Two Supreme Court justices, the liberal Justice Rosenberg (Hume Cronyn) and conservative Justice Jensen are assassinated. A terrorist named Khamel (Stanley Tucci), who works as a hired assassin, shoots one of the justices as he lies in his sickbed. He strangles the other in a gay porn film theater. As the nation learns the shocking news, the authorities including the FBI (charged with protecting the lives of the Supreme Court Justices), do not seem to have any clear indications of who may have been behind the assassinations.

Tulane University Law School student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) theorizes that there may be some similarity in their otherwise-different voting patterns that may provide a motive for their assassinations. She decides to research the two justices' records and cases pending before the Court, suspecting the real motive might be simple greed, not politics. She discovers that both were protective of the environment in their votes. She writes her theories into a legal brief, which she shows to her law professor, mentor and lover Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepard). Callahan, a recovering alcoholic, is grieving for Rosenberg, whom he interned for. He finds Darby's work interesting, but fails to recognize the high stakes involved. Nevertheless, he gives a copy of the paper (which becomes known as the "Pelican Brief") to Gavin Verheek (John Heard), a friend of his who works as a lawyer with the FBI.

Not long after this, Callahan is killed by a car bomb as the couple is leaving a bar in New Orleans; Darby escapes the attack because she holds back from getting into the car with her drunk lover. She soon realizes she is under surveillance, and is subsequently attacked by an unknown assailant. Realizing that her brief was accurate, she goes into hiding and reaches out cautiously to Verheek for help.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., political reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington) is contacted by an anonymous informant who calls himself "Garcia" and claims to have information about the assassinations which he had apparently seen inadvertently at his place of employment. Grantham manages to take a photograph of "Garcia" but is unable to identify him. "Garcia" subsequently disappears. Darby then makes contact by telephone with Grantham and mentions the Pelican Brief; although initially skeptical, Grantham discovers that the limited information Darby discloses has validity.

Darby finds out from fellow classmate Alice (Cynthia Nixon) that her apartment has been ransacked and her computer, disks and files are gone. Soon after, the man who had attacked her previously finds her again and gives chase, but Darby evades him a second time. She contacts Verheek and arranges to meet him the next day in a crowded public place. Prior to their meeting, Verheek is murdered in his hotel room by Khamel, who then goes to meet Darby dressed as Verheek. Just before Khamel can kill her, however, he is shot and killed by an unknown agent, and Darby flees.

Darby contacts Grantham again and agrees to meet him in New York City. There, she gives him the details of her brief.

The legal brief speculates that the assassinations were committed on behalf of Victor Mattiece, an oil tycoon who wants to drill for oil on a Louisiana marshland which is a major habitat of an endangered species of pelicans. A court case on appeal, filed on his behalf to gain access to the land, is expected to make its way to the Supreme Court. The two slain justices had a history of environmentalism — their only common view — and thus Darby surmised that Mattiece, who has a pre-existing business relationship with the President, hoped to turn the case in his favor by eliminating the two justices, thus leaving his friend, the President, in a position to appoint new justices more likely to rule in his favor.

Grantham tells her about "Garcia", and together they discover that "Garcia" is Curtis Morgan (Jake Weber), a lawyer in the oil and gas division of White & Blazevich in Washington.

Darby visits White & Blazevich, pretending to have an appointment with Curtis Morgan. When she is told that Morgan had been killed by muggers just a week ago, she suspects that his discovery of incriminating evidence was the real reason for his murder, and Darby hurries out of the office. She and Grantham visit his widow, who gives them a key to a safe deposit box he owned.

While Darby visits the bank to retrieve the contents of the box, she is followed and a bomb is planted in her car. When she and Grantham return to their vehicle, Grantham has difficulty starting the car, and Darby recognizes the faltering sound as what she heard just before Callahan was killed. She stops him and they flee the vehicle. They are instantly pursued on foot and by a car, which finally crashes into their parked vehicle, detonating the bomb and killing one of their pursuers.

They escape to the Washington Herald building, where they review the documents and a videotape from Morgan's box. The tape contains testimony from Morgan that confirms his discovery that Mattiece ordered the assassination of the Justices and the documents are memos that confirm these accusations. With the evidence that he needs, Grantham writes his story. He gives the FBI a chance to comment, and Director Voyles (James B. Sikking) comes to meet with him personally. On the record, Voyles confirms that the Pelican Brief was delivered to the White House; off the record, he reveals that the President ordered the FBI to "back off". He tells Darby that CIA agents were investigating Mattiece, and that one of them killed Khamel to save her life. Voyles arranges for a plane to fly Darby, accompanied by Grantham, to an undisclosed foreign location. Upon arrival, they are given a copy of the day's Herald with their story, which credits both Grantham and Darby in the byline. After embracing, Darby departs in a waiting van and Grantham returns to the plane.

