[gthomas2]

The movie was about a young man (maybe in his early 20’s) who pretended to be deaf. Everyone talked around him (confided in him) because they knew he could not hear them. One scene included making or storing alcohol in a large vat inside a church sanctuary. A firecracker went through the window and the church blew up. The wealthy heir was in charge of the funds of the church and embezzled ‘borrowed’ money from the church. The insurance policy was not renewed. Another scene toward the end of the movie had a court scene where the ‘deaf’ man was called to the witness stand. The embezzler just laughed because he knew the man was deaf and couldn’t have heard anything. However, the dead man said he could always hear…some people fainted, others panicked about secrets becoming known. In the end, the embezzler found out that he was not the heir of the wealthy family. The formerly-deaf man was related to the family and was the first born so he became the heir. This could have been a made-for-TV-movie, I don’t recall because it has been 30+ years since I saw the movie. I appreciate it if anyone can tell me the title of this movie. Thanks!

[aliseaodo]

Think you're looking for 'What the Deaf Man Heard', here's a snippet from the plot:

James Earl Jones plays Archibald Thacker, a junk hauler along with his sons, but secretly running illegal moonshine, and getting rich in the process. The big 'secret' of this story is not revealed until the end, but Sammy was born out of wedlock and his father was the rich man of the town, and in his will left his inheritance to his eldest son, Sammy. The other son was dishonest, embezzled money from the local church. Sammy spoke the first time during the trial, as he had witnessed the plans and transgressions of the bad son. The 'daughter' was actually adopted and, since she and Sammy never did live as siblings, we see as the movie ends she and Sammy are on a bus together, heading somewhere to start new lives.

What the Deaf Man Heard (TV 1997) - IMDb