Right this is yet another blog revisitation post and one which is rather timely given that Gene Wilder sadly passed away today at the age of 83. So I figured I would revisit the post I did on my favourite comedy film that starred Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder together: See No Evil, Hear No Evil.
So with the usual re-writes process the post will be a bit longer than the previous one (although I'm not sure how much longer!) but anyway with that in mind let's take another look at this comedy classic.
Oh and the usual warning is coming up....
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So the film begins set in New York city with a blind man Wally Karew (Pryor) who is looking for a job and he applies for one at a concession shop where he meets a deaf man, Dave Lyons (Wilder). At first the two of them argue with one another given their conditions, however they soon put that aside and become friends. Later after Wally is hired by Dave, they meet in a bar where they unintentionally start a fight when Dave stands on a belligerent man's jacket and Dave guides Wally and tells him when to punch the man by using clock directions. After the fight they bond and share how they became deaf and blind and Dave confesses he has a terrible fear of making a fool of himself, but Wally says he can solves his problems in 10 seconds and dumps his ice cream cone on David's head.
The next day, Wally begins his job at the concession store is waiting for the day's papers and a man walks into Dave's store and he buys for time when he sees a beatiful woman named Eve (Joan Severance) enter the building, he asks Dave to read the label on a box of antacid pills, and the man quickly puts a gold coin from his suitcase into a collection box of coins on the store counter. Eve pulls a gun on the man and she threatens him saying he has to go with her and she wants the gold coin, the two of them struggle which results in Eve shooting the man dead and she takes his suitcase and leaves. Dave naturally being deaf is unaware of the shooting and as he finishes reading the label he sees Eve's legs as she walks out of the building. Wally having heard the gunshot wanders in and he falls over the man's body and Dave kneels by the body and picks up the gun, just as the police quickly arrive they are arrested and taken to the police station.
At the station they are interrogated by a cynical middle aged detective, Captain Braddock (Alan North) who takes an instant disliking to them and has them charged as the prime suspects. Meanwhile Eve and her accomplice Kirgo (Kevin Spacey) hope to recover the missing coin turn up at the police station, posing as solicitors to allegedly release both men on bail. However just after Eve and Kirgo leave, Dave recognises her legs and Wally recognises her perfume and then Dave twigs that she is the killer and he tries to tell Braddock who refuses to listen.
Wally then convinces Dave to escape from the police station and they do so in order to avoid being captured by Eve and Kirgo. However Eve and Kirgo both soon catch up with them and as Eve phones her employer, Mr Sutherland (Anthony Zerbe) for instructions and with Dave's ability to lip read he catches what she is saying on the phone. After Eve leaves the men, Wally knocks out Kirgo before he has a chance to kill them and Wally and Dave manage to escape in an unattended police car. And between them they work the pedals and the steering wheel and they successfully evade the police and the criminals but they accidentally end up driving the car onto a rubbish barge which is moving out to sea.
Later on Wally and Dave ditch the police car and with the help of Wally's sister, Adele (Kirsten Childs) they set about to try and locate the killers so they can foil their activities and clear their names from the police.
THOUGHTS
While it wasn't a critical success on its release (and to this day it holds a 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes!) for me See no evil, hear no evil is Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor's finest comedy and its where they best gelled together as a comedy duo. And while the premise of the story is hardly original it does allow for a slightly different spin on things with the two protagonists both having visual and hearing impairments. Wilder and Pryor's natural onscreen chemistry also works wonders and is what makes the film work so well and their characters are also oddly endearing as they are simply two guys who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wilder and Pryor also nicely use the deaf and blind angle to create some really funny moments in the film that combine moments of misunderstanding, but at the same time they never patronise or in any way mock people with such impairments in their portrayals of Dave and Wally.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES ( Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!)
Getting onto the performances things are pretty good with both the leads in excellent form, starting with Gene Wilder as the mild mannered and genial Dave Lyons, a deaf man who befriends Wally and from here his whole life is turned upside down.
Wilder has plenty of highlights in the film such as in the scene where Dave and Wally both first meet at the store and as Wally tells Dave that he is blind, Dave asks "Are you really blind?" and Wally snaps back "Yeah I'm really blind, what are you, fuckin deaf?!" and Dave yells "YES! I'M FUCKING DEAF!!". And Wally incredulously asks him "You're really deaf?" and Dave yes "Yes, I'm really deaf!" and Wally asks "How do you what I'm saying?" and Dave says "Because I'm reading your lips. Now do you want the job or don't you?!".
