"What the Deaf Man Heard" is a 1997 Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie that aired on CBS television on November 23, 1997. It is based on the novel "What the Deaf Mute Heard" by G.D. Gearino. The movie stars Matthew Modine and James Earl Jones. The plot revolves around Sammy, a man who pretends to be deaf and mute, when in reality he can hear and speak perfectly well. After being abandoned by his mother at the age of 10, Sammy takes a vow of silence and spends twenty-six years pretending not to be able to hear or speak. The story is more plot-driven, turning on the clever device of those who speak with abandon before a young man they believe to be a deaf-mute but is not.