{"id":9948,"date":"2024-12-11T17:30:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T22:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9948"},"modified":"2024-12-11T17:30:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T22:30:45","slug":"witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/11\/witness\/","title":{"rendered":"Witness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Witness<\/strong> (1985)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 112 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Weir\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Earl W. Wallace and William Kelley\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Maurice Jarre\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Seale\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 8, 1985 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas, Josef Sommer, James Rubes, Alexander Godunov, Danny Glover, Brent Jennings, Patti LuPone, Angus MacInnes, Frederick Rolf, Viggo Mortensen, Timothy Carhart.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $68.7M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0It was a big deal here in my neck of the woods when Witness<\/strong> opened in February 1985. It was filmed in Philadelphia and Lancaster. I saw it opening weekend at a Saturday matinee and the theater (the long-closed Eric Wynnewood) was packed. I\u2019m lucky I got a seat. At the time, I wasn\u2019t too familiar with the City of Brotherly Love, but I had visited Lancaster several times with my family as a child. Still, it was cool seeing places near to me represented on the big screen. Besides, it was a great movie. I ended up seeing it three times at the movies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Peter Weir (The Year of Living Dangerously), Witness<\/strong> isn\u2019t just one thing. It\u2019s billed as a cop thriller, but it\u2019s so much more than that. In fact, it\u2019s just an aspect of the film. It\u2019s also a love story between a man and a woman from different worlds. He\u2019s a big city cop; she\u2019s an Amish woman. They never would have met had it not been for the murder that sets the plot in motion. Recently widowed Rachel Lapp (McGillis, Top Gun) and her 8YO son Samuel (Haas, Testament) are taking a train trip to Baltimore to visit family when fate intervenes during a stopover in Philadelphia. While using the restroom, Samuel witnesses the brutal murder of an undercover cop. He narrowly escapes being killed himself. The detective assigned to the case, John Book (Ford, Star Wars), needs the boy to identify the killer. Rachel tries to explain that their laws have nothing to do with her and her son, but Book is intent on bringing the killer to justice. The killer turns out to be a corrupt hero cop (Glover, Lethal Weapon) who was involved in the disappearance of a large amount of a chemical used to make illegal drugs. This, of course, puts the boy\u2019s life in danger.<\/p>\n

\u00a0After an attempt on his life, Book drives Rachel and Samuel back to Lancaster, all the while bleeding out from a gunshot wound. This is where Witness<\/strong> shifts gears. Even though the Amish community generally doesn\u2019t accept outsiders, Book is allowed to stay with Rachel and her father-in-law Eli (Rubes, Dead of Winter) while he recovers. During this time, Book and Rachel become attracted to each other. Most movies would allow this to lead to a torrid sex scene. Weir and the writers Earl W. Wallace and William Kelley handle it differently by having Book acknowledge that they can never be together in one of the sexiest non-sex scenes I\u2019ve ever seen. The reality is that Rachel and her son would be shunned by her people if she gets involved with the outsider. There\u2019s a lot at stake at here.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There\u2019s something else going on in Witness<\/strong> that\u2019s uncommon to crime thrillers. Not only is it an observation of an insular culture, it also shows the contrast between chaotic life in a gritty city and the simple life in the country. The beautiful natural landscapes play as big a role in Witness<\/strong> as the Australian Outback did in Weir\u2019s 1981 drama Gallipoli. Then, of course, there\u2019s the beauty and simplicity of everyday life among the Amish. They are a people who eschew all things modern in favor of their ancestors\u2019 ways. Their homes have no electricity, their clothing has hooks instead of buttons (buttons are considered proud) and they get around by horse and carriage. They also deplore violence; they favor tolerance over \u201cwhacking people\u201d (as Rachel puts it). They are a plain people, deeply suspicious of \u201cthe English\u201d (as outsiders are commonly referred to). Whether it\u2019s milking a cow or raising a barn, their rural lifestyle is decidedly easier than hunting criminals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a cop thriller, Witness<\/strong> is superior. Instead of the usual one-man-army scenario, Weir gives us a believable story with believable characters. It\u2019s a simple case of police corruption and the cop who uncovers it only to be betrayed by somebody he thought was on his side. Ford is terrific as the tough, square-jawed cop with a strong moral code. He manages to sneak in a bit of humor, delivered with his trademark sly smile, with scenes like the one where he quotes a famous commercial to a family that has never owned a TV. Their blank reaction is priceless. He has amazing chemistry with McGillis who gives a great performance as a woman torn between desire and tradition. Young Haas is very good as Samuel, a smart kid facing the dangers of the outside world. Rubes has some good moments as the kind but strict father-in-law who acts as a moral compass to Rachel struggling with temptation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The climax of Witness<\/strong> is cool as Book goes up against his foes while holding true to his promise to keep the boy safe. There\u2019s also a great scene where Book defends an Amish man from town bullies. What I find remarkable about Witness<\/strong> is its quietude. For long stretches, it\u2019s an observation of a culture of which outsiders rarely get such a good inside look. It\u2019s that rare film that works on every level it attempts. It\u2019s slick, beautiful, insightful and romantic. It is truly masterful filmmaking. This one rates a 10 (out of 10) on the repeat watchability scale.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Witness (1985)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paramount\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 112 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Weir\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Earl W. Wallace and William Kelley\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Maurice Jarre\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: John Seale\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 8, 1985 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas, Josef Sommer, James Rubes, Alexander Godunov, Danny Glover, Brent Jennings, Patti LuPone, Angus MacInnes, Frederick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Witness-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9948"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10319,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948\/revisions\/10319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}