Witness (1985 film)
Encyclopedia
Witness is a 1985 American thriller film directed by Peter Weir
and starring Harrison Ford
and Kelly McGillis
. The screenplay by William Kelley, Pamela Wallace
, and Earl W. Wallace
focuses on a detective protecting a young Amish
boy who becomes the target of a ruthless killer after he witnesses a murder in Philadelphia.
The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards
and won two, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing
. It was also nominated for seven BAFTA Awards, winning one for Maurice Jarre
's score, and was also nominated for six Golden Globe Awards. William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
and the 1986 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay presented by the Mystery Writers of America
. The film is also notable as the screen debut of future star Viggo Mortensen
. The film's script is a frequent model for budding screenwriters, often used to display clear structure in a script.
), a young Amish
widow, and her 8-year-old son Samuel (Lukas Haas
) are traveling by train to visit Rachel's sister. At the 30th Street Station
in Philadelphia, little Samuel witnesses a brutal murder. Captain John Book (Harrison Ford
) is the policeman assigned to the case.
The young Samuel Lapp witnessed the murder, a slashing, in the bathroom and escaped the killers' detection by hiding in a stall. Book and his partner, Sergeant Carter (Brent Jennings) question Samuel. Initially he is unable to identify the perpetrator from mug shot
photograph
s or an identity parade, but notices a newspaper cutting at the police station with a picture of highly regarded narcotics officer James McFee (Danny Glover
) and recognizes him as the killer. Book remembers that McFee was previously responsible for a drug raid where evidence disappeared from the police department.
Unbeknownst to Book, his superior officer, Chief Paul Schaeffer (Josef Sommer
) is also involved in the corruption. When Book tells him his suspicions, Schaeffer advises Book to keep the case secret so they can work out how to move forward with it. As Book returns home, he is ambush
ed by McFee in a parking garage, nearly killed, badly wounded. Since only Schaeffer had been told, Book realizes Schaeffer must have warned McFee and is in on everything.
With a sense of urgency, Book asks his partner Carter to remove and destroy the entire Lapp file. Book then hides his Dodge and uses his sister's VW to return Rachel and Samuel to Lancaster County. After the Lapp's safe arrival in rural Pennsylvania, Book collapses from loss of blood in his vehicle in front of the Lapp farm.
Refusing hospitalization, Book is gradually tended back to health by the Amish. As John Book heals, he begins to develop feelings for Rachel. The Lapps' neighbor, Daniel Hochleitner (Alexander Godunov
) had himself hoped to court her and this becomes a cause of friction. Later Rachel and John are caught dancing – a disrespect to the conservative Amish way of life. Rachel’s father-in-law, Eli, takes her aside and warns that if she continues she could be shunned
(ostracized) by the community.
Meanwhile Book is still avoiding police detection, the gauntlet tightening, Book is informed via payphone that his partner Carter has since died on duty. While still in town, Hochleitner and the other Amish men are harassed by local thugs who assume from Book's traditional attire that he too is Amish. Breaking with the Amish tradition of nonviolence, Book retaliates. The fight gets notice from the local townspeople and is reported to the police. The news reaches Schaeffer.
John subsequently comes upon Rachel as she bathes, and she stands naked without shame before him. The two realize they are in love and meet secretly. Rachel removes her bonnet and kisses John passionately.
McFee, Schaeffer, and "Fergie" Ferguson (Angus MacInnes
), the second killer at the train station, arrive at the Lapp farm with loaded pump action shotgun
s. Book, unarmed and in the barn talking with Samuel, orders Samuel to run to the neighbors for safety. The trio split up and search for Book. John tricks Fergie into the corn silo and suffocates him under tons of corn. He retrieves Fergie's shotgun and kills McFee. A crazed Schaeffer then forces Rachel and Eli out of the house at gunpoint; Eli signs to Samuel (who returned unseen upon hearing gunfire) to ring the warning bell. Although Schaeffer briefly forces Book to surrender to him, the loud clanging summons all other Amish within earshot. With so many witnesses present it is clear to Schaeffer that he cannot escape, and he finally gives his gun to Book and collapses.
