Hear No Evil (1993)

Director:

Robert Greenwald

Writers (WGA):

Randall M. Badat (story) and
Danny Rubin (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

26 March 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

Jillian Shanahan, a deaf woman, becomes the target of a ruthless and corrupt cop. The cop is looking for a stolen coin...

Plot Keywords:

Deaf | Deaf Woman | Female Protagonist | Beeper | Murder

Cast

Marlee Matlin	...	Jillian Shanahan
D.B. Sweeney	...	Ben Kendall
Martin Sheen	...	Lt. Brock
John C. McGinley	...	Mickey O'Malley
Christina Carlisi	...	Grace
Greg Wayne Elam	...	Cooper (as Greg Elam)
Charley Lang	...	Wiley
Marge Redmond	...	Mrs. Kendall
Billie Worley	...	Tim Washington
George Rankins	...	Roscoe
Karen Trumbo	...	Nadine Brock
Candice Kingrey	...	Police Interpreter
Mary Marsh	...	Mrs. Paley
Ron Graybeal	...	Porsche Driver
Bill Pugin	...	Doctor
Pat Codekas	...	Ms. Younger
Mary Ann Marino	...	Museum Guard
Clay Luper	...	FBI Cotton Candy Vendor
Joe Ivy	...	FBI Agent #1
Rick Jones	...	FBI Agent #2
Mahon Kelly	...	Alex
Marvin LaRoy Sanders	...	Grocery Checker
Kathy McCurdy	...	Sign Language Instructor
Merrilee Dale	...	Museum Guide
Alan Alexander III	...	Dub Squad
James Daniels	...	Dub Squad
Karen Searcy	...	Dub Squad
Newell Briggs	...	Dub Squad
Mary Sue Tobin	...	Dub Squad
Brian Davis	...	Dub Squad
Timothy Harper	...	I-Zaya Acappella Band
Marlon Irving	...	I-Zaya Acappella Band
Brian Sims	...	I-Zaya Acappella Band
Craig Warren	...	I-Zaya Acappella Band

Directed by
Robert Greenwald

Writing credits (WGA)
Randall M. Badat		(story) (as R.M. Badat) and
Danny Rubin		(story)
Randall M. Badat		(screenplay) (as R.M. Badat) and
Kathleen Rowell		(screenplay)

Produced by
Robert Greenwald	....	producer
David Matalon	....	producer
David Streit	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Graeme Revell

Cinematography by
Steven Shaw

Film Editing by
Éva Gárdos

Casting by
Glenn Daniels

Production Design by
Bernt Amadeus Capra		(as Bernt Capra)

Art Direction by
John Myhre

Set Decoration by
Susan Mina Eschelbach

Costume Design by
Fleur Thiemeyer

Makeup Department
Jaqueline Bordeaux	....	hair stylist
Bonita DeHaven	....	makeup department head

Production Management
Dusty Dukatz	....	assistant production manager
Philip K. Kleinbart	....	executive in charge of production (as Philip Kleinbart)
David Streit	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Aaron Barsky	....	first assistant director
Gwyneth Horder-Payton	....	assistant director
Timothy J. Lonsdale	....	key second assistant director: reshoots
Barbara M. Ravis	....	second assistant director (as Barbara Ravis)
Daniel M. Stillman	....	second assistant director (as Danny Stillman)
David Womark	....	first assistant director

Art Department
J.D. Alley	....	illustrator
Colin Bardon	....	carpenter
Sharleen Bright	....	set artist
Lance Cheatham	....	set dresser
Stephanie Emery	....	assistant set decorator
Deborah Emmel	....	set dresser
John K. Lankford Jr.	....	swing gang
Madlyne Marcom	....	on-set decorator (as Madelyne Marcom)
Michael McCombe	....	head greensman
John Pearson-Denning	....	property master
Marc Rosenblatt	....	gang boss carpenter
Bobby Thomas	....	set dresser
Jamie Upham	....	construction foreman (as James Upham)
Mark Wieringa	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Ken Dufva	....	foley artist
Gary A. Hecker	....	foley artist
Adam Jenkins	....	sound re-recording mixer
Peter J. Lehman	....	sound effects editor
Paul Massey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Patrushkha Mierzwa	....	boom operator
Frank Smathers	....	sound editor
Mark Ulano	....	production sound mixer

Special Effects by
Rick Josephsen	....	special effects

Stunts
Bruce Paul Barbour	....	stunts (as Bruce Barbour)
Kenny Bates	....	stunts (as Ken Bates)
Richard L. Blackwell	....	stunts
Harold Burns	....	stunt driver
Greg Wayne Elam	....	stunt coordinator (as Greg Elam)
Kiante Elam	....	stunts
Ousaun Elam	....	stunts
Dick Hancock	....	stunts
Paul M. Lane	....	stunts
Jake Lombard	....	stunts
Mary Ann Marino	....	stunts
Bob Minor	....	stunts
Tom Morga	....	stunts
Bernie Pock	....	stunts
Webster Whinery	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Dante Cardone	....	gaffer
Curtis Failor	....	additional electrician
Linda Field	....	best boy electric
Wes Houle	....	rigging gaffer
David R. Kohn	....	lighting technician
Brent Lawson	....	grip
Brian C. Lawson	....	grip
Bruce Lawson	....	key grip
Denny Mooradian	....	gaffer
Mark Emery Moore	....	camera operator
Richie Moore	....	second assistant camera: second unit (as Rich B. Moore Jr.)
Merrick Morton	....	still photographer
Don Mosley	....	lighting technician (as Donald Ray Mosley)
Larry Nielsen	....	second assistant camera
Alex Rad	....	grip
Joseph Thomas	....	assistant camera

