Witness (1985 film): Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summary should be between 400 to 700 words. -->
An [[Amish]] community outside [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]], attends the funeral of Jacob Lapp, who leaves behind his wife, Rachel, and eight-year-old son, Samuel. Rachel and Samuel travel by train to visit Rachel's sister, which takes them into [[Philadelphia]]. While at the [[30th Street Station]] waiting for a connecting train, Samuel goes into the men's room and witnesses the murder of an undercover police officer Detective Ian Zenovich.
Detective SergeantCaptain John Book and his partner, Sergeant Elton Carter, are assigned to the case. They question Samuel, who is unable to identify the perpetrator from mugshots or a lineup. Samuel then sees a newspaper clipping in a trophy case of narcotics officer Lieutenant James McFee receiving an award and points him out to Book as the murderer.
Book investigates McFee and finds outdiscovers that he was previously responsible for a seizure of expensive chemicals used to make black-market [[amphetamine]]s, after which the chemicals disappeared. Book surmises that McFee sold the chemicals to drug dealers, and that the murdered police officerZenovich was investigating this. Book expresses his suspicions to Chief of Police Paul Schaeffer, who advises Book to keep the case secret so that they can determine how to proceed. Book is later ambushed in his apartment parking garage by McFee who shoots and wounds him before fleeing. Since only Schaeffer knew of Book's suspicions, Book realizes that Schaeffer is also corrupt and must have tipped off McFee.
Knowing that Samuel and Rachel are now in danger, Book orders Carter to hide the police files on Rachel and Samuel. He then drives them back to their farm. While beginning his drive back to Philadelphia, he passes out from his wounds and crashes into their [[birdhouse]]. Rachel insists that he be taken to a hospital, but Book refuses and states that going to a hospital would allow him to be found and would put Rachel and Samuel back in danger. Rachel's father-in-law, Eli, reluctantly agrees to shelter him.
Book slowly recovers in their care and begins to blend into the Amish community and lifestyle. He and Rachel develop feelings for each other. This becomes a source of friction for Daniel Hochleitner, a neighbor of the Lapps, who had hoped to court Rachel after her husband's death. Book's relationship with the Amish community deepens as they learn that he is skilled at carpentry and seems like a decent, hard-working man. He is invited to participate in a [[barn raising]] for a newly-married couple, gaining Hochleitner's respect. However, the attraction between Book and Rachel is evident and causes gossip in the tight-knit community.
Meanwhile, Schaeffer searches for Book by contacting authorities in the Amish area. SinceHowever, since Amish communities have no modern means of communication and little contact with the outside world, he hits repeated dead ends.
When Book goes into town with Eli to use a [[payphone]] to call his precinct, he learns that Carter was killed in the line of duty. Realizing that Schaeffer was behind it, Book calls him at his home (where the call cannot be traced), chastises him for being corrupt and threatens to kill him. As they leave town, a group of locals harass the Amish. Book retaliates, breaking with the Amish tradition of [[pacifism|non-violence]]. The [[assault]] is reported to the local police, and word eventually gets back to Schaeffer.
Upset with Book over the assault, Eli orders Bookhim to leave. Rachel approaches Book in a field, where they passionately embrace. Soon after, Schaeffer, McFee and another corrupt cop, Sergeant Leon "Fergie" Ferguson, arrive at the Lapp farm. They take Rachel and Eli hostage. Eli manages to alert Book, and Book tells Samuel to hide at Hochleitner's farm. Book tricks FergusonFergie into the [[Silo|corn silo]] and [[Grain entrapment|suffocates him under tons of corn]]. He then uses FergusonFergie's shotgun to kill McFee. Schaeffer holds Rachel and Eli at gunpoint, but Samuel secretly comes back to ring the Lapp farm's bell. Book confronts Schaeffer, who threatens to kill Rachel, but the bell has alerted and summoned all of the neighbors. With so many witnesses present, Schaeffer surrenders and is later arrested.
With Rachel and Samuel no longer in danger, Book departs for Philadelphia. As he's about to drive off, Eli wishes him well by saying, "You be careful out there among them English.”