As Schaeffer is taken by local police and Book prepares to leave, he shares a quiet moment with Samuel, then exchanges a silent, loving gaze with Rachel. Eli bids Book goodbye for his return to Philadelphia by saying, "you be careful out among the English [i.e., non-Amish]", the same as he had said to Rachel at the beginning of the film, showing Book that he now respects him comparably to the people of his own faith. As Book drives away from the Lapp farm, he passes Hochleitner, presumably on his way to court Rachel, and exchanges an amicable wave of farewell.
, who was in a "first-look" development deal with 20th Century Fox
at the time, first received the screenplay for Witness in 1983. Originally entitled Called Home (which is the Amish term for death), it ran 182 pages long, the equivalent of three hours of screen time. The script, which had been circulating in Hollywood for several years, had been inspired by an episode of Gunsmoke
William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace had written in the 1970s.
Feldman liked the concept but felt too much of the script was devoted to Amish traditions, diluting the thriller aspects of the story. He offered Kelley and Wallace $25,000 for a one-year option and one rewrite, and an additional $225,000 if the film actually was made. They submitted the revised screenplay in less than six weeks, and Feldman delivered it to Fox. Joe Wizan, the studio's head of production, rejected it with the statement that Fox didn't make "rural movies".
Feldman sent the screenplay to Harrison Ford's agent Phil Gersh
, who contacted the producer four days later and advised him his client was willing to commit to the film. Certain the attachment of a major star would change Wizan's mind, Feldman approached him once again, but Wizan insisted that as much as the studio liked Ford, they still weren't interested in making a "rural movie."
Feldman sent the screenplay to numerous studios and was rejected by all of them, until Paramount Pictures
finally expressed interest. Feldman's first choice of director was Peter Weir
, but he was involved in pre-production work for The Mosquito Coast
and passed on the project. John Badham
dismissed it as "just another cop movie", and others Feldman approached either were committed to other projects or had no interest. Then, as financial backing for The Mosquito Coast fell through, Weir became free to direct Witness, which was his first American film. It was imperative filming start immediately, because a Directors Guild of America
strike was looming on the horizon.
The film was shot on location in Philadelphia and the city and towns of Intercourse
, Lancaster
, Strasburg
and Parkesburg. Local Amish were willing to work as carpenters and electricians but declined to appear on film, so many of the extras
actually were Mennonite
s. Halfway through filming, the title was changed from Called Home to Witness at the behest of Paramount's marketing department, which felt the original title posed too much of a promotional challenge. Principal photography was completed three days before the scheduled DGA strike, which ultimately failed to materialize.
There are a few times the dialect of the Pennsylvania Germans
, popularly known as Pennsylvania Dutch, is heard in the film. In one scene, during construction of the new barn, a man says to John Book, "Du huschd hott gschofft. Sell waar guud!," which means "You worked hard. That was good!" But more often the Amish characters are heard speaking High German
, the standard language of most German-speaking Europeans, which actually is used rarely by the Amish
in particular, or Pennsylvania Germans
in general.
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
rated the film four out of four stars, calling it "first of all, an electrifying and poignant love story. Then it is a movie about the choices we make in life and the choices that other people make for us. Only then is it a thriller—one that Alfred Hitchcock
would have been proud to make." He concluded, "We have lately been getting so many pallid, bloodless little movies—mostly recycled teenage exploitation films made by ambitious young stylists without a thought in their heads—that Witness arrives like a fresh new day. It is a movie about adults, whose lives have dignity and whose choices matter to them. And it is also one hell of a thriller."
Vincent Canby
of the New York Times said of the film, "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… One might be made to care about all this if the direction by the talented Australian film maker, Peter Weir… were less perfunctory and if the screenplay… did not seem so strangely familiar. One follows Witness as if touring one's old hometown, guided by an outsider who refuses to believe that one knows the territory better than he does. There's not a character, an event or a plot twist that one hasn't anticipated long before its arrival, which gives one the feeling of waiting around for people who are always late."
Variety
said the film was "at times a gentle, affecting story of star-crossed lovers limited within the fascinating Amish community. Too often, however, this fragile romance is crushed by a thoroughly absurd shoot-em-up, like ketchup poured over a delicate Pennsylvania Dutch
dinner."
Time Out New York observed, "Powerful, assured, full of beautiful imagery and thankfully devoid of easy moralising, it also offers a performance of surprising skill and sensitivity from Ford."
