What the Deaf Man Heard

I saw this on TV one night and fell in love. Matthew Modine plays Sammy Ayers(the adult) who as a child is left alone on a bus after his mother is murdered. He arrives in a small Georgia town and sits quietly all day waiting for his mother arrive. The people in town then determine that he's deaf and mute. As an adult he does odd jobs for all the people in town, all the while listening to everything everyone tells him, including secrets! Jake Weber plays Tolliver Tynan, Tallasses(Sammys love interest)brother and the source of all Sammys trouble. Tom Skerritt stars as Norm, owner of the bus depot and a sort of father figure to Sammy. James Earl Jones also stars as Archibald Thacker, a rum runner who knows a thing or two about some of the secrets in the town. As one of the big secrets threatens the town Sammy struggles with what to do. A great story and wonderful acting make this a movie I would recommend to anyone.

I thought the mix of humour, satire and sentiment was just right. It is also a commentary (subtly) on how hearing impaired people are treated by society. Seeing the crooked and self serving get some just desserts was rewarding, and the final twist, engineered by a loving father figure for the one he effectively adopted, was both surprising and heart-warming. The acting was good (if not Oscar-winning) and the plot line written with sufficient complexity as to keep you wondering what would happen and how the pieces of the story linked together. The time setting of the story was a bit hard to guess at first but markers soon appeared to help the viewer. The clever change of name of a well known pop group raised a smile and perhaps the reactions of some to that group were a bit over the top, but not out of keeping entirely with the hysteria of the time.

For me, Hallmark Hall of Fames are like the Super Bowl, the main event is nice to watch, but the commercials are the real reason to tune in. What can I say, I like cheez. However, "What the Deaf Man Heard" is a rare exception. This is a movie that captured my attention. I laughed, I cried, it was better than CATS. I don't believe it's on video, but CBS plays it again every so often. Check it out.

I thought this was a great made-for-tv movie. Although they probably could have cut down on the running time by about 30 minutes, the movie was still good. Matthew Modine, Tom Skerrit, James Earl Jones, and Judith Ivey all delivered great performances. I give it 4 stars. It's good family entertainment.

I taped ' What the Deaf Man Heard' on night when it was on late, a few days later, I watched it and found it to be an EXTREMELY good movie, which I have yet to date, taped over. It is a really good watch, and Matthew Modine is a really good actor, I recommend it to anyone.