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As per film's end credits:{{efn|The end credits does not list the full name of several characters including Rachel, Schaeffer, Samuel, McFee, Carter, Elaine, Fergie, Zenovich, etc.<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH9fdvR2COA|title=Witness (TV Version)|work=[[YouTube]]|time=1:47:03-1:50:24}}</ref>}}
{{cast listing|
* [[Harrison Ford]] as Detective SergeantCaptain John Book
* [[Kelly McGillis]] as Rachel Lapp
* [[Josef Sommer]] as Chief Paul Schaeffer
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==Themes==
In his book ''The Amish in the American Imagination'' (2001), scholar David Weaver-Zercher notes that ''Witness'' is primarily concerned with the intersection of contrasting cultures, a recurring theme in several of Weir's films, including ''[[The Last Wave]]'' (1977) and ''[[The Year of Living Dangerously (film)|The Year of Living Dangerously]]'' (1982).{{sfn|Weaver-Zercher|2001|p=154}} Weaver-Zercher notes that the conflict between Amish and non-Amish as depicted in ''Witness'' "reflect[s] well on the Amish ways" and also serves as a redemption story for SergeantCaptain Book, who regains a new sense of humanity during his displacement in the Amish community.{{sfn|Weaver-Zercher|2001|pages=154–155}}
==Production==
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==Release==
''Witness'' had its world premiere at the [[Fulton Opera House]] in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in on February 7, 1985.<ref name=fulton>{{cite news|url=https://lancasteronline.com/features/throwback-thursday-witness-premiered-at-fulton-30-years-ago/article_50e9324c-b2d6-11e4-ae0c-17a87103bccf.html|work=[[LNP (newspaper)|LPN]]|title=Throwback Thursday: 'Witness' premiered at Fulton 30 years ago|last=Wright|first=Mary Ellen|date=February 12, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220604040259/https://lancasteronline.com/features/throwback-thursday-witness-premiered-at-fulton-30-years-ago/article_50e9324c-b2d6-11e4-ae0c-17a87103bccf.html|archive-date=June 4, 2022}}</ref> The film was screened out of competition at the [[1985 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |urltitle=Festival de Cannes: Witness |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/927/year/1985.html |titleurl-status=dead Festival de Cannes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002065446/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/927/year/1985.html Witness|archive-date=2012-10-02 |access-date=July 8, 2009| |work= festival-cannes.com }}</ref>
===Box office===
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===Home media===
Paramount Home Entertainment released Witness on [[VHS]], with a [[DVD]] in initially in 1999 and then in 2005, along with a [[Blu-ray]] Disc in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Witness-BD-Blu-ray-Harrison-Ford/dp/B010QCI9I6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=witness+1985&qid=1696900486&sr=8-2|title=Witness (1985) Blu-ray (BD)|website=Amazon |date=October 13, 2015 |accessdate=October 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Witness-Harrison-Ford/dp/B00AEBB9UK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=witness+1985&qid=1696900486&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1&smid=A7QP4FXP92N6N|title=Witness (1985) DVD|website=Amazon |date=August 23, 2005 |accessdate=October 10, 2023}}</ref>
British boutique label [[Arrow Films]] released the film in the United States on [[Ultra-high-definition television|4K Ultra HD]] disc and remastered Blu-ray on October 31, 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Witness Ultra HD Limited Edition 4K ULTRA HD |url=https://www.arrowvideo.com/4k/witness-ultra-hd-limited-edition-4k-ultra-hd/14887485.html|title=WITNESS ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION 4K ULTRA HD|accessdate= October 10, 2023 |website=Arrow Video}}</ref>
==Reception==
{{anchor|Critics}}
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film''Witness'' holds an approval rating of 93% based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site's critics consensus states: "A wonderfully entertaining thriller within an unusual setting, with Harrison Ford delivering a surprisingly emotive and sympathetic performance."<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1023854-witness |title= Witness (1985) |work= Rotten Tomatoes |access-date= November 19, 2023}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title=Witness Reviews |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/witness |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=February 20, 2021 }}</ref>
[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' rated the film four out of four stars, calling it: {{cquote|[F]irst of all, an electrifying and poignant love story. Then it is a movie about the choices we make in life and the choices that other people make for us. Only then is it a thriller—one that [[Alfred Hitchcock]] would have been proud to make... We have lately been getting so many pallid, bloodless little movies—mostly recycled teenage exploitation films made by ambitious young stylists without a thought in their heads—that ''Witness'' arrives like a fresh new day. It is a movie about adults whose lives have dignity and whose choices matter to them. And it is also one hell of a thriller.<ref name=Ebert>{{cite web | first=Roger | last=Ebert | title=Witness | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/witness-1985 | work=RogerEbert.com | publisher=Ebert Digital LLC | date=February 8, 1985 | access-date=June 30, 2018}}</ref>
