The Pelican Brief (1993)
Directed by Alan J. Pakula · Cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt
PG-13141 min217 frames
ThrillerCrimeDrama
Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth. An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead.
Stills, screencaps & shots from The Pelican Brief
16 of 217 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.
The Pelican Brief — official trailer
What is The Pelican Brief about?
A 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.
Where can you watch The Pelican Brief?
Amazon VideoRent
Apple TV StoreRent
Google Play MoviesRent
YouTubeRent
Fandango At HomeRent
Spectrum On DemandRent
US availability for The Pelican Brief (1993). Data by JustWatch, listings on TMDB. Availability changes — check the provider for current listings.
Who stars in The Pelican Brief?
Who made The Pelican Brief?
What does the cinematography of The Pelican Brief look like?
Across 200 sampled frames, The Pelican Brief builds its coverage from medium shots (59% of the sample), with wide compositions (20%) carrying much of the rest. Cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt keeps 51% of it in soft, naturalistic light. 42% of the frames play at night or in the failing light of dusk. Anamorphic glass shapes the frame. Focus stays shallow in 74% of the frames, isolating subjects from their surroundings. The production design places the film in the 1990s.
What is the color palette of The Pelican Brief?
The dominant colors across the sampled frames of The Pelican Brief (1993) are #302e2c, #52504c, #141414, #d3d1cb, #f6f6f4, #91908b — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.
#302e2c#52504c#141414#d3d1cb#f6f6f4#91908b
See the full The Pelican Brief colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.
The Pelican Brief ranks in
A reference database for filmmakers
FrameThrower is a fully machine-searchable film database and visual reference library — all 217 frames of The Pelican Brief (1993), and 5,000+ films besides, indexed frame by frame and readable by AI. Search it in plain language, from a reference image, or by colour; call it from an API, an MCP server or an SDK. It's the reference layer for making the next movie.
Techniques in this film
More films by Alan J. Pakula
More Thriller films
Cast, trailer and streaming data from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.