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Can we talk about Witness? - a 1985 film starring Harrison Ford and Viggo Mortensen

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S

Strax

Member
Witness is a 1985 American crime thriller film directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford as Det. John Book (all the puns) and is about a detective protecting a young Amish boy who becomes a target after he witnesses a murder in Philadelphia by going undercover as one of the Amish people
Click to expand...

I just watched on TV with 4 of my friends, never heard of it before, and we couldn't stop laughing and no weed was involved.

Time for milking

You might think this was a comedy but no, its presented as a thriller

People are mean?

The consensus was that this movie was the low point of Fords career and might ruined his career. So we looked it up and saw it got 8 oscar noms and won 2, 1 of which was for best original screenplay. I've never been so shocked in terms of anything about movies.

People in 1985 must've been high all day, everyday. This is a teeeeeerrible movie.

wit09.jpg
witnesscream.gif


What does GAF say about this drivel?
 
T

The Albatross

Member
It's a great movie. Always liked it as a kid.
Seems like it used to play back to back with the Fugitive on Saturday afternoons.
 
C

Camjo-Z

Member
I watched this like a month or two ago and thought most of it was pretty boring. The two pics in the OP are from the only scene that was resembling something interesting.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Its not a favorite of mine but I didn't think it was terrible either. Pretty competent film making if nothing amazing.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
you are bagging on Witness? really?

was pretty unique at the time and yeah, critically acclaimed for a reason

if you wanna talk shit about a Harrison Ford / Peter Weir drama might I suggest Mosquito Coast?
 
O

old manatee

Banned
I watch that movie sometimes because it is such a weird relic from that era. I have no idea if it's actually a good movie. I might just like Harrison Ford.
 
D

Draft

Member
Great movie. Danny Glover is a bad guy. He gets killed by a shotgun. Harrison Ford beats the shit out of some Amish hating punks. It's too bad Harrison Ford is so old because you and your goon friends also need to be taught a lesson.

Time for milking is clearly meant to be funny...
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
I saw it again a few years ago and thought it was excellent. I liked the pacing, where it's a good thriller, and then a great character study at Amish farm cut through with tension, and then a great thriller again. One of Ford's best performances.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
This is a really weird post. The movie was well liked and did great business and is pretty conventional fish out of water cop drama.


And you can't come to a consensus on your own, OP.

And lastly, Indy 4 is a thing.
 
N

NealMcCauley

Member
Were you watching an edited for tv version or one with commercials? The movie's pretty damn engrossing imo. There might be some fish out of water 80s cheese, but the last twenty minutes are tense as hell.
 
M

milanbaros

Member?
Pretty good film. Not amazing but certainly not bad. Low point of Ford's career? At least he acts in this one. There are plenty of films where he visibly doesn't care.
 
link1201

link1201

Member
Well, I learned Viggo Mortensen was in this. I've watched this 3-5 times and never realized that before.


Ot: This was a really good movie, great may be a stretch but it was really good I thought.
 
G

gamz

Member
GhaleonEB said:
I saw it again a few years ago and thought it was excellent. I liked the pacing, where it's a good thriller, and then a great character study at Amish farm cut through with tension, and then a great thriller again. One of Ford's best performances.
Click to expand...

And a touching love story too boot.
 
N

NealMcCauley

Member
link1201 said:
Well, I learned Viggo Mortensen was in this. I've watched this 3-5 times and never realized that before.


Ot: This was a really good movie, great may be a stretch but it was really good I thought.
Click to expand...

He's actually in the background of the ice cream gif in the OP.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I didn't know Viggo was old enough to be in a movie back then. But now I realize he was older than I thought in LOTR and that was longer ago than I feel (15 years ago). So I guess he's nearly 60... Huh.
 
J

JoeBoy101

Member
witnesscream.gif


Can we get Op's face on this gif?

Movie was awesome, and that last act
where the crooked cops are walking down the road with their shotguns
was really chilling.
 
AaronB

AaronB

Member
That's a classic movie. Parts might be slow, but it has a lot of iconic moments, even besides the ones in the op. The boy hiding from the killer, discovering the gun, the barn-raising, the "Great coffee" joke, "Don't know much about history"...

Harrison Ford near the peak of his game, a fascinating glimpse at Amish life, and the best fish-out-of-water story besides "Sister Act"
just kidding - it's way better than Sister Act.
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
this is when I stopped liking Harrison Ford as a kid.

i liked him the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies but I couldn't stand him in these ''serious'' dramas like Witness and Regarding Henry

then he had a snob phase which made him no fun.

I'm happy that got the fun back now in his senior years
 
B

Batjag

Member
Classic movie with tons of great scenes, especially the barn raising.
I consider it a love story with thriller elements and it has a very rare (for a romantic movie) perfect ending that is realistic and true to the characters.
 
T

TheSchwab_7

Member
We watched this movie in high school. I don't remember why or what class it was but the teacher was the baseball coach so he didn't really care much about teaching anyway.
 
R

Randdalf

Member
I actually googled the barn-raising scene a few weeks ago. Even though I've only seen the film once (and not even the whole way through), I have quite a vivid memory of it. Perhaps because it was my first exposure to the Amish.
 
Muffdraul

Muffdraul

Member
What I'm gathering here is that you and your friends read the "cop goes undercover in Amish country" synopsis and assumed it was a screwball comedy, and then you just ran with that as you watched, rather than realizing "Oh, actually this is a drama."
 
R

Redd

Member
I liked the movie but felt the ending was mediocre. Harrison Ford and Kelly Mcgillis had great chemistry imo.
 
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