}} Ebert also praised Ford's work and claimed he had "never given a better performance in a movie."<ref name=Ebert/>
[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' was much more negative, saying of the film:
{{cquote|It's not really awful, but it's not much fun. It's pretty to look at and it contains a number of good performances, but there is something exhausting about its neat balancing of opposing manners and values... One might be made to care about all this if the direction by the talented Australian film maker, Peter Weir... were less perfunctory and if the screenplay... did not seem so strangely familiar. One follows ''Witness'' as if touring one's old hometown, guided by an outsider who refuses to believe that one knows the territory better than he does. There's not a character, an event, or a plot twist that one hasn't anticipated long before its arrival, which gives one the feeling of waiting around for people who are always late.<ref>{{cite news | first=Vincent | last=Canby | title=FILM: 'WITNESS,' A TOUGH GUY AMONG THE AMISH | work=The New York Times | url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9903E6DD1739F93BA35751C0A963948260 | date=February 8, 1985 | access-date=June 30, 2018}}</ref>}}▼
▲{{cquote|It's not really awful, but it's not much fun. It's pretty to look at and it contains a number of good performances, but there is something exhausting about its neat balancing of opposing manners and values... One might be made to care about all this if the direction by the talented Australian film maker, Peter Weir... were less perfunctory and if the screenplay... did not seem so strangely familiar. One follows ''Witness'' as if touring one's old hometown, guided by an outsider who refuses to believe that one knows the territory better than he does. There's not a character, an event, or a plot twist that one hasn't anticipated long before its arrival, which gives one the feeling of waiting around for people who are always late.<ref>{{cite news | first=Vincent | last=Canby | title=FILM: 'WITNESS,' A TOUGH GUY AMONG THE AMISH | work=The New York Times | url=httphttps://movieswww.nytimes.com/movie1985/review?res=9903E6DD1739F93BA35751C0A96394826002/08/movies/film-witness-a-tough-guy-among-the-amish.html | date=February 8, 1985 | access-date=June 30, 2018}}</ref>}}
''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said the film was "at times a gentle, affecting story of star-crossed lovers limited within the fascinating Amish community. Too often, however, this fragile romance is crushed by a thoroughly absurd shoot-'em-up, like ketchup poured over a delicate [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] dinner."<ref>{{cite news | date = December 31, 1984 | url = https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117796433.html | work = Variety | title = Witness }}</ref>▼
}}
▲''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said the film was "at times a gentle, affecting story of star-crossed lovers limited within the fascinating Amish community. Too often, however, this fragile romance is crushed by a thoroughly absurd shoot-'em-up, like ketchup poured over a delicate [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] dinner."<ref>{{cite news | date = December 31, 1984 |title=Witness |url = https://www.variety.com/review1984/film/reviews/witness-3-1200426365/VE1117796433.html |access-date=July work19, = Variety2024 | title work= Witness Variety}}</ref>
''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out New York]]'' observed, "Powerful, assured, full of beautiful imagery and thankfully devoid of easy moralizing, it also offers a performance of surprising skill and sensitivity from Ford."<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/64714/Witness.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130204120119/http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/64714/Witness.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-02-04 | title = Witness Review | work = [[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out New York]] }}</ref>
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''[[Leslie Halliwell#Halliwell's Film Guide|Halliwell's Film Guide]]'' chose ''Witness'' as one of only two films from 1985 to receive a four-star review, describing it as "one of those lucky movies which works out well on all counts and shows that there are still craftsmen lurking in Hollywood."<ref>''Halliwell's Film Guide'', 13th edition – {{ISBN|0-00-638868-X}}.</ref>
''[[Radio Times]]'' called the film "partly a love story and partly a thriller, but mainly a study of cultural collision – it's as if the world of ''[[Dirty Harry]]'' had suddenly stumbled into a canvas by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Brueghel]]." It added, "[I]t's Weir's delicacy of touch that impresses the most. He ably juggles the various elements of the story and makes the violence seem even more shocking when it's played out on the fields of Amish denial."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ferguson author|first=John |title=Witness John Fergusonreview | url = http://www.radiotimes.com/servlet_film/com.icl.beeb.rtfilms.client.simpleSearchServlet?frn=17783&searchTypeSelect=5 | work = [[Radio Times]]}}{{Dead link|date=July title 2024|fix-attempted= Witness review yes}}</ref>