Radio Times
called the film "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." It added, "[I]t'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."
The film was screened out of competition at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival
.
, agreed not to promote the Amish communities as future film sites.
There were satirical references to Witness in a sixth season episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun
.
. It remained at #2 for the next three weeks and finally topped the charts in its fifth week of release. It eventually earned $68,706,993 in the US.
format with audio tracks in English and French. The sole bonus feature is an interview with director Peter Weir.
The film was released on Region 2 DVD on October 2, 2000. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English, French, German, Italian, Czech, Spanish, and Polish and subtitles in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Danish, Hungarian, Dutch, Finnish, and Croatian. Bonus features include an interview with Weir and the original trailer.
A Special Collector's Edition was released on Region 1 DVD on August 23, 2005. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features include the five-part documentary Between Two Worlds: The Making of Witness, a deleted scene, the original theatrical trailer, and three television ads. The Special Collector's Edition was released on Region 2 DVD on 19 February 2007, with different cover art and more extensive language and audio/subtitle options for European countries.
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
and starring Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
and Kelly McGillis
Kelly McGillis
Kelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
. The screenplay by William Kelley, Pamela Wallace
Pamela Wallace
Pamela Wallace is an American screenwriter and author. She won an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for the movie Witness. Wallace has also written 25 romance novels, under her own name and the pseudonyms Pamela Simpson and Dianne King.-Screenwriting:Pamela Wallace co-wrote her first...
, and Earl W. Wallace
Earl W. Wallace
Earl W. Wallace is an award-winning American screen and television writer who began his career in the 1970s writing episodes of the hit CBS Western series Gunsmoke, one of which inspired him, his wife Pamela, and William Kelley to develop the screenplay for the 1985 film Witness.Wallace adapted the...
focuses on a detective protecting a young Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
boy who becomes the target of a ruthless killer after he witnesses a murder in Philadelphia.
The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
and won two, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
. It was also nominated for seven BAFTA Awards, winning one for Maurice Jarre
Maurice Jarre
Maurice-Alexis Jarre was a French composer and conductor.Although he composed several concert works, he is best known for his film scores, and is particularly known for his collaborations with film director David Lean. Jarre composed the scores to all of Lean's films since Lawrence of Arabia...
's score, and was also nominated for six Golden Globe Awards. William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award....
and the 1986 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay presented by the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
. The film is also notable as the screen debut of future star Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...
. The film's script is a frequent model for budding screenwriters, often used to display clear structure in a script.
Plot
Rachel Lapp (Kelly McGillisKelly McGillis
Kelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
), a young Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
widow, and her 8-year-old son Samuel (Lukas Haas
Lukas Haas
Lukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
) are traveling by train to visit Rachel's sister. At the 30th Street Station
30th Street Station
30th Street Station is the main railroad station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the five stations in SEPTA's Center City fare zone. It is also a major stop on Amtrak's Northeast and Keystone Corridors...
in Philadelphia, little Samuel witnesses a brutal murder. Captain John Book (Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
) is the policeman assigned to the case.
The young Samuel Lapp witnessed the murder, a slashing, in the bathroom and escaped the killers' detection by hiding in a stall. Book and his partner, Sergeant Carter (Brent Jennings) question Samuel. Initially he is unable to identify the perpetrator from mug shot
Mug shot
A mug shot, mugshot or booking photograph, is a photographic portrait taken after one is arrested. The purpose of the mug shot is to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of the arrested individual to allow for identification by victims and investigators. Most mug shots are two-part,...
photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s or an identity parade, but notices a newspaper cutting at the police station with a picture of highly regarded narcotics officer James McFee (Danny Glover
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
) and recognizes him as the killer. Book remembers that McFee was previously responsible for a drug raid where evidence disappeared from the police department.
Unbeknownst to Book, his superior officer, Chief Paul Schaeffer (Josef Sommer
Josef Sommer
Josef Sommer is an American film actor.He was born Maximilian Josef Sommer in Greifswald, Germany and was raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemons Sommer, a professor of art history at the University of North Carolina. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology...
) is also involved in the corruption. When Book tells him his suspicions, Schaeffer advises Book to keep the case secret so they can work out how to move forward with it. As Book returns home, he is ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
ed by McFee in a parking garage, nearly killed, badly wounded. Since only Schaeffer had been told, Book realizes Schaeffer must have warned McFee and is in on everything.
