Synopsis
A sheltered Amish child is the sole witness of a brutal murder in a restroom at a Philadelphia train station, and he must be protected. The assignment falls to a taciturn detective who goes undercover in a Pennsylvania Dutch community. On the farm, he slowly assimilates despite his urban grit, and forges a romantic bond with the child's beautiful mother.
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Cast
- Harrison FordDet. Capt. John Book
- Kelly McGillisRachel Lapp
- Josef SommerChief Paul Schaeffer
- Lukas HaasSamuel Lapp
- Jan RubešEli Lapp
- Alexander GodunovDaniel Hochleitner
- Danny GloverMcFee
- Brent JenningsCarter
- Patti LuPoneElaine
- Angus MacInnesFergie
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
This is, first of all, an electrifying and poignant love story....And it is also one hell of a thriller. - 100
Empire
Arguably Harrison Ford’s finest performance, and one of the strongest thrillers to emerge from the heady gloss of the ‘80s, this is director Peter Weir at his most adept. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
Sure-footed thriller, beautifully photographed, with Ford's best performance thus far. - 88
ReelViews
Witness states its position about clashing cultures with eloquence. - 88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Witness is satisfying on so many levels it stands with "Cabaret" and "The Godfather II" as an example of how a director in love with his medium can redeem its mainstream cliches. [07 Feb 1985] - 70
Chicago Reader
Peter Weir, the standard-bearer of the Australian Tradition of Quality, is on hand to smother all the contrivances in his solemn, academic style, and the result is a moderately effective, highly affected thriller. - 70
The New York Times
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. - 70
Time
Witness, which is one of the most originally conceived and gracefully made suspense dramas of recent years, to work into edgy juxtaposition the representatives of two subcultures that are ordinarily mutually exclusive.