===Accolades {{anchor|Awards}}===
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| [[Edward S. Feldman]]
| {{nom}}
| rowspan=8| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1986 |title=58th Academy Awards |website=oscars.org |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
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|
| {{nom}}
| rowspan=7 |<ref>{{cite web |title=Film in 1986 |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1986/film |website=BAFTA Awards |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
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|
| {{nom}}
| rowspan=6 | <ref>{{cite web |title=Witness |url=https://goldenglobes.com/film/witness/ |website=Golden Globe Awards |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
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|
| {{won}}
| rowspan=2 | <ref>{{cite web |title=KCFCC Award Winners – 1980-89 |url=https://kcfcc.org/kcfcc-award-winners-1980-89/ |website=Kansas City Film Critics Circle |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| Best Actor
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| Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley and Pamela Wallace
| {{won}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |title=1986 Awards Winners |website=wga.org |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121205095022/http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |archive-date=2012-12-05 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 21, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Directors Guild of America]]
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| Peter Weir
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web |title=38th DGA Awards Nominees |url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1980s/1985.aspx?value=1985 |website=dga.org |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Grammy Awards]]
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| Maurice Jarre
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web |title=Maurice Jarre - 28th Annual Grammy Awards |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/maurice-jarre/3470 |website=grammy.com |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[American Cinema Editors]]
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| Thom Noble
| {{won}}
| <ref>{{cite book|last1=Goodman |first1=Robert M. |last2=McGrath |first2=Patrick |year=2002 |title=Editing Digital Video: The Complete Creative and Technical Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FW59a17sdgC |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |pages=287–297 |isbn=978-0071406352 |access-date=July 20, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Australian Cinematographers Society]]
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{{Blockquote|text=This scene from the popular movie ''Witness'' captures the power of ordinary community members to contain violence. The Amish farmers were present as the third side in perhaps its most elemental form, seemingly doing nothing, but in fact playing the critical role of Witness. Like the Amish, we are all potential Witnesses.|author=[[William Ury]] |source=''The Third Side''{{sfn|Ury|2000|pages=170–171}}}}
Japanese filmmaker [[Akira Kurosawa]] cited ''Witness'' as one of his favorite films of all time.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Lee Thomas-Mason |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out |date=January 12, 2021 |publisher=Far Out Magazine |access-date=10 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Akira Kurosawa's Top 100 Movies! | url = http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ |website=wildgrounds.net | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100327124349/http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ | archive-date = 27 March 2010 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
==Notes==
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[[Category:Films about families]]
[[Category:Films about grief]]
[[Category:Films about mother–son relationships]]▼
[[Category:Films about murder]]
[[Category:Films about police misconduct]]▼
[[Category:Films about witness protection]]
[[Category:Films directed by Peter Weir]]
[[Category:Films produced by Edward S. Feldman]]
[[Category:Films set in 1984]]
[[Category:RailFilms transportset filmson farms]]▼
[[Category:Rail transport films]]
[[Category:Films set in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Films set in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Films shot in Philadelphia]]
▲[[Category:Films about police misconduct]]
[[Category:Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award]]
[[Category:Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award]]
▲[[Category:Films about mother–son relationships]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
▲[[Category:Rail transport films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]