Wilder's scene in the bar with Pryor is also funny when Dave guides Wally around when they fight an obnoxious man who Dave had unwittingly stepped on the jacket of. And in the scene Dave keeps giving out instructions on where to move and when to hit "Circle right, circle right! Eight o'clock! Ten! Five to three! Oohh, I got confused!" and so on.
Wilder's funniest lines also include when he is at the station and Braddock asks him quickly "Alright no bullshit, was there or wasn't there a woman?!" and Dave asks if him if he is serious and Braddock replies "Yes I'm goddamn serious" and Dave says "Fuzzy wuzzy was a woman?!". Another funny moment is when Dave and Wally are at the police station, a lab specialist enters the room and tells Braddock that both men had the "Men's Rea" which is the intention or knowledge that constitutes part of a crime. But as the man turns his back on him and explains what it is, Dave is left in horror thinking this is a sexually transmitted disease and he is dragged screaming out of the room "MEN'S REA!!! OH GOD!!! NO!!!!".
Wilder also has another funny moment in the scene where Dave is repeatedly told to face the camera by a female police officer when taking their mug shots, but he keeps turning to Wally at the wrong moment and the police woman eventually goes off her nut screaming "shit" over and over. And Dave asks Wally "Is she saying shit or ship??". And probably my favourite moment of Wilder's is when Wally asks him if he can't hear even if he screams in his ear and Dave asks him to try it and afterwards Wally thinks its worked but Dave turns angrily to him and says "NO, SCHMUCK!!! I'M DEAF!! NOW D'YA GET IT???!!".
And lastly there is the scene when Dave and Wally arrive at Sutherland's grounds to rescue Adele and in the scene Dave stands up on their car using binoculars to scope the grounds but he forgets to put the car's parking break on and the car starts to roll down hill and Dave is thrown from the car and is knocked out.
And after Wally finds Dave and he comes to, Wally apologies to him for getting him involved in the situation. And Wally says to Dave "You know, Dave, for the first time in my life today I realised I'm full of shit!" and Dave says to him "Well that's true but this morning I threatend to shoot a naked woman with my erection. Now that is something that doesn't happen everyday!" (referring to the scene with Eve coming out the shower). And Wally surprised says "No. The man's got a point!" and Dave says to him "Don't back out on me now, Wally. We can do this, we really can". And Wally asks Dave "What if we can't?" and Dave takes a moment and then says "Fuck it!" and Wally smiles and says "Damn you! I created a monster!".
Richard Pryor is also great and he has numerous highlights as the blind man, Wally Karew, who ends up unwittingly getting himself and Dave into trouble with the killers.
Pryor pretty much get's all the best dialogue in the film and he delivers great lines throughout and has his share of great scenes.
And to start off there is the scene where Wally is on the subway with his sister, Adele, and he attempts to read a newspaper which is upside down and his sister says its ridiculous like he was trying to pass for being white and Wally suddenly jumps in alarm and says "YOU MEAN I'M NOT WHITE???!! This is a scandal!!! Does dad know???!".
Then there is the hilarious scene when Eve grants a last request to both men and she scratches David's nose as he requests and she then kisses him. And then Eve asks Wally "Mr Karew, what would you like?" and Wally without hesitation asks "I suppose a fuck is out of the question?" and she smiles and says "I'm afraid so".
Another funny moment is where Wally and Dave make their getaway in a police car, with Wally at the wheel he turns to Dave at one point, who says "Don't look at me, keep your eyes on the road!" and Wally says "OK, if it'll make you feel better!". And he also shares a nice moment with Wilder when they have driven the police car into a rubbish barge going out to sea and Dave says "Right now I'm overwhelmed by the STINK of the seven tonnes of garbage you drove us into!" and Wally replies "Is that what it is?! I thought you let one go!".
And another hilarious moment is when Wally poses as a Swedish gynecologist at a conference and they ask his thoughts on geriatric sexual practice and he says "Well some of my patients prefer walking, some of them prefer bicycling. But for best results, to guarantee total satisfaction, most of them like fucking! You know poonta-poonta-poonta, I like it myself! One in the morning and late at night!".
And last of all is the moment (SPOILER!!) where Wally and Dave try to foil the criminals getaway, Wally dives onto Eve and as they struggle he grabs at her breasts in the process, and she yells "What do you think you are doing?!" and Wally replies "I don't know, I'm blind. But this is what they tought us at Braille school, to just feel around and see what's happening!". And later on as the whole business is resolved and Braddock arrives on the scene Wally smiles and says to him "Captain Braddock. You're a dickhead!".
