Witness

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1:17

Witness

R

Released Feb 8, 1985

1h 52m

Crime

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

45 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

An eight-year-old Amish boy witnesses a drug-related murder in a Philadelphia train station. The Philadelphia police captain discovers that the murderers are cops trying to squelch a corruption investigation.

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Critics Consensus

A wonderfully entertaining thriller within an unusual setting, with Harrison Ford delivering a surprisingly emotive and sympathetic performance.

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Jake Cole

Slant Magazine

Witness takes serious stock of the gap in experience and attitude between its protagonist and his caretakers to see what shared essence can be found between them.

Oct 31, 2023

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Ed Potton

Times (UK)

... striking thriller.

Rated: 4/5

Apr 6, 2020

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Nick Roddick

Sight & Sound

The film allows us, in the company of Book, to take a sort of holiday from our normal concerns, to visit other values en touriste , drawing the strengths from a strange and alien tradition without really immersing ourselves in it.

Mar 24, 2020

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John Ferguson

Radio Times

It'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.

Rated: 5/5

Mar 7, 2024

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

An exceptionally fine film.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 19, 2023

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Emilie Black

Cinema Crazed

Witness is a solid film all around, one that has aged decently well, and one that is still a must see.

Rated: 4.5/5

Nov 2, 2023

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Jonathan O

Witness is a true masterpiece of crime cinema is really a edge of your seat thrills and exciting and really powerful performance by Harrison Ford we've love his performance in Indiana Jones and Han Solo but this is Harrison's true acting career and really marvelous screenplay about two worlds and to experience their culture and understanding the people of Amish.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/11/24

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Cesar Q

Unusual setting, great story and performances.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/27/24

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Joseph C

Ford should've won an oscar here for his performance as John Book. It's simply one of Harrison's career tour de force performances. I think Witness is one of the best Harrison Ford movies you'll ever see. It just happens to be one of those rare movies that i'd like to watch once a year on Ford's birthday

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/09/24

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KB B

It's a very enjoyable movie with great acting and storyline. It's definitely worth the watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/05/24

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Grant H

An example of cinematic storytelling at its finest. Each scene is important to the narrative which is a marvellous mix of cultural clash, crime thriller and unrequited love. One you can watch many times.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/30/24

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Nathan W

Let me start by saying that John Book is a terrible name for a character. Like laughably bad. Now that we have that out of the way, I really thought this was going to be a dirty cop movie, which it was for all of about 10 minutes. What we got instead was a forbidden romance from afar, mixed with a day in the life of the Amish flick. When 20 minutes of the runtime is dedicated to watching Harrison Ford recover from a gunshot wound, you know the movie's in trouble. It had brief moments of charm, and Harrison Ford did an okay job with what he was given, but I ultimately found the plot and characters to be uninteresting.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

04/27/24

Full Review

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Peter Weir

Director

Harrison Ford

Det. Capt. John Book

Kelly McGillis

Rachel Lapp

Alexander Godunov

Daniel Hochleitner

Josef Sommer

Chief Paul Schaeffer

Lukas Haas

Samuel Lapp

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Witness: Official Clip - Rachel's Choice

1:57

Witness: Official Clip - Right of Way

2:02

Witness: Official Clip - Murder Witness

2:12

Witness: Official Clip - A Lesson on Guns

1:49

Witness: Official Clip - I'm Not a Child

1:19

Witness: Official Clip - It's Over

2:13

Witness: Official Clip - Ingrained

2:12

Witness: Official Clip - Time For Milking

1:38

Witness: Official Clip - Positive Identification

1:49

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Witness: Trailer 1

1:17

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Synopsis

An eight-year-old Amish boy witnesses a drug-related murder in a Philadelphia train station. The Philadelphia police captain discovers that the murderers are cops trying to squelch a corruption investigation.

Director: Peter Weir
Producer: Edward S. Feldman
Screenwriter: Pamela Wallace, Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 8, 1985, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 6, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $65.3M
Runtime: 1h 52m
Sound Mix: Surround

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