With a sense of urgency, Book asks his partner Carter to remove and destroy the entire Lapp file. Book then hides his Dodge and uses his sister's VW to return Rachel and Samuel to Lancaster County. After the Lapp's safe arrival in rural Pennsylvania, Book collapses from loss of blood in his vehicle in front of the Lapp farm.
Refusing hospitalization, Book is gradually tended back to health by the Amish. As John Book heals, he begins to develop feelings for Rachel. The Lapps' neighbor, Daniel Hochleitner (Alexander Godunov
Alexander Godunov
Alexander Borisovich Godunov was a Russian-American ballet danseur and film actor, whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the USA and the USSR.-Biography:...
) had himself hoped to court her and this becomes a cause of friction. Later Rachel and John are caught dancing – a disrespect to the conservative Amish way of life. Rachel’s father-in-law, Eli, takes her aside and warns that if she continues she could be shunned
Shunning
Shunning can be the act of social rejection, or mental rejection. Social rejection is when a person or group deliberately avoids association with, and habitually keeps away from an individual or group. This can be a formal decision by a group, or a less formal group action which will spread to all...
(ostracized) by the community.
Meanwhile Book is still avoiding police detection, the gauntlet tightening, Book is informed via payphone that his partner Carter has since died on duty. While still in town, Hochleitner and the other Amish men are harassed by local thugs who assume from Book's traditional attire that he too is Amish. Breaking with the Amish tradition of nonviolence, Book retaliates. The fight gets notice from the local townspeople and is reported to the police. The news reaches Schaeffer.
John subsequently comes upon Rachel as she bathes, and she stands naked without shame before him. The two realize they are in love and meet secretly. Rachel removes her bonnet and kisses John passionately.
McFee, Schaeffer, and "Fergie" Ferguson (Angus MacInnes
Angus MacInnes
Angus MacInnes is a Canadian actor. He is most famous for his role as Gold Leader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and as former hockey great Jean "Rosey" LaRose in the comedy Strange Brew...
), the second killer at the train station, arrive at the Lapp farm with loaded pump action shotgun
Pump action shotgun
Pump-action shotguns, also called 'slide action repeating shotguns' or 'slide action shotguns' are a class of shotguns that are distinguished in the way in which spent shells are extracted and fresh ones are chambered. The weapon has a single barrel above a tube magazine into which shells are...
s. Book, unarmed and in the barn talking with Samuel, orders Samuel to run to the neighbors for safety. The trio split up and search for Book. John tricks Fergie into the corn silo and suffocates him under tons of corn. He retrieves Fergie's shotgun and kills McFee. A crazed Schaeffer then forces Rachel and Eli out of the house at gunpoint; Eli signs to Samuel (who returned unseen upon hearing gunfire) to ring the warning bell. Although Schaeffer briefly forces Book to surrender to him, the loud clanging summons all other Amish within earshot. With so many witnesses present it is clear to Schaeffer that he cannot escape, and he finally gives his gun to Book and collapses.
As Schaeffer is taken by local police and Book prepares to leave, he shares a quiet moment with Samuel, then exchanges a silent, loving gaze with Rachel. Eli bids Book goodbye for his return to Philadelphia by saying, "you be careful out among the English [i.e., non-Amish]", the same as he had said to Rachel at the beginning of the film, showing Book that he now respects him comparably to the people of his own faith. As Book drives away from the Lapp farm, he passes Hochleitner, presumably on his way to court Rachel, and exchanges an amicable wave of farewell.
Cast
- Harrison FordHarrison FordHarrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
as John Book - Kelly McGillisKelly McGillisKelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.-Career:...
as Rachel Lapp - Josef SommerJosef SommerJosef Sommer is an American film actor.He was born Maximilian Josef Sommer in Greifswald, Germany and was raised in North Carolina, the son of Elisabeth and Clemons Sommer, a professor of art history at the University of North Carolina. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology...
as Schaeffer - Lukas HaasLukas HaasLukas Daniel Haas is an American actor, known for roles both as a child and as an adult. His career has spanned more than 25 years during which time he has appeared in more than 36 feature films, as well as a number of television shows and theater productions.-Early life and career:Haas was born...