The supporting cast are also pretty good starting with Alan North who is hilarious as the cynical and weary Captain Braddock who has a short fuse and is convinced Dave and Wally are the guilty ones.
And North's best moments include his first scene where he interrogates Dave and Wally which provides some priceless comic moments that start with Braddock relieving his second in command, Gatlin of questioning Dave and Wally.
And in the scene he comes in no-nonsense and says to both men "Right! We're gonna stop fuckin around and start talking serious! Now you claim there was a woman present?!"and neither man responds. And as the scene unfolds, Braddock quickly becomes fed up with both men's impairments and he shouts at Dave "Don't tell me you didn't hear anything because HE HEARD IT!" pointing at Wally and he shouts at Wally "And you, don't tell me YOU didn't see anything because HE SAW IT!" and he points at Dave. And Braddock continues angrily "Now some poor bastard's dead, so let's start ANSWERIN SOME FUCKIN QUESTIONS HERE!!".
Then there is the scene where Braddock dispairs to his second in command, Gatlin about how he is being outwitted by Dave and Wally. And he moans to Gatlin "Thirty two years on the force, a wife and three kids and a blind guy and a deaf guy are making me look like a complete asshole!" and Gatlin absent mindedly says "You got that right" which sparks a shocked reaction from Braddock .
And lastly North's funniest moment is after Wally insults Braddock by saying to him "Captain Braddock, you're a dickhead!". And this prompts Braddock nearly explode and exclaim "You son of a bitch!" and takes his gun out but Gatlin restrains him and puts him back in his police car "Let me shoot em, I wanna shoot them! Why can't I shoot them?! I wanna shoot em!".
Joan Severance, who we've hardly heard from since is also quite good in her role as the seductive and deadly Eve and she has a rather good shower scene where Dave pretends he has a gun in his pocket (which is actually his boner!) and he get's her to drop her towel. However in the DVD/ Blu-ray edition, probably due to the ratio of the screen you don't get to see her breasts as they are cut off from the bottom of the screen, so any pervs will be disappointed! ;-)
Joan also has a couple of other good moments such as the scene where Eve and Kirgo turn up at the police station, posing as lawyers for Wally and Dave and Wally can't help but aroused by the smell of her perfume. So before Eve and Kirgo leave, Wally asks her "Excuse me, Miss, have we met somewhere before?" and Eve says "No, I don't think so" and he says "Are you wearing Shalimar perfume?". And Eve surprised replies "Yes, I am. You have a remarkable nose!" which leaves Wally beaming.
And lastly there is the scene near the end where (SPOILER!!) Eve tries to make her exit after offing her employer and she prevents Dave from picking up one of the dead men's guns. And Eve says to Dave "But you see, you're the ones they're looking for. Not me. If I get on that helicopter with the coin, I get out of here squeaky clean" and Dave says to her "You're too tall for me anyway!".
Kevin Spacey also makes a noteworthy appearance as Kirgo, Eve's smarmy English accomplice, although it has to be said his English accent is far from convincing!
However Spacey does have some funny moments such as when he is knocked out by Wally during the shoot where Kirgo readies himself to shoot Wally and Dave on the streets but Wally manages to knock him out by surprise using Dave's telling the time method of attack they used earlier in a bar brawl.
And in the scene as Dave says different times to Wally to prompt him which direction to punch in Kirgo disagrees with Dave and he says to him "Its not twelve o'clock! Its 11:15!" and then Wally knocks him out. And not long after, Kirgo comes around and he get's back up and he says to himself "I hate it when that happens!". And then he stops a taxi in the street and he says to the driver "Police emergency, out of the car!" and the driver says to him "What are you stupid? You wanna die or something? Show me your badge!" and Kirgo takes out his gun and points it at the driver and says angrily "This is my badge!".
And lastly there is the scene where Wally and Dave manage to track down Eve and Kirgo who have at this stage (SPOILER!) kidnapped Adele, Wally's sister. And as Wally keeps whistling to get the attention of the guard dogs on the grounds of their employer, Mr Sutherland, Kirgo eventually finds Wally and steps on his foot to silence his whistling. And Kirgo points his gun at Wally and says to him "I'm so glad you decided to join us!".
Kirsten Childs is also pretty good in her role as Adele, Wally's headstrong sister who looks out for him and tries her best to keep him out of trouble (well as much as that is possible!).
Kirsten also has some good moments and I will mention a couple, firstly there is the one where Wally and Adele ride the subway and he pretends to read a paper, which he holds upside down! And Adele says to Wally "Why do you feel you have to pass for someone with 20/20 vision when you're blind as a bat?!". And Wally defensively says to her "I don't feel I have to pass" and Adele says to him "Yes, you do. It's a sickness in your brain, just like if you were trying to pass for white!" which prompts Wally to suddenly get up and shout that line "YOU MEAN I'M NOT WHITE???!".