Casting Department
Don Campeau	....	casting associate

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Leslie Gilbertson	....	set costumer

Editorial Department
David Codron	....	associate editor
Deborah Gavlak	....	assistant editor
Bob Kaiser	....	color timer

Transportation Department
Chris Basso	....	production van driver operator
D.J. Gardiner	....	transportation coordinator
Chandler Vinar	....	art driver

Other crew
Greg Bernstein	....	legal services
Sara Burton	....	location manager
Merrilee Dale	....	assistant auditor
Diana Gunderson	....	adr voice
Mary Ann Marino	....	production coordinator
Kathy McCurdy	....	assistant: Marlee Matlin
D.C. Rahe	....	production assistant
Jacobus Rose	....	production executive
Heidi Sturdevant	....	script supervisor: second unit

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
• Great Movie Ventures

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1993) (USA) (theatrical)
• Manuel Salvador (1994) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Scotia International Filmverleih (1995) (Germany) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Fox Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• RTL Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (TV) (RTL8)

Also Known As:

"Danger Sign" - Europe (English title) (cable TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:M | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Berry Pomeroy Church, Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England, UK

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Soundtrack:

FREE

Mum's The Word

***SPOILERS**** Trying to copy the 1967 classic "Wait Until Dark" about a blind young woman trapped in her apartment with these three hoods trying to find the "dope" that's hidden there. "Hear no Evil" is about a deft young woman who unknowingly has on her a valuable 4th century b.c. Greek coin worth a million dollars. With a number of psychos trying to get it, the coin, off her but that's where the comparison between the two movies ends.

Opra freak police let. Brock, Martin Sheen, who looking forward to a hefty retirement package has one of his "busts" on the street T.W ,Billie Worley,get off easy if he gets him this coin to take care of his future ventures as a man of music and leisure.

After murdering the museum guard T.W takes off with the coin but Let. Brock trying to double-cross him, and keep T.W from blackmailing him, has T.W run over and killed only to find out that the coin isn't on him. T.W's contact and friend news reporter Mick O'Malley, John C. McGilney, is given the coin to hold for him for safekeeping. Mick then hides it in his hearing-impaired girlfriends Jillian Shanahan, Marlee Matin, vibration activated beeper. Just as Let. Brock and his men raid his apartment.

O'Malley getting worked over by Let. Brock, at the police station and in his squad car, is given 24 hours to come up with the coin or else. In a last desperate act of survival Mick get's his friend restaurant owner Ben Kendell, O.B. Sweeny, to lend him his car and $1,000.00 in cash to get out of town. The car later explodes and crashes into the river as it's crossing a bridge with O'Malley in it.

With the Greek coin nowhere to be found a determined Let. Brock keys in on innocent and unsuspecting Jillian as the only person alive who either knows where the coin is or has it in her apartment. Since that's the last place where the now obviously deceased O'Malley was. Up to that point the movie "Hear no Evil" is a fast and what looks like a spine tingling thriller, a lot like the classic "Wait Until Dark".But then when both Ben and Jillian get together in an effort to stymie Let. Brock from getting the stolen coin the movie starts to go downhill fast.

Besides Let. Brock a new villain shows up looking for the coin. Which by his appearance, and having a wool cap pulled over his head, isn't at all Let. Brock and also isn't working for or with him, who can that man be? Almost strangling Jillian's room-mate Grace, Christina Carlisi, the black clad intruder is on Jillian's and her new boyfriend's Ben trail for the rest of the movie. Even after Let. Brock is arrested and put behind bars by the F.B.I who together with Jillian & Ben set a trap for him.

The "suprise ending" is anything but surprising since it's obvious, if you've seen enough whodunits, who the killer is. It has Jillian running for her life from the killer all through the house that she and Ben are staying in, at his mom's in the country. Jillian outsmarts and does in the killer just as he not only revealed who he is but after he got his hands on the coin that he was after to get.

Plodding and unconvincing "Hear no Evil" has no real suspense or terror in it. A competent, but all too brief, performance by Martin Sheen, as the brutal and utterly ruthless Det. Brock. Still he's out of the picture and the story some half-way thorough the movie. It's after that the the film seems to try to compensate for him by having the unknown, dressed in black, killer put on center stage which sinks the film. You start to think why him, when you find out who he is, of all people when he could have gotten the coin just by asking for it from Jillian? Did he hit himself on the head so hard that it's caused his thought process to severely malfunction?

The real life hearing impaired Marlee Matlin did her best trying to look and act scared and terrified. As she's chased all throughout the film by Det. Brock and his goons. As well as the mysterious tall dark and deadly stranger. It also good to see for once a deft person who's not only played by a deft actor, or actress, but also able to talk as well as communicate without almost exclusively using sign language.