Classic of the Month: Witness

Dir: Peter Weir, US, 1985, Thriller/Drama/Romance.
Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas, Jan Rubes.
Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, Director, and Actor; Winner for Best Screenplay and Editing.
“Witness begins like many thrillers, with a murder, this time at a city railway station. The killing is witnessed by a small boy who is a member of the Amish community… Pursued by the bad guys, the boy and his widowed mother are protected by a cop, who takes them back to their village and awaits the killers' arrival, just as Gary Cooper did in High Noon… Witness is partly a love story and partly a thriller, but mainly a study of cultural collision… 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… 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.” - John Ferguson, Radio Times (UK)

Genre: Crime

Runtime: 112 min

Rating: 14A