Witness [DVD] [1985]

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

1.78 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
Czech\French\German\Italian\Polish\Spanish
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Dolby Digital Surround Czech French German Italian\Dolby Digital Mono Polish Spanish
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital Surround
Dolby Digital Mono
Theatrical Trailer
Interview With Peter Weir
Croatian\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Hungarian\Italian\Norwegian\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish\Turkish

When a young Amish woman and her son get caught up in the murder of an undercover narcotics agent, their saviour turns out to be hardened Philadelphia John Book. Harrison Ford is sensational as Book, the cop who runs head-on into the non-violent world of a Pennsylvania Amish community. The end result is an action-packed struggle of life and death, interwoven with a sensitive undercurrent of caring and forbidden love.