Protraph Lack of good storyline.

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

betty dalton Police thriller in Amish country. Harrison Ford plays a policeman who protects a little Amish child that witnessed police brutality. The policemen go after the kid. Harrison Ford is there to protect the kid. They both flee to Amish country. Will they corrupt policemen find the kid? That is the suspense of this story. Really great suspense and I have seen decades of police thrillers. Witness is out there with the very best.Seriously.However back in the eighties the studios werent interested in this script about a rural Amish community sheltering a little boy who was witness to a police killing. Rural stories dont sell, was the fear of the studio executives. How wrong could they haven been! Witness became the second biggest box office hit of 1985. This movie was directed by Peter Weir known from "The Truman Show" with Jim Carey, "Dead Poets Society" with Robin Williams and "Fearless" with Jeff Bridges. It is one of the few movies that are highly praised by critics and the movie masses simultaneously. Witness is Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies and was one of the biggest box office hits of the entire eighties.Initially the Amish community was asked to take part in the movie, but they refused for several reasons: one being the fact that they dont want their picture taken, the other being the violence that was portrayed in the movie. In preparation for her role, Kelly McGillis lived with an actual Amish widow and her seven children for a while before filming began to get the speech cadence down and to observe the daily life of an Amish widowed mother. Harrison Ford worked alongside real policemen to learn the police jargon and attitudes. Harrison Ford was nominated for Best Actor, his one and only Oscar nomination in his entire carreer! When a movie is praised by critics and welcomed by the popular masses it is difficult to choose where I want to begin in reviewing the brilliance of this movie. I want to highlight 2 brilliant parts of this movie that really mesmirized me with their beauty. One being the lighting of this film. I rarely have seen such excellent qualities of lighting and photography in other movies. Some still shots almost resemble the beauty of paintings. Kelly McGillis playing an Amish widow, was lighted and photographed in such a splendid way that it looked as if the director had created a painting like aura of light around her. Breathtaking beauty.The other part I want to highlight is the synthesizer music by Maurice Jarre. Almost resembling church organ sounds, Jarre's soundtrack is overwhelmingly powerful. Altough very modern sounding it fits perfectly into the old fashioned Amish style of living. Some viewers hated it though, but I am very picky about music in movies and I really was impressed by it. I have seen it over 10 times now and some movies just stay as powerful as they were when they were first released. 30 years old, Witness has become a timeless classic. I love it!

classicsoncall Take Harrison Ford out of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and he still delivers the goods. In "Witness", his character Captain John Book, becomes aware of a conspiracy within the ranks of his own police force, and has to fend off his department chief to save a widowed Amish woman and her young son. The film explores the clash of cultures between the Amish and an outside world that often doesn't respect their religious beliefs or the simple way they live. To the picture's credit, the story line doesn't cop out with a feel good ending in which Ford's character and the Amish woman Rachel (Kelly McGillis), wind up as a couple running off together. Neither one, against all temptation, compromises their personal beliefs and morals to take advantage of the other. Though there was that one scene in which they exchanged a passionate moment that ended with a quick cut away leaving their relationship somewhat unresolved. Fair to say that you're not likely to see another film with as ironic an ending for one of the bad guys as you have here - death by corn.

Parker Lewis Australian director Peter Weir has a knack for bringing a fresh perspective to established actors. Here it's Harrison Ford, and in the 90s it was with Jim Carrey in The Truman Show.I love Witness and the performances of all. Danny Glover was a corrupt cop here, before he became a clean cop in Lethal Weapon a few years later. Also Patti LuPone shines, a few years before she featured in Life Goes On, one of the best TV series ever.One of my favorite scenes is when John Book (Harrison Ford) punches out the teenage gang who pick on the Amish. That is a YouTube moment big time!

Predrag Although I suppose "Blade Runner" is the movie that showed Harrison Ford could do something outside of "Star Wars", I personally think "Witness" was one of the most important movies of his career, because it's a complete departure from a science fiction storyline, and therefore paved the way for all the Tom Clancy stuff and other movies that featured him as a romantic hero. Featuring a rich, startling performance from Ford and a powerful turn by Kelly McGillis (who had only appeared on "One Life to Live", a TV movie and the marvelous film "Rueben, Rueben" at that point in her career) "Witness" still manages to amaze with the suspense that Weir generates in the film.The contrast between the gritty urban police precinct and the bucolic Amish farm country is one of the best things about the film. Book dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers several inches too short for him, looking like the proverbial fish out of the water, is a sight to behold. All of a sudden he's back in the nineteenth century -- no electricity, no cars, no TV or computers. He might as well be on another planet. And the Amish are as different from him as space aliens; gentle, quiet pacifists, hardworking and industrious, intent on keeping the outside world as far from them as possible. They are neighborly and cooperative; the barn-raising scene is inspiring to watch. We feel sympathy for these quiet, decent people as the outside world keeps encroaching, and see them trying to navigate a horse and buggy on the Interstate. Book has to try to fit into this world, and he gives it his best shot. He joins in the barn-raising, does odd chores around the farm. But the Amish, while they respect his abilities, hold him at arm's length. For one thing, he's falling in love with the young widow Lapp, whose feeling for him is mutual. For another, his assimilation is only skin-deep; on a trip into town, when a group of local louts start pestering the Amish, Book chips in with a right to the lout's nose that leaves his face a bloody mess. It's going to prove his undoing; back in his precinct, the narcotics agent and the captain have gotten wind of his hideout, and now they come to shut him up once and for all, and silence Samuel as well. 'Witness' is not an action/adventure blockbuster like the movies that made Ford a household name, but it doesn't need pyrotechnics to stand out. It's a well-crafted, well-acted, eminently satisfying movie.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.