inspectors71
It's embarrassing to see Peter Yates deliver up this hackneyed courtroom drama. But making a movie with this many clichés is easy, and I'm betting everyone got paid very handsomely for retreading every other legal meller you've ever seen. I knew we were in trouble when they started channeling Atticus Finch and Tom Robinson.Cher, one of the most abrasive and irritating human beings on the planet does underplay her character. She's nicely vulnerable, and she does reasonably well with what little she has to work with. Dennis Quaid plays Dennis Quaid. John Mahoney--sans toupee--is the evil judge (and a Republican to boot!). Liam Neeson, a force of nature in body, spirit, and voice, is a deaf mute.It's like John Belushi in The Blues Brothers--the sunglasses hide his most powerful tool.Oh, well. If this Suspect pops up on your Sunday afternoon movie, and you have absolutely nothing else to do, my advice is to curl up with a cup of coffee and a legal pad. Keep a running cliché total.
pocomarc
This story had so many holes in it you could drive an oil tanker through each of them.Cher wore black leather in court as a defense attorney? The suspect is deaf and dumb, but Cher talks to him constantly? The suspect overpowers several policeman before he is subdued. But then Cher goes into his cell alone to talk to him? The suspect hits her, but then she continues being around him? What a wreck of a movie.At various points the dialogue was so bad it must have been written by a graduate of a junior high school creative writing class.In the middle of jury selection Cher has a lengthy tete a tete with prospective juror Quaid? In cross examinations the lawyers don't ask questions but speak in declarative sentences constantly? How can you take a movie seriously with so many preposterous moments in it?
dbdumonteil
The plot is far-fetched and a lot of elements might seem questionable:the whodunit,Dennis Quaid's cynical character,the umpteenth courtroom drama...But everything vanishes when it comes to depict the Cher/Liam Neeson relationship.Both shine ,especially the latter,who ,being deaf and dumb ,has to express his emotions with his face .He is so good he seems to carry the weight of the world .He was once a man who had something in his life ,but he was betrayed by his country when he returned from Vietnam.How a man who gave the best years of his life (to mention a famous movie)can be treated like a dog ("nine dollars ,it's much when you've got to survive" says his idealistic lawyer)and end up one of the last lonely and wretched?Every scene where they are together rings true.And "suspect" becomes the story of a redemption:physically,morally and intellectually,the homeless man regains his dignity his pride and the right to be a citizen again.There is a complex plot ,dealing with politics ,but it's the luminous Cher and the very moving Neeson,desperately trying to communicate, who will haunt the viewer after the movie.
film_ophile
i have just re-watched this film, maybe the 5th time since its release. What a treat!Smart, sexy,dynamic and compelling, socially relevant, with a good moral backbone.All the actors are spot-on. Cher easily convinces us of her serious attorney's commitment to helping society's outcasts;Liam Neeson in his first film role as the silent hulking Viet-vet street person accused of murder; Dennis Quaid at his cocky best as a razor-sharp lobbyist/juror, and John Mahoney and Philip Bosco. The screenplay ,directing and editing are all first rate.And if you pay attention, you can learn a lot about the inner workings of our government's congressional/lobbyist bedfellows and the scary fallibility of our justice system and its judges and lawyers. Some may think this is a piece of romance disguised as a get-into-your subconscious morality play, but i think it's just the opposite. How many films have you seen that convincingly made you put yourself into a street person's shoes and think about your attitudes towards them? I usually am close to agreeing with the IMDb average vote on a film, but not this time. For me, this is a real 10.
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