as Samuel Lapp - Jan RubesJan RubesJan Ladislav Rubeš CM was a Czech-Canadian bass opera singer and actor.-Life and career:Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, the son of Ružena and Jan Rubeš. Not too long after World War II, he graduated from the Prague Conservatoire and joined the Prague Opera House as a bass singer...
as Eli Lapp - Alexander GodunovAlexander GodunovAlexander Borisovich Godunov was a Russian-American ballet danseur and film actor, whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the USA and the USSR.-Biography:...
as Daniel Hochleitner - Danny GloverDanny GloverDanny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...
as McFee - Brent Jennings as Carter
- Patti LuPonePatti LuPonePatti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
as Elaine - Angus MacInnesAngus MacInnesAngus MacInnes is a Canadian actor. He is most famous for his role as Gold Leader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and as former hockey great Jean "Rosey" LaRose in the comedy Strange Brew...
as Fergie - Frederick Rolf as Stoltzfus
- Viggo MortensenViggo MortensenViggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...
as Moses Hochleitner
Production
Producer Edward S. FeldmanEdward S. Feldman
Edward S. Feldman is an American film and television producer.Born and raised in The Bronx, where he attended DeWitt Clinton High School, Feldman graduated from Michigan State University, after which he was hired by 20th Century Fox to work as a writer in the studio's press book department in its...
, who was in a "first-look" development deal with 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
at the time, first received the screenplay for Witness in 1983. Originally entitled Called Home (which is the Amish term for death), it ran 182 pages long, the equivalent of three hours of screen time. The script, which had been circulating in Hollywood for several years, had been inspired by an episode of Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace had written in the 1970s.
Feldman liked the concept but felt too much of the script was devoted to Amish traditions, diluting the thriller aspects of the story. He offered Kelley and Wallace $25,000 for a one-year option and one rewrite, and an additional $225,000 if the film actually was made. They submitted the revised screenplay in less than six weeks, and Feldman delivered it to Fox. Joe Wizan, the studio's head of production, rejected it with the statement that Fox didn't make "rural movies".
Feldman sent the screenplay to Harrison Ford's agent Phil Gersh
The Gersh Agency
The Gersh Agency was established in 1949 by Founder . With 125 employees, 60 agents and offices in Beverly Hills and New York, TGA maintains seven full-service departments: Talent, Feature Literary, TV Literary, Theater, Comedy, Below-the-Line, and a modeling agency.-External links:***...
, who contacted the producer four days later and advised him his client was willing to commit to the film. Certain the attachment of a major star would change Wizan's mind, Feldman approached him once again, but Wizan insisted that as much as the studio liked Ford, they still weren't interested in making a "rural movie."
Feldman sent the screenplay to numerous studios and was rejected by all of them, until Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
finally expressed interest. Feldman's first choice of director was Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
, but he was involved in pre-production work for The Mosquito Coast
The Mosquito Coast
The Mosquito Coast is a 1986 American film directed by Peter Weir, based on the novel by Paul Theroux. The film stars Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, and River Phoenix. The film tells the story of a family that leaves the United States and tries to find a happier and simpler life in the jungles of...
and passed on the project. John Badham
John Badham
- External links :...
dismissed it as "just another cop movie", and others Feldman approached either were committed to other projects or had no interest. Then, as financial backing for The Mosquito Coast fell through, Weir became free to direct Witness, which was his first American film. It was imperative filming start immediately, because a Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
strike was looming on the horizon.
The film was shot on location in Philadelphia and the city and towns of Intercourse
Intercourse, Pennsylvania
Intercourse, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated village in Leacock Township, Lancaster County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, ten miles east of Lancaster on PA 340. As with the nearby towns of Bird-in-Hand, Blue Ball, and Paradise, Intercourse is a popular site for tourists because of its...
, Lancaster
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
, Strasburg
Strasburg, Pennsylvania
Strasburg is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It developed as a linear village along the Great Conestoga Road, stretching about two miles along path later known as the Strasburg Road...
and Parkesburg. Local Amish were willing to work as carpenters and electricians but declined to appear on film, so many of the extras
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
actually were Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s. Halfway through filming, the title was changed from Called Home to Witness at the behest of Paramount's marketing department, which felt the original title posed too much of a promotional challenge. Principal photography was completed three days before the scheduled DGA strike, which ultimately failed to materialize.
