While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.
- Won 2 Oscars
- 13 wins & 28 nominations total
The Life and Times of Harrison Ford
The Life and Times of Harrison Ford
Take a look back at Harrison Ford's movie career in photos.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn preparation for her role, Kelly McGillis lived with an actual Amish widow and her seven children for a while before filming began to get the speech cadence down and to observe the daily life of an Amish widowed mother.
- GoofsJohn Book's Volkswagen hit the birdhouse and broke its windshield. Later the car is seen in the barn with an unbroken windshield.
- Crazy creditsThe closing shot of John Book driving away in his car passing Daniel provides an initial backdrop for the end credits.
- Alternate versionsIn the original theatrical stereo mix, just after John Book is shot, we see a close-up of his gun and a voice-over from an earlier conversation Book had with the captain. We hear the words: "Who else knows about this? "Just you and me." In the DVD version, which contains a remixed 5.1 track, we see the close-up of the gun and then it segues to Book's sister waking up Rachel and her son Samuel, but the voice-over is missing. In addition to that, there are also new sound effects like ambient noise and especially gunshots added throughout. However Arrow's 2023 4K release restores the theatrical mix which contains the original sound effects and the missing parking garage dialogue.
- Soundtracks(What a) Wonderful World
(1959)
Written by Sam Cooke, Herb Alpert and Lou Adler
Performed by Greg Chapman
Courtesy of Abkco Music, Inc.
Featured review
When two worlds collide
Witness" works on 3 levels – as a thriller , drama and romance. The thriller elements of the movie appear at the beginning and the ending of the movie, while the middle of the film is basically a drama with a love story in it. It's an interesting combination and while it might not work for those who like pure thrillers or dramas it certainly worked for me. One has to remember that "Witness" is first a electrifying and poignant love story , then the thriller. A romantic thriller.
It's a movie worth watching just for the fact that is first and one of the few films to focus on Amish culture. As a kid I would laugh at their philosophy of life . The more and more I'm getting older the more I'm thinking they are right. The Amish way of life has many virtues - they have a deep faith in God , pacifism , sense of community.
"Witness" is a story about cultural clash between two completely different worlds. Both cultures are forced to come together. Each one had to search out the moralities, prejudices and actions of the other. The film is thankfully devoid of easy moralizing.
It's an interesting thing that Sylvester Stallone ("Rocky") and Jack Nicholson ("One flew over the cuckoo nest") were considered for the role of John Book . While I do believe that they would handle the role very well , I'm happy that Harrison Ford ("Raiders of the lost ark") got the part in the end. Harrison Ford gives his finest performance in "Witness" , the only one which got him an Oscar nomination. Hord walks away from his hero persona (Indiana Jones , Han Solo). His John Book isn't stereotypical cynical and strong cop. His tough enough to be convincing as a city cop , but it's more about his sense of duty and dignity. It's interesting how the film uses Ford's real-life carpenter's talent. Kelly McGillis ("Top gun") also gives a great and underrated performance , the best in her career. Her Rachel is very sensible and lonely woman , who finds soul mate in Book. Both Ford and McGillis have a wonderful chemistry together . The say much more by the things they don't say (for example the bating scene , the dance scene). The romantic plot reaches it's climax with one of the best on-screen kisses in the history of film. This brief-scene is powerful , sincere and moving. The love story here is beautiful and tragic.
Danny Glover("Lethal weapon") does a nice job as the bad guy. Who could forget Lukas Haas ("Inception") as the Amish kid. His cheerful , colorful face is something that can't go unseen. Watch out for Viggo Mortensen ("The Lord of the rings " trilogy) in his debut as an Amish.
Peter Weir gives a brilliant direction . This is a simple story wit heart . Every dramatic moment is powerful and every small scene is important. Weir isn't a action/thriller director , yet he gives us great Hitchcockian set pieces such as the scene in the toilet and the final confrontation in style of "High noon" (silo death).
The screenplay quite rightfully won the Oscar. The film's script by Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley and Pamela Wallace has become a frequent model for budding screenwriters, often used to display clear structure in a screenplay. It is a film about adults, whose lives have dignity and whose choices matter to them just like it's a story about cops.
The soundtrack by Maurice Jarre is good , but I think it would have sounded much better with real orchestra instead of synthesizer. John Searle's cinematography is gorgeous – the scene of raising the barn is cinematic lyricism.
Highly recommended. I give it 8/10.
It's a movie worth watching just for the fact that is first and one of the few films to focus on Amish culture. As a kid I would laugh at their philosophy of life . The more and more I'm getting older the more I'm thinking they are right. The Amish way of life has many virtues - they have a deep faith in God , pacifism , sense of community.
"Witness" is a story about cultural clash between two completely different worlds. Both cultures are forced to come together. Each one had to search out the moralities, prejudices and actions of the other. The film is thankfully devoid of easy moralizing.
It's an interesting thing that Sylvester Stallone ("Rocky") and Jack Nicholson ("One flew over the cuckoo nest") were considered for the role of John Book . While I do believe that they would handle the role very well , I'm happy that Harrison Ford ("Raiders of the lost ark") got the part in the end. Harrison Ford gives his finest performance in "Witness" , the only one which got him an Oscar nomination. Hord walks away from his hero persona (Indiana Jones , Han Solo). His John Book isn't stereotypical cynical and strong cop. His tough enough to be convincing as a city cop , but it's more about his sense of duty and dignity. It's interesting how the film uses Ford's real-life carpenter's talent. Kelly McGillis ("Top gun") also gives a great and underrated performance , the best in her career. Her Rachel is very sensible and lonely woman , who finds soul mate in Book. Both Ford and McGillis have a wonderful chemistry together . The say much more by the things they don't say (for example the bating scene , the dance scene). The romantic plot reaches it's climax with one of the best on-screen kisses in the history of film. This brief-scene is powerful , sincere and moving. The love story here is beautiful and tragic.
Danny Glover("Lethal weapon") does a nice job as the bad guy. Who could forget Lukas Haas ("Inception") as the Amish kid. His cheerful , colorful face is something that can't go unseen. Watch out for Viggo Mortensen ("The Lord of the rings " trilogy) in his debut as an Amish.
Peter Weir gives a brilliant direction . This is a simple story wit heart . Every dramatic moment is powerful and every small scene is important. Weir isn't a action/thriller director , yet he gives us great Hitchcockian set pieces such as the scene in the toilet and the final confrontation in style of "High noon" (silo death).
The screenplay quite rightfully won the Oscar. The film's script by Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley and Pamela Wallace has become a frequent model for budding screenwriters, often used to display clear structure in a screenplay. It is a film about adults, whose lives have dignity and whose choices matter to them just like it's a story about cops.
The soundtrack by Maurice Jarre is good , but I think it would have sounded much better with real orchestra instead of synthesizer. John Searle's cinematography is gorgeous – the scene of raising the barn is cinematic lyricism.
Highly recommended. I give it 8/10.
Helpful•241
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Testigo en peligro
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $12,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $68,706,993
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,539,990
- Feb 10, 1985
- Gross worldwide
- $68,706,993
- Runtime1 hour 52 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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