Witness (1985)

Welcome back for the twenty-third installment in our first A-to-Z challenge! This week brought with it the letter “W” and of course another first-time watch. Let’s head out to Amish country with Harrison Ford in Witness (1985).

Title: Witness

Director: Peter Weir

Released: February 8, 1985

Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes

Available to stream on: Showtime

IMDb synopsis: When a young Amish boy is sole witness to a murder while visiting Philadelphia with his mother, police detective John Book tries to protect the boy until an attempt on Book’s life forces him into hiding in Amish country.

Young Samuel (Lukas Haas) is ready to embark on a trip. He and his mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis), are leaving their Amish community and traveling by train to visit Rachel’s sister. Their connecting train in Philadelphia is delayed, so they now find themselves biding their time while they wait.

While passing the time, nature calls and Samuel has to go to the bathroom. Rachel tells him to go ahead and go since the men’s room is within eyesight of where she is sitting. As he’s in the stall, Samuel hears a commotion and as he peeks through the abnormally large (yet somehow standard sized) gap in the stall door, witnesses two people murder a man at the bathroom sink.

The detective assigned to the case is the gruff city detective, John Book (Harrison Ford). When John has Samuel at the police station looking through lineup photos, John takes a call and Samuel wanders off. He stops in front of a trophy case and becomes fixated on a newspaper clipping. Right there in the article is the face of the man he saw in the bathroom, McFee (Danny Glover). Once John realizes that the murderer is a fellow officer, he realizes that he has to be careful how he goes about things.

John does some digging into McFee and wouldn’t you know it, McFee is involved in the disappearance of chemicals used to create drugs. McFee is no fool, he quickly catches wind of someone looking into him. Ultimately, this leads to a showdown in a parking garage where McFee shoots John. At this point, John realizes that Rachel and Samuel aren’t safe. He drives them back to their Amish community and as he is driving away, due to blood loss from his gunshot wound, John passes out and crashes into the community’s birdhouse. Despite being wary of outsiders, the Amish agree to take John in while his wounds heal.

Based off of that synopsis, you’re probably thinking, “Huh, sounds like a fun thriller.”, and while you’re not wrong, you’re also not entirely correct. Once John Book is healed, he decides that hiding out in the Amish community probably isn’t the worst idea. But if he’s going to hide out there, he’s going to be put to work. From here we see John learning to adapt to the Amish lifestyle and earning the respect of the members in the community.

What I didn’t expect was the love story we got. Well, I at least didn’t expect to forget I was watching a thriller because the romance took center stage. Normally that would be something that would turn me off from a movie. You teased me with a thriller and now that’s all forgotten so we can have a romance?

If your writers are William Kelley, Pamela Wallace, and Earl W. Wallace and you have Peter Weir directing, you can get away with doing that. They somehow managed to blend a thriller and a romance together into one without it impacting the quality of the movie. You aren’t sitting there just waiting for everyone to remember there’s a killer cop looking for them. Instead, you’re all-in on seeing how John becomes a member of the Amish community and what will happen with the spark between him and Rachel.

Although, none of the story is half as convincing as it is if not for the performance turned in by Harrison Ford. I tend to like most roles that I see Harrison Ford in, but him as John Book might be the overall best and well-rounded performance that I’ve seen from him. Yes, we still get the gruff side that has become synonymous with Harrison Ford. But while living amongst the Amish community we also are treated to a vulnerable dramatic performance. Again, I’ve just seen McFee put a bullet in John Book. Why do I care about the relationship John builds with Samuel? Or why should I care if he winds up forming a deep connection with Rachel? I’ll tell you why. Because Harrison Ford took the incredibly well-written role of John Book and had a feast with it.

I highly recommend at least one viewing of Witness (1985). Who knows, you just might find your next favorite movie.

Well, those are my thoughts. But what are yours? Tell me what you thought of Witness (1985) in the comments below or by engaging with me on social media!

Next up is slim pickings with the letter “X”. I’m going to try and do my best when it comes to sticking to a movie that I haven’t seen and is currently available to stream.

If you’ve got any suggestions, hit me with them! You’ve got until Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday evening the movie will be revealed on Twitter and Instagram.