The movie ends with Darby in her foreign hideaway, watching Grantham being interviewed on TV, where it is revealed that Mattiece and two of his lawyers have been indicted in federal court, the President's chief of staff has resigned, and the President himself will not run for office again. Grantham deflects speculation that Darby is fictional, a composite of sources, but does agree that she is "almost" too good to be true. Her life having been saved, Darby smiles as the screen cuts to black.

沼澤上紛飛的塘鵝與東莞夜色下的姐妹
       吃飯的時(shí)候，朋友還在玩著他那2年前的蘋果4，忽然對(duì)我說，原來東莞最大的夜總會(huì)老板的太子輝，在卡塔爾搞了好幾個(gè)油田，投了好多億；看看，觸動(dòng)了石油大佬的生意，被人搞死了吧，皮肉生意都搞不成了。這是騰訊的新聞。
    這不由讓我想起了前幾天看過的一部片子，《塘鵝暗殺令》，導(dǎo)演帕庫拉，主演 朱莉婭·羅伯茨 、丹澤爾·華盛頓，頗有異曲同工之妙。

    影片的開端由三條線組成，貌美如花、聰明睿智的某法學(xué)院大三學(xué)生茱莉亞，正在和其法學(xué)院教授師生戀搞的如火如荼；高大帥氣的丹尼爾是知名記者，正在為美國(guó)各種環(huán)保問題奔走；一個(gè)行將就木的高等法院大法官，和一個(gè)偷偷溜到三級(jí)片電影看片的高等法院大法官。

形勢(shì)急轉(zhuǎn)直下，兩個(gè)高等法院大法官轉(zhuǎn)瞬之間干脆利落的被人殺死，整個(gè)美國(guó)為之震驚，在總統(tǒng)督促之下，fbi、cia各路人馬紛紛出動(dòng)尋找答案。

    茱莉亞在與其教授情人一陣?yán)p綿之后，茶余飯后之余聊到此事，一時(shí)起想，奔走各大圖書館之間，搜羅各類資料，然后運(yùn)用各種分析手段，抽絲剝繭，整理出一份檔案，名為《塘鵝報(bào)告》。又是在與其教師情人一陣?yán)p綿之后，茱莉亞把這份報(bào)告給了其教授情人。而其教授情人在隨意之中把這份報(bào)告給了其在fbi的朋友，這位朋友也在隨意之中給其同僚傳閱，大家都沒把這份報(bào)告當(dāng)回事。

    忽然之中，情人教授發(fā)動(dòng)汽車爆炸身亡，僥幸逃脫的茱莉亞隨之遇到各路人馬的追殺，最后找到丹澤爾，再次在逃避追殺與尋找證據(jù)之間游走，最后把真相公之于眾。大批人馬下臺(tái)，總統(tǒng)退出續(xù)屆選舉。

    在丹澤爾在電視上受采訪，唏噓不已的時(shí)候，茱莉亞隱姓埋名，別走他鄉(xiāng)。

    我對(duì)蘇蘇說，這事真不好玩，誰碰誰死。

     《塘鵝報(bào)告》的論點(diǎn)是，總統(tǒng)的金主，馬氏集團(tuán)在沼澤的那段發(fā)現(xiàn)了好大的油田，值好大的錢。但是要把油采出來，得在沼澤的下面鋪設(shè)油管，而這會(huì)破壞這大片的濕地。環(huán)保人士最后發(fā)現(xiàn)了在這沼澤之上有一群塘鵝，是瀕臨滅絕的動(dòng)物，根據(jù)美國(guó)某個(gè)法案，是絕對(duì)要保護(hù)的。馬氏集團(tuán)繞不過這個(gè)坎，但是有好多好多的錢，于是準(zhǔn)備把立法的大法官解決掉，然后讓繼任的大法官修改這份法案。是為《塘鵝報(bào)告》，真相如此簡(jiǎn)單。

    塘鵝保護(hù)了那片濕地。

    所有的大帽子，所有的爭(zhēng)斗，最后都只是為了利益，與道德無關(guān)。

    這讓我想到了英國(guó)哲學(xué)家邊沁的話，宣揚(yáng)犧牲之道德的人并不是受謬見之害的人，他們是想要為他們而犧牲。

   另一個(gè)朋友微信上，文化衫上一句話很應(yīng)景，blowjob is better than no job.

做完剛剛看了這部電影。先看了這本書。由于要看威爾士公開賽決賽，所以沒看完整！但整體不錯(cuò)。最深的印象就是他們好年輕??！歲月不饒人！最近兩年總覺得時(shí)間過得很快！估計(jì)是所謂的中年危機(jī)的緣故吧！

約翰·格里森姆的作品改編的比較早的一部片子了，估計(jì)是在電視上重溫的，被刪減了一些，中間有些跳躍，沒有書里講的那么連貫。
兩位大明星當(dāng)時(shí)還不太出名吧，大嘴美女還是很迷人的，華盛頓就顯得很生嫩了。
故事沒的說，作者的當(dāng)家作品之一，當(dāng)年的譯林雜志恨不得一年都是他的作品了，不過現(xiàn)在的80后知道的不多吧？