Witness Behind The Scenes

Harrison Ford was a carpenter before making it in the movies and apparently relished the opportunity to use his skills in the 'barn raising' sequence of the movie.

Harrison also joined the Philadelphia Police Dept for a time for research purposes --even going on a number of raids!

Sylvester Stallone was originally offered the role of John Book but turned it down. He later said on the Arsenio Hall Show that it was one of the worst decisions of his career.

I remember reading somewhere that Harrison Ford ad-libbed his "Honey, that was a great cup of coffee" line in the kitchen scene.

The Zimmerman store is still there, with the phone booth Harrison Ford stood in, but the actual pay phone he used is not there anymore. It is in a "Witness" movie museum in downtown Lancaster PA, which is right next to the office building in which the police station and garage scenes were filmed. If you have a small child, you can buy one of those wooden marble toys Harrison Ford made for the amish boy.Right up the street from Zimmermans is the intersection where Harrison Ford punched out the townie who spread ice cream on his face.In Summer of 2005, the Lancaster tourism people had a "Witness" tour, and me and my wife went to see it. The bus took you to the actual Witness farm where the movie was filmed. It is currently occupied by an Amish family (all present during the tour)and it is a working Amish farm to this day.We were able to walk around the farm, we were inside the kitchen,and the barn where Ford and Kelly McGillis danced. We also saw the hole in the floor where Ford dropped to the lower level when escaping, and also saw the grain silo. There is a birdhouse next to the farm-the same place as the one in the film- but this is not the one seen in the movie. Some of the changes done for filming are still present in the kitchen. For instance, the cabinets have a wood grain to them- actually this effect was painted on for the film, and the effect is still there. The cabinets are the same ones used in the film- I got to open the cabinet that Ford did when he retrieved his bullets. Some of th! e farm house used in the filming was closed to the tour- Harrison Ford's "sickroom" where he was recovering from the bullet wound is in the upstairs of the house.The previous poster is correct- the Amish were not happy about the Hollywood craze in their neighborhood.Kelly McGillis loved the area so much, she bought property in Lancaster and built a house there. Unknown where it is, or if she still owns it.In preparation for the role, Kelly McGillis lived with an Amish family for a few days...until the Amish leadership found out about it...then she was asked to leave.

To prepare for her role as the Amish widow, Kelly McGillis lived with an Amish family for a short time and listened to some of their language to become familiar with it.

The elaborate wooden water wheel which provided water to the house was actually a studio prop that was constructed after filming began and was removed after the production was complete.

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