theodore Boone series Theodore Boone : Kid Lawyer ( 2010 ) Theodore Boone : The Abduction ( 2011 ) Theodore Boone : The Accused ( 2012 ) Theodore Boone : The Activist ( 2013 ) Theodore Boone : The Fugitive ( 2015 ) Theodore Boone : The Scandal ( 2016 ) Screenplays The Gingerbread Man ( 1998 ) Mickey ( 2004 ) Film adaptations The Firm ( 1993 ) The Pelican Brief ( 1993 ) The Client ( 1994 ) A Time to Kill ( 1996 ) The Chamber ( 1996 ) The Rainmaker ( 1997 ) The Gingerbread Man ( 1998 ) A Painted House ( 2003 ) Runaway Jury ( 2003 ) Christmas with the Kranks ( 2004 ) Television adaptations The Client ( 1995 ) The Firm ( 2012 ) Films directed by Alan J. Pakula The Sterile Cuckoo ( 1969 ) Klute ( 1971 ) Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing ( 1973 ) The Parallax View ( 1974 ) All the President 's Men ( 1976 ) Comes a Horseman ( 1978 ) Starting Over ( 1979 ) Rollover ( 1981 ) Sophie 's Choice ( 1982 ) Dream Lover ( 1986 ) Orphans ( 1987 ) See You in the Morning ( 1989 ) Presumed Innocent ( 1990 ) Consenting Adults ( 1992 ) The Pelican Brief ( 1993 ) The Devil 's Own ( 1997 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Pelican_Brief_(film)&oldid=801399714 '' Categories : 1993 films English - language films 1990s action thriller films American action thriller films American thriller drama films American films American legal films Legal thriller films American political thriller films Films about journalists Films based on works by John Grisham Films directed by Alan J. Pakula Films set in New Orleans Films shot in Maryland Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in New Orleans Films shot in Virginia Tulane University Law School Warner Bros. films Film scores by James Horner Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Euskara فارسی Français Italiano עברית Latina Македонски Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Edit links This page was last edited on 19 September 2017, at 12 : 44. About Wikipedia

Question: who killed the assassin in the pelican brief
Answer: CIA agents