| | | | Witness
(1985) |
oo many times is the 80's seen as just a shallow, popcorn era. Witness is one of the examples that prove that the 80's was just as much an era of beautifully crafted, thoughtful movies as any other.
Harrison Ford, in a daring break from his previous diet of blockbusters, stars as John Book, a hardened but decent and honest Philadelphia detective. A young Amish boy called Samuel, stunningly played by Lukas Haas in his debut, is the only witness to the murder of a Philly undercover detective at a train station and Ford is the investigating officer.
This is Samuel's first visit to the city, away from the familiar surroundings of the Amish community --and what an eventful one it proves to be. Australian Director Peter Weir does a fantastic job of portraying things from the boy's point of view and doesn't miss a trick in showing us just how strange and unfamilar the city is to Samuel and his mother.
Book's hardened street cop ways are fascinating to Samuel and very upsetting to his mother, admirably played by Kelly McGillis. His investigative methods and Samuel's inevitable exposure to things that threaten his innocence are brilliantly shown in such a way that takes you inside their characters and shows you the world through their untainted eyes.
As the plot thickens however, Book is forced to abandon the city and having been badly wounded, return the boy and his mother to the safety (and anonymity) of their Amish Community --where he promptly collapses.
As he recuperates, it gives us the chance for a reversal of the displacement -- It's now Book's turn to be in a world thats alien to him and we now see much of it through his eyes.
So brilliantly are these characters respective displacements handled that I'm sure that this movie is probably used in film schools in the teaching of bias. Weir is able to show us each world in a way that the 'outsider' sees it --switching and role reversing midway without missing a beat.
He also deals with the material in a very sensitive and even handed way. The Amish are portrayed honestly and sincerely [for pretty much the first time on film]and their strength simply shines through. Under less skilled direction, this film could easily have gone very badly wong, leaving the Amish looking foolish and out-of-touch.
A good chunk of the credit for the overall package must also go to cinematographer John Seale for his lush vistas and achieving the rare trick of beautiful pictures without resorting to 'glossy' and over saturated colour. Also composer Maurice Jarre's haunting and quite surreal music helps to ease us into the different worlds without too much of a jolt.
As you will see from the DVD section of the page, Paramount have decided to release this excellent movie on DVD in both the USA and Europe --complete with a widescreen enhanced picture and remixed Dolby digital 5.1 sound. The disc also contains a trailer and interview with Weir.
 Don't forget that Witness is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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A great and unusual story crafted by a superb director working with an equally excellent cast and crew. The film has an unusually slow pace as Weir is in no hurry and gives us time to adjust to the different worlds, but like all great directors, the film is just as spellbinding as any fast paced movie.
About as 'high-brow' as major studio movies get, but skillfully made to be very enjoyable for everyone but the most hardened "adrenaline junkies".
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Kelly McGillis must have had a hard time making this movie, as she was quite a heavy smoker when this film was made. You can hear it in her voice and throat, particularly when she laughs. Interesting, given the role she plays, and evidence that she can be a great actress, transforming from a very modern woman, and she is, very modern, apparently, to a conservative Christian. The Amish (old-order) are very conservative even amongst plain-folk (Amish & Mennonites). The Amish split away from the Mennonites long ago when some within the old-order Mennonite community were becoming too liberal for the soon-to-be Amish. Jakob Aman was the fellow who led them away from Menno Simons followers. This indicates the degree to which the Amish in this film are supposed to be conservative.  -Thanks to Brad
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Danny Glover had a small part as one of the villain cops who commits the murder in the beginnning of the movie and is one of the three who hunts Ford down at the Amish farm. -Thanks to Ken
Director Peter Weir's films often portray characters in unfamiliar surroundings.
