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Witness [DVD] [1985]

 
Witness [DVD] [1985]   Staring: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer, Lukas Haas, Jan Rubes
Director: Peter Weir
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5

List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £3.44

Read more information about Witness [DVD] [1985] at Amazon.co.uk

Product Details
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5014437802033
Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
Label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Paramount Home Entertainment
Region Code: 2
Release Date: 2000-10-02
Running Time: 108
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1985-02-08

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Editorial Review
Amazon.co.uk Review
When Samuel (Lukas Haas), a young Amish boy travelling with his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis), witnesses the murder of a police officer in a public restroom, he and his mother become the temporary wards of John Book (Harrison Ford), a detective who's been assigned to solve the crime. After suspect line-ups and mug-shot books yield nothing, Samuel, in the most memorable scene of the film, recognizes the murderer as a narcotics agent whose picture he sees in the precinct. Once Book realizes that the police chief is in on it, too, he whisks Samuel and Rachel back home to Amish country, where he himself goes into hiding as a plain Amish man. Witness' juxtaposition of the life of the Amish and the violence of inner-city police corruption work surprisingly well for the story, and Kelly McGillis as the falling in love widow gives an almost perfect performance. Directed by Peter Weir, the film is extremely successful in drawing the viewer into its world and, accordingly, is immensely entertaining. The only thing that mars its polish is the one-dimensional, almost cartoonish handling of the upper-echelon police corruption--a subtler, more realistic treatment of this aspect of the story would have rendered the film near perfect. --James McGrath, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5 Well crafted thriller with a good heart, 2008-09-06
Inventive thriller which chooses a great setting and character type to give a much needed shot of originality to a crammed genre. Ford is a great choice to play the hard cop with a soft heart and McGillis is perfection as her character. There's chemistry there too. Doesn't try to be too spectacular but instead remembers the quiet dignity of its hosts, and makes great use of this. Interweaved a good little thriller around them, and Ford's compassion for his new friends sets the seal on a class thriller.

Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5 Meditative, beautiful - near perfect, 2007-06-21
Like many other Peter Weir films (see Truman Show and Mosquito Coast, for example), Witness juxtaposes two very different worlds, highlighting both the value and the shortcomings of each. In this slow, meditative film, Book's immersion into the Amish world is beautifully handled, mirroring the viewer's own immersion. The love story, for once, rings true and is extremely touching. There are numerous memorable scenes - the throat-cutting scene in the public toilet near the beginning, Samuel recognising the perpetrator as the narcotics officer in the police station, the barn-building scene, and the death-by-corn scene near the end. A beautiful, near-perfect film.

Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5 A Harrison Ford Classic, 2006-01-27
I do love this flick, despite its age. Although the plot is a little lacking as far as the details of the crime, the juxtaposition of the Philadelphia cop and the Amish is quite nice. The Amish German is quite interesting as well, they have a funny accent - I'm not certain if it is the actors or truly represents their normal speach. Despite the small amount of gun-play compared to a contemporary cop-flick, there is still quite a bit of tension. Worth seeing.

Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5 Timeless classic, 2007-06-24
Slow moving, but fabulous film, giving wonderful insight into Amish community life. The plot revolves around protecting a young Amish boy who witnessed the murder of an undercover cop by another cop.
A few 'f' words here and one instance of nudity, but mild by today's standards. Generally a thrilling warm movie that should be appreciated by all the family.

Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5 Slow, un-moving and positively boring in parts!!!, 2008-05-10
I'd never seen this film before, I purchsed this as part of a triple pack together with Clear and present danger and K-19: The Widowmaker, I watched all of these trailers and decided that 2 were well worth buying (I was correct after viewing them), but this film looked like it was ok and that was about it.

There simply is not enough going on in this film to engage you for the entire 1 hour 45 minutes running time, several times I had to fast forward over some scenes as all that was going on was music playing with very little going on.

The acting from everyone was poor, Harrison Ford gave the best performance, but that's really not saying much, this film could and should have been alot better than it is, the worst thing is that the bad guys simply were not particularly bad, menacing or believable, there's only one of them that I recognise, indeed only 3 members of the entire cast for that matter, after these performances it's not hard to see why!!

From Star Wars to The Fugitive to Air Force One I've always enjoyed Harrison Ford, he's a good solid actor, but he should have avoided this one like the plague, I rarely buy films from the 80's or before, this kind of film is the very reason why.