See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)

Director:

Arthur Hiller

Writers (WGA):

Earl Barret (story) &
Arne Sultan (story) ...

Release Date:

12 May 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

MURDER! The blind guy couldn't see it. The deaf guy couldn't hear it. Now they're both wanted for it.

Plot:

Dave is deaf, and Wally is blind. They witness a murder, but it was Dave that was looking at her, and Wally that was listening...

Plot Keywords:

Witness | Blind Man | Police | Murder | Subway

Cast

Richard Pryor	...	Wallace 'Wally' Karue
Gene Wilder	...	Dave Lyons
Joan Severance	...	Eve
Kevin Spacey	...	Kirgo
Alan North	...	Braddock
Anthony Zerbe	...	Sutherland
Louis Giambalvo	...	Gatlin
Kirsten Childs	...	Adele
Hardy Rawls	...	Beefy Tourist
Audrie J. Neenan	...	Policewoman and Marilyn
Lauren Tom	...	Mitzie
John Capodice	...	Scotto
George Bartenieff	...	Huddelston
Alexandra Neil	...	Sally
Tonya Pinkins	...	Leslie

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Iceland:L | Finland:K-14 | Netherlands:AL | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

TriStar Pictures

Trivia:

Gene Wilder went to the NY League for the Hard of Hearing to study for his role, and he was assigned to his future wife, Karen Boyer.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Camera dolly tracks when the killers catch Dave and Wally after they escape from the police station.

Quotes:

Dr. Cornfeld: WHO are you sir?
Dave: [misreading Cornfeld's lips] Fine, thank you!

Movie Connections:

Remade as Pyare Mohan (2006)

Soundtrack:

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN

Very funny pairing of the two wonderful comic actors

I remember first seeing this movie when I was about five years old, and I found it hilarious. I caught the movie a couple more times on network TV, but this is the first time I watched it again in its unedited form.

Needless to say, Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder are both wonderful talents with an irreplacable chemistry, and that chemistry is utilized very well throughout. Of course, the brilliantly original premise helps as well. A blind guy and a deaf guy who pair up to solve a murder? Classic! That premise is used wonderfully. There's a great line where they're interrogated and angry officer screams out, "Between the two of you, you saw and heard everything!"

There's a lot of great fish-out-of-water humor involving Pryor's blindness and Wilder's deafness. One of the most hilarious gags, along with the car chase, is when Pryor helps another blind man to walk across the street, and they end up in the back of a truck. Now that's a literal example of the blind leading the blind. Each gag is delivered and timed very well, thanks for the great actors and veteran director Arthur Hiller, who has directed the two leads before in "Silver Streak."

This isn't a perfect comedy. A few gags fall flat, but the key word is "few." Some reviewers and audiences have regarded this as the low point in Wilder's and Pryor's careers. I think of "Another You" as the low point, which is a horribly forgettable comedy that unfortunately was the last film they did together.

A good deal of the gags are far-fetched, but this is a slapstick farce and you have to expect that. That's why I always say that this is a very tricky sub-genre and if not done correctly, the audience will totally stop suspending disbelief and simply scoff at its foolishness.

Fans of Pryor and Wilder should not be disappointed. Also, if you want to see an early (comic) performance by Kevin Spacey, it's also worth checking out. Speaking of worth checking out, Joan Severance provides great eye candy, and she has a couple of nude scenes to boot. I was born in 1982, so this was the first movie where I saw the two comics together on screen, so "See No Evil" is more unique to me than it probably is to others. But come on! With scenes like a high-speed car chase involving a blind man and a deaf man trying to escape, how can this not be regarded as a "unique" comedy?

My score: 7 (out of 10)