There are a few times the dialect of the Pennsylvania Germans
Pennsylvania German language
The Pennsylvania German language is a variety of West Central German possibly spoken by more than 250,000 people in North America...
, popularly known as Pennsylvania Dutch, is heard in the film. In one scene, during construction of the new barn, a man says to John Book, "Du huschd hott gschofft. Sell waar guud!," which means "You worked hard. That was good!" But more often the Amish characters are heard speaking High German
High German languages
The High German languages or the High German dialects are any of the varieties of standard German, Luxembourgish and Yiddish, as well as the local German dialects spoken in central and southern Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg and in neighboring portions of Belgium and the...
, the standard language of most German-speaking Europeans, which actually is used rarely by the Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
in particular, or Pennsylvania Germans
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
in general.
Critical response
Witness was generally well received by critics and earned eight Academy Award nominations (including Weir's first and Ford's sole nomination to date).Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
rated the film four out of four stars, calling it "first of all, an electrifying and poignant love story. Then it is a movie about the choices we make in life and the choices that other people make for us. Only then is it a thriller—one that Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
would have been proud to make." He concluded, "We have lately been getting so many pallid, bloodless little movies—mostly recycled teenage exploitation films made by ambitious young stylists without a thought in their heads—that Witness arrives like a fresh new day. It is a movie about adults, whose lives have dignity and whose choices matter to them. And it is also one hell of a thriller."
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times said of the film, "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… One might be made to care about all this if the direction by the talented Australian film maker, Peter Weir… were less perfunctory and if the screenplay… did not seem so strangely familiar. One follows Witness as if touring one's old hometown, guided by an outsider who refuses to believe that one knows the territory better than he does. There's not a character, an event or a plot twist that one hasn't anticipated long before its arrival, which gives one the feeling of waiting around for people who are always late."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said the film was "at times a gentle, affecting story of star-crossed lovers limited within the fascinating Amish community. Too often, however, this fragile romance is crushed by a thoroughly absurd shoot-em-up, like ketchup poured over a delicate Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
dinner."
Time Out New York observed, "Powerful, assured, full of beautiful imagery and thankfully devoid of easy moralising, it also offers a performance of surprising skill and sensitivity from Ford."
Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
called the film "partly a love story and partly a thriller, but mainly a study of cultural collision – it's as if the world of Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
had suddenly stumbled into a canvas by Brueghel." It added, "[I]t'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."
The film was screened out of competition at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival
1985 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Miloš Forman *Claude Imbert *Edwin Zbonek *Francis Veber *Jorge Amado *Mauro Bolognini *Michel Perez *Mo Rothmann *Néstor Almendros *Sarah Miles...
.
Controversy
Although the movie did well at the box office, it was not well received by the Amish communities where it was filmed. A statement released by a law firm associated with the Amish claimed that the portrayal of the Amish in the movie was not accurate. The National Committee For Amish Religious Freedom called for a boycott of the movie soon after its release citing fears that these communities were being "overrun by tourists" as a result of the popularity of the movie, and worried that "the crowding, souvenir-hunting, photographing and trespassing on Amish farmsteads will increase". After the movie was completed, the governor of Pennsylvania at the time, Dick ThornburghDick Thornburgh
Richard Lewis "Dick" Thornburgh is an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as the 41st Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the U.S...
, agreed not to promote the Amish communities as future film sites.
There were satirical references to Witness in a sixth season episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...
.
Box office
The film opened in 876 theaters in the US on February 8, 1985 and grossed $4,539,990 in its opening weekend, ranking #2 behind Beverly Hills CopBeverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
. It remained at #2 for the next three weeks and finally topped the charts in its fifth week of release. It eventually earned $68,706,993 in the US.
Awards and nominations
- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (winner)
- Academy Award for Best Film EditingAcademy Award for Film EditingThe Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
(winner) - Academy Award for Best PictureAcademy Award for Best PictureThe Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
(nominee) - Academy Award for Best Director (nominee)
- Academy Award for Best ActorAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Harrison Ford, nominee) - Academy Award for Best Art DirectionAcademy Award for Best Art DirectionThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(Stan JolleyStan JolleyIsaac Stanford Jolley, Jr., known as Stan Jolley , is an American art director and production designer, originally employed by Walt Disney Studios before he struck out on his own. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the 1985 film Witness.He is the son of...
and John H. AndersonJohn H. AndersonJohn H. Anderson is an American set decorator. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film Witness.-External links:...
