Suspect (1987)

Director:

Peter Yates

Writer:

Eric Roth (writer)

Release Date:

23 October 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

No matter the cost, No matter the danger. They will find the truth.

Plot:

A judge commits suicide, and his secretary is found murdered. A homeless deaf-mute man, Carl Anderson is arrested for her murder...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Suicide | Judge | Courtroom Drama | Deaf

Cast

Cher	...	Kathleen Riley
Dennis Quaid	...	Eddie Sanger
Liam Neeson	...	Carl Wayne Anderson
John Mahoney	...	Judge Matthew Bishop Helms
Joe Mantegna	...	Charlie Stella
Philip Bosco	...	Paul Gray
E. Katherine Kerr	...	Grace Comisky
Fred Melamed	...	Morty Rosenthal
Lisbeth Bartlett	...	Marilyn
Paul D'Amato	...	Michael
Bernie McInerney	...	Walter
Thomas Barbour	...	Justice Lowell
Katie O'Hare	...	Elizabeth Quinn
Rosemary Knower	...	Justice Lowell's Secretary
Aaron Schwartz	...	Forensic Pathologist

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | New Zealand:R13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Magder Studio, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

TriStar Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kathleen first realizes Carl is deaf and hands him a pen to write with, as she hands it to him and we are facing her it is top downwards in her hand, in the reverse shot it is top upwards with the cap on, as Carl takes the pen it is top upwards with the cap off.

Quotes:

Kathleen Riley: I spend all of my day with murders and rapists, and what's really crazy, I like them.

Movie Connections:

References To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

More of a courtroom drama than a thriller

Exciting, suspenseful and tightly woven suspense drama.

Cher proves she can ACT.

You probably will not immediately recognize Liam Neeson in the role of the deaf, mute, shell-shocked Carl Wayne Anderson.

For someone that does not speak for the entire film he turns in a stellar performance.

Dennis Quaid is very good as the juror that steps outside his assigned duties as a juror and becomes a detective.

Also John Mahoney is almost unrecognizable as Judge Matthew Helms -- a polar opposite from his "Frasier" character.

When I spoke to Tom Barbour (Justice Lowell in this film, stage actor and the father of Dudley Moore in the "Arthur" movies) he said when he got the script he was thrilled -- the film opens with him, it took place in his office, he had every other line, and then on page three -- well I guess you will just have to see it.

Surprise ending goes right up to the last couple of minutes -- prepare to be shocked.