Themes: Protecting the Innocent, Dangerous Attraction, Conspiracies
Main Cast: Cher, Dennis Quaid, Liam Neeson, John Mahoney, Joe Mantegna, Philip Bosco
Release Year: 1987
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
British filmmaker Peter Yates directs Suspect, a suspenseful courtroom drama set in Washington, D.C. After a Supreme Court justice commits suicide and a Justice Department secretary is found dead, a deaf-mute homeless veteran, Carl Wayne Anderson (Liam Neeson), is the suspected killer. Lonely yet dedicated public defender Kathleen Riley (Cher) is assigned to the case to represent Anderson. Suave lobbyist Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid) is on the jury, but he starts his own investigation by finding clues that prove Anderson's innocence. He shares his information with Kathleen, even though they could get arrested for talking about the case. Eventually, they develop a romance and reveal a conspiracy that leads to a twist ending. The mysterious conclusion involves a final courtroom scene presided over by Judge Matthew Helms (played by character actor John Mahoney, who would go on to co-star on the sitcom Frasier). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Joe Mantegna - Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlie Stella
Philip Bosco - Assistant U.S. Attorney General Paul Gray
E. Katherine Kerr - Congressperson Grace Comisky; Fred Melamed - Morty Rosenthal; Michael Beach - Parking Lot Attendant; Thomas Barbour - Justice Lowell; Prudence Barry - Bag Lady at River; Lisbeth Bartlett - Marilyn; Bill Cobbs - Arraignment Judge Franklin; Ralph Cosham - Judge Ansel Stewart; Tony Craig - Hotel Marshal; Paul D'Amato - Michael; Richard Gant - Everett Bennett; Sam Gray - Judge Louis Weiss; Paul Hjelmervik - Court Marshal; Rosemary Knower - Justice Lowell's Secretary; Gene Mack - Helms' Court Marshal; Bernie McInerney - Walter Abbott, Eddie's Senior Partner; Greg McKinney - Plainsclothes Cop; Katie O'Hare - Elizabeth Quinn; Sandi Ross - Doris, Video Typist; Aaron Schwartz - Forensic Pathologist; Fred Strother - Public Defender's Office Client; Myra Taylor - April; Wendy E. Taylor - Security Guard; Robert Walsh - Club Congressman; Jim Walton - Helms' Court Marshal; Billy Williams - Dr. Alan Alpert; Carl Jackson - Depot Derelict; Edwin M. Adams - Congressman; Sandra Bowie - Public Defender's Office Client; R.C. Coleman - Arraignment Court Clerk; Siona Dixon - Helms' Court Steno; Michael Emmett - Waiter; Stefan Graham - Marvin Johnson; Jack Jessop - Mr. Davis; David Lyle - Morty's Assistant; Darryl Palmer - Assistant U.S. Attorney; Djanet Sears - Message Clerk; Jaye Tyrone Stewart - Jailer; Diane Marie L Tomajczyk - Secretary; Lloyd White - Detective; Ewart Everard Williams - Anthony Hall; Paul dela Rosa - Helms' Court Clerk
Credit
Tony Hall - Art Director, Steve Sardanis - Art Director, Jennifer Ogden - Associate Producer, Howard Feuer - Casting, Rita Ryack - Costume Designer, Pat Kehoe - First Assistant Director, Peter Yates - Director, Ray Lovejoy - Editor, John Patrick Veitch - Executive Producer, Michael Kamen - Composer (Music Score), Richard Dean - Makeup, Leonard Engelman - Makeup, Irene Kent - Makeup, Stuart Wurtzel - Production Designer, Billy Williams - Cinematographer, Jennifer Ogden - Producer, Daniel A. Sherkow - Producer, John Patrick Veitch - Producer, Arthur Jeph Parker - Set Designer, Steve Shewchuk - Set Designer, Jim Fredburg - Special Effects, Joe Ramsey - Special Effects, Jeff Smolek - Stunts, Eric Roth - Screenwriter, Joanne Pagliaro - Screenwriter
Set in Washington DC, Suspect centers on three disparate characters. Carl Wayne Anderson is a homeless, deaf Vietnam vet accused of murdering a federal judge's secretary, and Kathleen Riley is the beleaguered public defender assigned to his case. An agribusinesslobbyist who normally works on Capitol Hill, Eddie Sanger is made a member of the jury and begins investigating the details of the murder himself, eventually teaming up with Riley to solve the case.
Noted for something of a deus ex machina ending, the film's climactic scene (in which the actual murderer is revealed) was panned by Roger Ebert, whose review noted that it is "as if an Agatha Christie novel evaluated six suspects in a British country house, and then in the last chapter we discover the killer was a guy from next door."[1]
