Customer Reviews

Suspect [VHS]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In SUSPECT, Cher plays Kathleen Riley, a defense attourney for the public. When a brutal murder is commited against a Justice Department file clerk, and a homeless man who is deaf and cannot speak is accused of the crime, and Kathleen gets the case. Dennis Quaid plays dairy farm lobbyist Eddie, who is a juror who helps Kathleen with finding evidence. This part of the movie is a little hard to swallow, but the performances make up for it. It's terribly unlikely a juror would become romantically involved with a defense lawyer as well. However the movie was fine otherwise, and one of the last scenes where an unknown assailant chases Kathleen down the hallways of the court house, is quite suspenseful and thrilling. Cher is very believable in this part. Overall, a great flick to rent, very suspenseful and has a surprise twist at the end.

I actually prefer this film to Witches of eastwick and Moonstruck! Great thriller that will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat. Cher plays a defense attorney for a deaf/mute & homeless Liam Neeson. Dennis Quaid is on the jury and together, he & Cher must unfold the mystery and prove her client innocent. The ending is extremely suspenseful and will leave you in disbelief. This was during Cher's peak as an actress.

When a deaf-mute homeless man is accused of murdering a federal worker in Washington DC, the public defender assigned to the case assumes he is guilty--until she begins to receive tips about the case from the most unlikely of sources: a member of the jury seated for the trial. Any one even remotely conversant with the law will find the story so full of loopholes that it is more than a little ridiculous, but it scarcely matters: the cast carries it off in fine style, playing the script with exceptional precision and poise and generating plenty of suspense along the way. Cher is particularly noteworth as the public defender assigned to the case. Cher? Playing a Washington D.C. attorney? It's hardly typecasting, but once more Cher demonstrates the depth of her talent: not only is she extremely effective, she is completely believable. The same might be said for both Liam Neeson, who plays the deaf-mute on trial, and Dennis Quaid, who plays the smarmy juror who begins to put two and two together; SUSPECT is clearly Cher's picture, but her co-stars are every bit as good as she.

Although it has its share of courtroom pyrotechnics and suspenseful moments, SUSPECT is a surprisingly low-key and all the more successful for it. When all is said and done we like the characters as people, believe in them, and are glad we met them. While it will never compete with the likes of Hitchcock, SUSPECT is a good, solid, and very unpretentious courtroom thriller excuted with a great deal of style. Those whose tastes run in that direction will be very pleased indeed. Recommended.

Love this movie. Hate that it is only offered in full screen. I WANT WIDESCREEN!!

This movie will never be referred to as one of the great films of our time....but who cares? Knock off of To Kill a Mockingbird? So what? I'm not a Cher fan at all, but I think she did nicely in this flick, and never once appeared as anything more than a lawyer defending her client. I like Dennis Quaid, and he complimented Cher's character. Were some of the antics in the movie unrealistic? Such as Quaid visiting the homeless people in the middle of the night? Or Cher throwing an object to her client to prove a point? Maybe, maybe not. Again, WHO CARES? A movie is supposed to be something that gets our minds off reality...an escape. Enjoy the film boys and girls, and judge for yourselves...and check reality at the door.

I love Cher and I enjoyed this movie very very much!!!!! This is 1 of my favorite movies and I was glad I was able to find it (a good used copy no less) and will be able to enjoy this movie time and time again when I am in the mood for this kind of movie... Way to go Cher Love ya Girl!!!!!

An original tale of corruption within the justice system. Cher defendsa vagrant, played by Liam Neeson, accused of murdering a legal secretary who worked for a supreme court justice, who had committed suicide. Randy Quaid plays a reluctant juror with dubious moral ethics, whose interest in the case takes 2nd place to his interest in the public defender. I liked the chemistry between these two. It was almost palpable. I also liked the cold, forbiding photography, depicting the Capital as a harsh, forbidding and uncaring place. Not the greatest mystery thriller, but certainly watchable,especially with Cher in a starring role, and not a sparkle of glitter or naked skin.

This one will hopefully be restocked soon for Cher die-hards who'll find this suspenseful who-dun-it a worthy view. As Washington, D.C. public defender Kathleen Riley, Cher gets appointed by the court to defend a homeless deaf-mute (Lian Neeson, in one of his first substantial roles) accused in the brutal murder of a Justice Department file clerk. Setting out with a presumed guilt for her client, Ms. Riley comes to believe in her client's innocence and sets out to prove it. On the trial jury is dairy farm lobbyist Dennis Quaid who takes a judically improper and unethical active role in proving the defendant's innocence after he develops the hots for the defense counsel. Of course, the likelihood of a juror getting it on with the defense lawyer during trial is ludicrous and, in real life, would probably get both charged criminally and the lawyer disbarred. But the credible acting of the leads helps us to overlook that unlikely scenario and focus instead on who really done it. Anyone with any background knowledge of law, procedure and ethics might wonder about some of the judicial rulings handed down by the trial judge, but they figure significantly in the who and why of who really done it. Cher, by the time she made the film, was firmly established as a leading lady, and she demonstrates here that she can carry the responsibility. "Suspect," despite its unlikely premise, is nonetheless a compelling view, and the solution (and, yes, the defendant is innocent) is a stunner!

Scenario: Cher as a disheartened lawyer defends deaf and mute tramp Neeson in a murder case, using Quaid, a member of the jury, to lead a behind-closed-doors investigation to suggest that the murder may go further up than anyone expected. So what you're in for is pretty much definitely going to be completely contrived, but not necessarily complete tripe. This is in main part due to some very good performances from the three central characters. Cher is surprisingly unglamorous and convincing as the tough cookie lawyer, whilst her sexual chemistry with Quaid is wholly believably. Quaid himself enjoys himself immensely in a role of unflappable lobbyist, and Neeson shows surprising depth for a character that after all has no dialogue. One scene in particular where he is outright accused of not only murder, but uselessness and an inability to adapt to normal society is one to which he reacts to in a not only believably outraged fashion but also in an equally believably emotional way.

With such good performances then it seems a shame that Suspect so often falls into cliché, in particular in the `twist' at the end that reveals the real perpetrator of the crime. Not only is it entirely unbelievably but it also seems tagged on the end, especially given the seemingly last minute decision to have Cher act as your typical scream queen (albeit wearing a suit and high heels) as we find her running down a corridor followed by an ominous shadowy figure whose face we don't get to see. Even the detective work seems distinctly fishy, with Quaid having no problems walking through the slums in the middle of the night, nor Cher breaking into a car. That said though, the chemistry between the leads does jumpstart things a fair few times, not least in the court scenes, where their sparring provides the best entertainment of the entire film. Still, for a movie that starts off with a central topic of Neeson's murder case, it strays far too often away from the subject and into the `forbidden romance' territory.

Whilst Suspect isn't bad (certainly doing nothing to damage the actors' reputations), it's not on par with the far superior Jagged Edge, or the later Primal Fear. Still, for basic solid entertainment, you could certainly do worse.

just reviewing this because Amazon asked me to . Not much to say except I personally think it was a great bargain and also of course Cher gave a very believable performance as did of course Dennis Quaid, and Liam Neeson , John Mahoney .

If you haven't seen it and wondered about it ...give it a try it's a very good mystery . and at Amazon prices ( new ) it's a great deal or should I say steal : ) ????