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Witness
While protecting an Amish boy—the sole witness to a brutal murder—and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life comes under threat.
1985 · Directed by Peter Weir · 112 min · Crime · Drama · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 16 frames
Tagline
A big city cop. A small country boy. They have nothing in common... but a murder.
Plot
In a quiet Amish community outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania, friends and family attend the funeral of Jacob Lapp, leaving behind his wife, Rachel, and eight-year-old son, Samuel. Rachel and Samuel travel by train to visit Rachel's sister, which takes them into Philadelphia. While at the 30th Street Station waiting for a connecting train, Samuel goes into the men's room and witnesses the murder of undercover police officer Detective Ian Zenovich.
Detective Captain John Book and his partner, Sergeant Elton Carter, are assigned to the case. They question Samuel, who is unable to identify the perpetrator from mugshots or a lineup. Samuel then sees a newspaper clipping in a trophy case of narcotics officer Lieutenant James McFee and points him out to Book as the murderer.
Book investigates McFee and discovers that he was previously responsible for a seizure of expensive chemicals used to make black-market amphetamine, after which the chemicals disappeared. Book surmises that McFee sold the chemicals back to drug dealers, and Zenovich was investigating. Book expresses his suspicions to Chief of Police Paul Schaeffer, who advises Book to keep the case secret so that they can determine how to proceed. Book is later ambushed in his apartment parking garage by McFee, who shoots and wounds him before fleeing. Since only Schaeffer knew of Book's suspicions, Book realizes that Schaeffer is corrupt and tipped off McFee.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley
- Cinematography: John Seale
- Edited by: Thom Noble
- Music: Maurice Jarre
- Production design: Stan Jolley
- Produced by: Edward S. Feldman
Cast
- Harrison Ford as John Book
- Kelly McGillis as Rachel
- Josef Sommer as Schaeffer
- Lukas Haas as Samuel
- Jan Rubeš as Eli Lapp
- Alexander Godunov as Daniel Hochleitner
- Danny Glover as McFee
- Brent Jennings as Carter
- Patti LuPone as Elaine
- Angus MacInnes as Fergie
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: German, English
- Studios: Paramount Pictures
- Budget: $12,000,000
- Box office: $116,107,459
- Themes: police brutality, philadelphia, pennsylvania, corruption, pennsylvania, usa, detective, amish, witness to murder, barn raising, silo, thoughtful
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