Taglines: …I’ll never tell.
A group of thieves steal a rare gem, but in the process, two of the men double cross the leader of the thieving group, Patrick, and take off with the precious stone. Ten years later, prominent psychiatrist Nathan Conrad is invited to examine a disturbed young woman named Elisabeth. Patrick immediately kidnaps Nathan’s daughter, forcing Nathan to attempt to get Elisabeth to reveal a secret number which will ultimately lead Patrick to the whereabouts of the precious gem that has eluded him.
Don’t Say a Word is a 2001 American psychological thriller film starring Michael Douglas, Lorli Villanueva, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen, Sean Bean, Jennifer Esposito, Oliver Platt, Skye McCole Bartusiak and Paul Schulze based on the novel of the same title by Andrew Klavan. Don’t Say a Word was directed by Gary Fleder and written by Anthony Peckham and Patrick Smith Kelly.
About the Story
In 1991, a gang of thieves steal a rare $10-million gem, but, in the process, two of the gang double-cross their leader, Patrick Koster (Sean Bean) and take off with the precious stone.
Ten years later, on the day before Thanksgiving, prominent private practice Manhattan child psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas), is invited by his friend and former colleague, Dr. Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt), to examine a disturbed young lady named Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy) at the state sanatorium.
Having been released from prison on November 4, Patrick and the remaining gang members break into an apartment which overlooks Nathan’s apartment, where he lives with his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) and daughter Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). That evening, Patrick kidnaps the psychiatrist’s daughter as a means of forcing him to acquire a six-digit number from Elisabeth’s memory.
As Nathan visits Elisabeth, she is reluctant at first, but he gains her trust later—especially when he reveals that his daughter has been kidnapped and will be killed if he doesn’t get the number they want. Dr. Sachs admits to Nathan that the gang who kidnapped Jessie also kidnapped his girlfriend to force him to acquire the number from Elisabeth. Sachs is then visited by Detective Sandra Cassidy (Jennifer Esposito) who reveals to him that his girlfriend has been found dead.
Meanwhile, Aggie hears Jessie’s voice and realizes the kidnappers reside in the apartment nearby. The kidnappers send one of them to kill Aggie while the others escape with Jessie, but Aggie sets an ambush and kills him. After Nathan takes Elisabeth out of the sanatorium, she remembers certain events regarding the gang.
It is revealed that Elisabeth’s dad was a member of the gang that committed the robbery ten years prior and that he double-crossed them and took the stolen gem. However, other members of the gang later found him and ordered him to reveal where he had hidden the gem, subsequently pushing him in front of a subway train.
The gang members were arrested immediately, and Elisabeth escaped with her doll in which the gem was hidden. She also remembers that the required number, 815508, is the number of her father’s grave at Hart Island and that her doll is placed beside him in the coffin. She explains that she had stowed away on a boat that was taking her father’s coffin for burial in Potter’s field on Hart Island, where the gravediggers put the doll, named Mischka, inside.
Don’t Say a Word (2001)
Directed by: Gary Fleder
Starring: Michael Douglas, Lorli Villanueva, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen, Sean Bean, Jennifer Esposito, Oliver Platt, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Paul Schulze
Screenplay by: Andrew Klavan, Anthony Peckham
Production Design by: Nelson Coates
Cinematography by: Amir Mokri
Film Editing by: Armen Minasian, William Steinkamp
Costume Design by: Ellen Mirojnick
Set Decoration by: Carolyn ‘Cal’ Loucks
Art Direction by: Dennis Davenport
Music by: Mark Isham
MPAA Rating: R for violence, including some gruesome images, and language,
Distributed by: 20th Century Fax
Release Date: September 28, 2001
Visits: 152
