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Witness
Sign in to save1985 film directed by Peter Weir
OverviewAI-generated
Witness is a 1985 American drama, crime, and thriller film directed by Peter Weir. The screenplay was written by Earl W. Wallace and William Kelley, with production handled by Edward S. Feldman and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The cast includes Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer, and Lukas Haas. John Seale served as director of photography, Thom Noble as film editor, and Maurice Jarre as composer. The film was shot in Philadelphia and set in Pennsylvania, featuring dialogue in English and German.
The movie has a runtime of 112 minutes and was released on February 8, 1985. It received an R rating and was distributed in video on demand format. Witness was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. It won the Academy Awards for Best Film Editing and Best Writing, Original Screenplay, as well as the National Board of Review: Top Ten Films. The film holds a Metascore of 76 and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 92%.
Synthesized by Vinony from 47 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.1While 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.
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
Themes
- police brutality
- philadelphia, pennsylvania
- corruption
- pennsylvania, usa
- detective
- amish
- witness to murder
- barn raising
- silo
- thoughtful
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Ratings
IMDb
7.3/10
113,048 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
92%
Metacritic
76/100
- Year
- 1985
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 13 wins & 28 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Peter Weir
- Screenplay by
- Earl W. Wallace William Kelley
- Story by
- William Kelley Pamela Wallace Earl W. Wallace
- Produced by
- Edward S. Feldman
- Starring
- Harrison Ford
- Cinematography
- John Seale
- Edited by
- Thom Noble
- Music by
- Maurice Jarre
- Production company
- Edward S. Feldman Productions
- Distributed by
- Paramount Pictures
- Release date
- February 8, 1985 ( 1985-02-08 )
- Running time
- 117 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $12 million
- Box office
- $117.1 million
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- thriller film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- German
- Main subject
- Amish
- Director
- Peter Weir
- Screenwriter
- William Kelley
- Cast member
- Richard Chaves
- Composer
- Maurice Jarre
- Producer
- Edward S. Feldman
- Production company
- Paramount Pictures
- Cinematographer
- John Seale
- Narrative location
- Pennsylvania
- Filming location
- Philadelphia
- Duration
- 112
- FilmAffinity ID
- 973514
- Distribution format
- video on demand
Show 9 more facts
- publication date
- 1985-02-08
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Original Score
- film editor
- Thom Noble
- title
- Witness
- distributed by
- Netflix
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 94%
- capital cost
- 12000000
- box office
- 116100000
Sources (15)
via Wikidata · CC0
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Witness is a 1985 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Peter Weir. Starring Harrison Ford, its plot focuses on a police detective protecting an Amish woman and her son, who becomes a target after he witnesses a brutal murder in a Philadelphia railroad station.
Filmed in 1984, Witness was released theatrically by Paramount Pictures on February 8, 1985. The film received positive reviews upon release and became a sleeper hit, grossing over $117.1 million worldwide. At the 58th Academy Awards, it earned eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Ford, winning Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. It was also nominated for seven BAFTA Awards, winning one for Maurice Jarre's score, and six Golden Globe Awards. William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay and the 1986 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay presented by the Mystery Writers of America.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Witness” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.