Home
Witness

Page

Witness

Summary
How to watch
News & features

❚ We may earn commission from links on this page. Our editorial is always independent (learn more).

Watch trailer

01:16

Witness

Name: Witness
Director: Peter Weir
Genre: Crime/detective, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Released: 1985
Duration: 1 h 47 min
Cast: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer, Lukas Haas, Jan Rubes

Save

Crime/detective
Drama

1985
Peter Weir
107 mins
15

Summary

Romantic thriller starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. Tough cop John Book is assigned to protect Rachel Lapp, a member of the reclusive Amish community, after her son witnesses a murder on a rare trip to the city. Forced to run for their lives, the trio flees to the Lapps' home - a rural refuge unchanged by modern technology and governed by devout pacifist beliefs. But the violence of the outside world is never far away.

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

John Ferguson

Witness begins like many thrillers, with a murder, this time at a city railway station. The killing is witnessed by a small boy (Lukas Haas) who is a member of the Amish community, a religious sect living in rural Pennsylvania that eschews as much of modern life - notably machinery - as they can. Pursued by the bad guys, the boy and his widowed mother (Kelly McGillis) are protected by a cop (Harrison Ford), who takes them back to their village and awaits the killers' arrival, just as Gary Cooper did in High Noon. Directed by Australian Peter Weir, Witness is 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 Brueghel. This bucolic world is brilliantly evoked: there is a magical barn-raising scene, a beautiful sequence when an embarrassed yet lustful Ford discovers a half-naked McGillis in the middle of her ablutions, and a telling episode as the Amish endure the hostility of the tourists who gawp at them. The performances are immaculate, with Ford shining in his first serious dramatic role after his action escapades as Han Solo and Indiana Jones. McGillis is perfectly cast, the camera adoring her Nordic beauty beneath her bonnet, and Haas looks suitably wide-eyed and innocent. There are also fine turns by Alexander Godunov as McGillis's suitor, and Danny Glover as one of the heavies. Yet it'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.

imdb-square

7.3/10

How to watch

Loading

Streaming

Credits

Cast

rolenameJohn BookHarrison FordRachel LappKelly McGillisDeputy Commissioner SchaefferJosef SommerSamuel LappLukas HaasEli LappJan RubesDaniel HochleitnerAlexander GodunovMcFeeDanny GloverCarterBrent JenningsElainePatti LuPoneFergieAngus MacInnesStoltzfusFrederick RolfMoses HochleitnerViggo MortensenBishop TchantzJohn GarsonMrs YoderBeverly MaySheriffEd CrowleyZenovichTimothy Carhart