Alexander Godunov, who played Daniel, Harrison Ford's Amish rival, started off as an amazingly talented ballet dancer. One of his classmates and friends at the Riga Ballet school in Russia was Mikhail Baryshnikov. After graduating he toured with the Moscow Classical Ballet. In 1973 he won a gold medal at the Moscow International Competition. In August 1979 he defected from the USSR. The story grew in importance when his ballerina wife returned to the USSR a few days later. He joined the American Ballet Theater and danced with it until 1982 when he and its director Baryshnikov had a falling out. He was, by then, a frequent companion of Jacqueline Bisset. Sadly, Godunov, who also played excellent parts in "Die Hard" and "The Money Pit" died in May of 1995 of natural causes. He was 46 years old. -Thanks to Santiago Velasquez
Watch for the young Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings) who plays Moses Hochlightner in "Witness". -Thanks to N Pollard
I just returned from a trip to Lancaster PA. I love this movie and to see a piece of it was truly thrilling. I now have photos of the infamous "Zimmermans" pay phone. I struck up a conversation with a lovely man who has worked at Zimmermans for over 20 years. We were chatting at the back parking lot and he showed me where they used to have the 3 trailors set up. He said they would eat in a kitchen in the trailer. And pointed out that the tree I was leaning against, was where Harrison Ford would sit and rest in the shade between takes. That was so cool to me! He also mentioned that the Amish were not at all pleased. He said it was really quite a production to film. Many trailors and crews and noise. It was very disruptive especially to the Amish. -Thanks to Jaime Toth
Danny Glover plays villain cop McFee. This is surely the role that catapaulted him into the big time. That same year he had another great role in "The Color Purple" and just two years later would star in "Lethal Weapon" alongside Mel Gibson...
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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. -Thanks to Kenneth Sutton
I remember reading somewhere that Harrison Ford ad-libbed his "Honey, that was a great cup of coffee" line in the kitchen scene. -Thanks to Thom Davis
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. -Thanks to Doug
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. -Thanks to Robert Baum
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. -Thanks to Steve Hall
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|  |  |  | | Witness
Locations |
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 Featured Movie Location: The Train Station
Wanna see the real life filming location used for The Train Station in the movie? These scenes were actually shot at 30th Street Railway Station, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [New! Show Google Map]
The Lapp's Amish farm where Harrison Ford stays belonged to Paul and Emma Krantz. It is located near Strasburg, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1993, the Krantz's approached the Lancaster Farmland Trust about preserving it and it has now become a Trust property.
Jaime Toth made it her mission to locate the actual house where the "Lapp's" farm was filmed. After over 8 hours searching, she finally had a street name: Bunker Hill Road. It is near Strasburg around two tiny towns called Hessdale and Refton. After much searching, frustrated and ready to quit, she turned down a dirt driveway at house #758. Driving down this long driveway, she saw the house! It was so awesome. This driveway is where Danny Glover parks the car and they walk down the hill with their guns. The actual house looks a bit more run down than in the movie. The barn is to the right of what actually is 2 houses. Supposedly the Kratz family does not own the house anymore, it was sold to some Amish. [Thanks to Jaime Toth]
The Lancaster County Courthouse was used as the location for the police station in the movie. Also, the underground garage was used for the scene where Harrison gets shot by Danny Glover's character. [Thanks to Becky Coffman]
The Town where ford gets in the fight with the tourist is Intercourse, Pa (rt 340), outside the Zimmerman and Sons store -where he also uses the phone. [Thanks to Alicelynne Watson]
The opening credits, very skillfully depicting an Amish horse-and-buggy out of sync with the modern world, was shot at the intersections of Rt 896 and Rt 30, about halfway between Strasburg and Bird-in-Hand. That particular intersection is the equal of any ultra-modern strip mall shopping environment, with pseudo-'factory outlets' et. al; but a half-mile or so away, in almost any direction, lies the seemingly endless farms of the Amish, and the quaint, well-preserved towns that complement the landscape. [Thanks to Lowell Tackett]
Many of the locations filmed in 1984, especially those near route 30, have disappeared due to road construction and many homes and business being built. [Thanks to Mary]
The police station scenes (offices) were filmed in the Greist Building, Lancaster -the tall structure on the square. The underground garage was at the courthouse, about a block east on King Street.
The scene of the murder was filmed on a replica set of the Phila. Train Station. This set was built at the Posey Iron Works Building on S. Prince Street. I have been told the silo scene, when the man is smothered in corn, was filmed here, too.[Thanks to Brad Igou]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (or any other) filming locations used for Witness, particularly The Barn? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[5.1 CH SURROUND]](dd5.gif) | Trailer, Featurette, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: Special Collectors Edition |
| | | | Trailer, Featurette, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: Special Collector's Edition |
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Maurice Jarre's original synthesized score for the film is a very unusual and brave choice for the film, but it is also impossible to imagine the movie without it.
For those who say that the synthesizer is good for nothing except cheese, Maurice gave us the score for Witness...
Use our search facility to find this excellent score on CD.
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