And lastly there is the scene (SPOILER!) where Dave attempts to rescue Adele from Sutherland's grounds and Dave get's into a struggle with Eve and a henchman. And as Dave has Eve in a position to hit her, Adele yells at him "Hit her, Dave!! SMACK HER!!" but he hesitates and instead as Eve makes a move to hit Dave, she punches Eve in the face, knocking her out. And this leaves Dave stunned, yelling "Jesus!!" and Adele says to him "I grew up with brothers!".
And lastly Anthony Zerbe is also good in his role as the mastermind behind the criminal operation, Mr Sutherland, who as it turns out is also blind and he and Wally have a face off later on, which is one of the film's best non-comedic moments.
And in the scene (SPOILER AGAIN!!) after Sutherland shoots Kirgo dead, Wally suddenly has an uncomfortable thought and he says to Sutherland "How come I got the feeling I'm not the only blind man in this room?". And Sutherland says to Wally "Because you have great intuition, Mr Karew. I also suspect you have excellent hearing, like myself". And as Wally stoops down to try and find Kirgo's gun, Wally nervously says to Sutherland "I can't see your face, but I bet you're not crying" and Sutherland says "Nor can I see your face, Mr Karew, yet I can hear stooping down to find Kirgo's pistol. Am I right, sir? Or must I put a bullet through your head to prove it?".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Getting onto the director, Arthur Hiller, who also previously directed the Pryor and Wilder film, Silver Streak, does a fine job here with the pacing of the film and also keeps the tone nice and light throughout. Hiller also does well at eliciting good performances from the cast and he certainly let's Pryor and Wilder's onscreen chemistry shine through very well here.
And as for the music, well the film's score was composed by Stewart Copeland formerly of The Police, who had already previously wrote the score for Oliver Stone's drama, Wall Street. And here Copeland provides a fine upbeat and jaunty music score, which is quite synth heavy but it still works pretty well and overall its quite catchy and it suits the comedic tone of the film perfectly. The score also has more than a passing resemblance to his score for Wall Street but that doesn't detract from it as its still pretty good and worth a listen.
FLAWS
So moving to flaws.....yeah OK, See no evil, hear no evil does have some.
And to start off it has to be said that the film's simple biggest weakness is its plot, which is very thin and it is hardly original, with two guys on the run from the police and the killers and are wanted for a murder they didn't commit, the only difference here being one is blind and the other deaf. It adds a slightly different spin on things but the fugitives "on the run" thing has been done so many times before.
It is also mighty silly and far fetched to say that a blind man and a deaf man could outwit and escape the police, evade their captors and later on go on and foil the criminals. I mean I'm sure that sort of thing would happen everyday! And I'm not discriminating against anyone with visual or hearing impairments as I can hardly even imagine two people without these impairments do the same thing on their own. But again it is just a film and you have to suspend disbelief for an hour and a half or so.
And another stupid aspect of the film is also why is the gold coin so valuable??? And as an explanation all we get is that Mr Sutherland claims it is a superconductor of sorts which is very valuable, but it is hardly explained at all why it really is so useful beyond that! So in the end the whole gold coin thing is just a bit of a red herring and it feels like a last minute slapped on piece of lazy scripting, which again highlights the flaws in the wafer thin plot.
There is also the odd lapse in continuity as well as there are one or two moments in the film where you actually do get the impression that Dave can hear Wally, as there is one scene when Wally and Dave have just escaped the police and Dave leaves Wally behind briefly to check out for the police nearby and Wallys calls out his name and Dave turns back to him as if he actually heard him! But for the most part both actors play out and deal with their parts of being deaf and blind really well despite that odd lapse now and then.
Anyway so that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So to sum up See No Evil, Hear No Evil is after nearly 30 years still a highly enjoyable and very funny comedy, which really does showcase the comedic talents of Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor who provide some of the funniest moments onscreen here. And yeah OK the film has one or two niggles and its plot is mega thin but if you forgive those minor flaws then its still worth checking out.
And its a great pity that the film has now lost both of its stars with Gene Wilder having passed away now today after suffering from complications of Alzheimer's disease and there is no doubt that Hollywood today has also lost one of its best comedic talents.
So that's it for now and I will just finish by saying RIP Gene Wilder, he was one of the greats.
And I will be back sometime soon with another post.
Till then its bye for now.
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