When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson, a homeless veteran who's deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may actually be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger, a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and together the pair begins their own investigation of events.
Acting
Cher's surprisingly grounded turn before Moonstruck fame
Direction
Peter Yates squeezing tension from fluorescent-lit government buildings
Writing
The jury tampering twist that actually lands
Director
Peter Yates
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
Bill Cobbs
Judge Franklin
Richard Gant
Everett Bennett
Michael Beach
Parking Lot Attendant
Paul D'Amato
Michael
Gregory McKinney
Plainclothes Cop
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Liam Neeson's breakthrough American role—he learned sign language for four months and reportedly kept using it on set accidentally.
The film eerily predicted real DC scandals; its Supreme Court suicide plot mirrored unfolding controversies that made studio executives nervous.
US