, nominees) - Academy Award for Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(John SealeJohn SealeJohn Clement Seale, A.S.C., A.C.S. is an Australian cinematographer. He won an Oscar for the 1996 film The English Patient....
, nominee) - Academy Award for Best Original ScoreAcademy Award for Original Music ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
(Maurice JarreMaurice JarreMaurice-Alexis Jarre was a French composer and conductor.Although he composed several concert works, he is best known for his film scores, and is particularly known for his collaborations with film director David Lean. Jarre composed the scores to all of Lean's films since Lawrence of Arabia...
, nominee) - BAFTA Award for Best FilmBAFTA Award for Best FilmThis page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
(nominee) - BAFTA Award for Best Original ScreenplayBAFTA Award for Best Original ScreenplayThe BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay is the British Academy Film Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. It has been awarded since 1984, when the original category was split into two awards, the other being the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted...
(nominee) - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBest Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
(Harrison Ford, nominee) - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBest Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
(Kelly McGillis, nominee) - BAFTA Award for Best Film MusicBAFTA Award for Best Film MusicThe Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music is an annual award given by British Academy of Film and Television Arts.-1960s:*1968 - The Lion in Winter - John Barry...
(Maurice Jarre, winner) - BAFTA Award for Best CinematographyBAFTA Award for Best Cinematography-Best Cinematography - Colour:* 1963 - From Russia with Love - Ted Moore** Nine Hours to Rama – Arthur Ibbetson** The Running Man – Robert Krasker** Sammy Going South – Erwin Hillier** The Scarlet Blade – Jack Asher...
(John Seale, nominee) - BAFTA Award for Best EditingBAFTA Award for Best EditingThe BAFTA Award for Best Editing is one of several annual awards presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . The film-voting members of the Academy select the five nominated films in each category; only the principal editor for each film are named, which excludes additional...
(nominee) - Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama (nominee)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Director (nominee)
- Golden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayGolden Globe Award for Best ScreenplayThe Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
(nominee) - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Harrison Ford, nominee)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (Kelly McGillis, nominee)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Original ScoreGolden Globe Award for Best Original ScoreThe Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
(Maurice Jarre, nominee) - Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film (winner)
- Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorThe Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor is an award given by the Kansas City Film Critics Circle to honor the best achievements in acting.-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:*...
(Harrison Ford, winner) - Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayWriters Guild of America Award for Best Original ScreenplayThe Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award....
(winner) - Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film (nominee)
- Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual MediaGrammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual MediaThe Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media has been awarded since 1960. Until 2001 the award was presented to the composer of the music alone. From 2001 to 2006, the producer and engineers shared in this award...
(nominee) - American Cinema EditorsAmerican Cinema EditorsFounded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
Award for Best Edited Feature Film (winner) - Australian Cinematographers SocietyAustralian Cinematographers SocietyThe Australian Cinematographers Society is an Australian organisation established in 1958 for cinematographers to meet and discuss the issues that affected them...
Award for Cinematographer of the Year (winner) - British Society of CinematographersBritish Society of CinematographersThe British Society of Cinematographers was formed in 1949 by Bert Easey, 23 August 1901 - 28 February 1973, the then head of the Denham and Pinewood studio camera departments.The stated objectives at the formation of the BSC were...
Award for Best Cinematography (nominee)
Home media
The film was released on Region 1 DVD on June 29, 1999. It is in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format with audio tracks in English and French. The sole bonus feature is an interview with director Peter Weir.
The film was released on Region 2 DVD on October 2, 2000. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English, French, German, Italian, Czech, Spanish, and Polish and subtitles in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Danish, Hungarian, Dutch, Finnish, and Croatian. Bonus features include an interview with Weir and the original trailer.
A Special Collector's Edition was released on Region 1 DVD on August 23, 2005. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features include the five-part documentary Between Two Worlds: The Making of Witness, a deleted scene, the original theatrical trailer, and three television ads. The Special Collector's Edition was released on Region 2 DVD on 19 February 2007, with different cover art and more extensive language and audio/subtitle options for European countries.