MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Down 152 this week

Witness (1985)

7.5
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.5/10 from 45,908 users   Metascore: 76/100
Reviews: 145 user | 68 critic | 14 from Metacritic.com

A young Amish boy is sole witness to a murder; policeman John Book goes into hiding in Amish country to protect him until the trial.

Director:

Writers:

(story), (story), 3 more credits »
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2369 titles created 4 months ago
 
a list of 374 titles created 17 Apr 2011
 
a list of 50 titles created 6 days ago
 
a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 727 titles created 15 Nov 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Witness (1985)

Witness (1985) on IMDb 7.5/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Witness.
Won 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 26 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

When a prosecutor leaks a false story that a liquor warehouse owner is involved in the murder of an union head, the man's life begins to unravel.

Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Paul Newman, Sally Field, Bob Balaban
Unfaithful (2002)
Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.

Director: Adrian Lyne
Stars: Diane Lane, Erik Per Sullivan, Richard Gere
Dead Ringers (1988)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.

Director: David Cronenberg
Stars: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske
Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

US military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.

Director: John Frankenheimer
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March
Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.9/10 X  

An expatriate British publisher unexpectedly finds himself working for British intelligence to investigate people in Russia.

Director: Fred Schepisi
Stars: Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

Kathryn makes a bet that her step-brother, Sebastian, won't be able to bed Annette (a virgin, who wants to wait until love). If he loses, Kathryn gets his Jaguar, if he wins, he gets Kathryn.

Director: Roger Kumble
Stars: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon
Bitter Moon (1992)
Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

British couple Fiona and Nigel Dobson are sailing to Istanbul en route to India. They encounter a beautiful French woman, and that night Nigel meets her while dancing alone in the ship's ... See full summary »

Director: Roman Polanski
Stars: Peter Coyote, Emmanuelle Seigner, Hugh Grant
Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

When a disgraced former college professor has a romance with a mysterious younger woman haunted by her dark twisted past, he is forced to confront a shocking secret about his own life that he has kept secret for 50 years.

Director: Robert Benton
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris
Live Flesh (1997)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

After leaving jail, Víctor is still in love with Elena, but she's married to the former cop -now basketball player- who became paralysed by a shot from Víctor's gun...

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Stars: Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal
The Juror (1996)
Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.3/10 X  

When Annie Laird is selected as a juror in a big Mafia trial, she is forced by someone known as "The Teacher" to persuade the other jurors to vote "not guilty". He threatens to kill her son... See full summary »

Director: Brian Gibson
Stars: Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.6/10 X  

Barr is a psychiatrist who falls in love with the sister of one of his clients. She's beautiful and married (to a gangster). She hates her husband but is unable to escape from him. To avoid... See full summary »

Director: Phil Joanou
Stars: Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, Uma Thurman
Drama | Romance | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

Two friends must choose whether to help a third friend who was arrested in Malaysia for drug possession.

Director: Joseph Ruben
Stars: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Frederick Rolf ...
...
John Garson ...
Beverly May ...
Ed Crowley ...
Edit

Storyline

Samuel Lap is a young Amish boy who witnesses a murder in Philadelphia while traveling with his mother Rachel. A good cop named John Book must go with them into hiding when the killers come after them. All three retreat to Amish country and Book has to adjust to the new life style, and his feelings for the boy's mother. Of course the killers are still on their trail. Written by Greg Bole <bole@life.bio.sunysb.edu>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

amish | murder | police | train | love | See more »

Taglines:

8 year old Samuel: sole witness to a murder. Three killers who'll stop at nothing to silence him. One honest cop who'll give his life to save him... See more »


Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

8 February 1985 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Called Home  »

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$65,500,000 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(as Dolby Stereo)

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

As realistic as the actors playing background roles as Amish people are, no actual Amish were in the film because they do not (as is correctly stated in the film itself) like to have their pictures taken. They were intensely interested in the filming, though, and many Amish people were often out of camera range politely watching the filming. See more »

Goofs

The Amish clothes are shown with buttons, men's shirts and coats. The Amish use straight pins in place of buttons, where Mennonite's use buttons on their clothes. See more »

Quotes

John Book: Samuel, the man who was killed tonight was a policeman, and it's my job to find out what happened. I want you to tell me everything you saw when you went into the bathroom.
Samuel Lapp: Um... there were two.
John Book: There were TWO men?
Samuel Lapp: I only saw one.
John Book: [turning to Carter] Does anybody else know about this?
Det. Sgt. Elden Carter: No, no one's had a chance to talk to him.
John Book: What did he look like, the man that you saw?
Samuel Lapp: He was... like him.
[pointing at Carter]
John Book: He was a black man, had black skin?
[...]
See more »

Crazy Credits

For Tom Scott. Scott was a member of the casting department on Witness. See more »

Connections

Referenced in The Commune: A New Cult Classic (2009) See more »

Soundtracks

"PARTY DOWN"
Written by Alan Brackett and Scott Shelly
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

not so flawed...
27 January 2002 | by (London) – See all my reviews

An earlier comment on the site suggests that the film is flawed because the Amish boy, coming from a secure, peaceful environment, would not be able to witness a scene of brutality without becoming utterly traumatised.

Far from being a flaw, I believe this is a key statement of the theme of the film - that the close, peaceful and loving upbringing he has enjoyed provide the boy with an emotional strength and resilience that allows him to recognise evil and reject it. Later that same environment will provide the embittered and emotionally scarred with a temporary oasis where he can in part recover from the loveless violence of his own life.

Contrast the failure of community in the vast and soulless terminal building, where the first scene is set, where every one is isolated by the indifference and aggression of their fellow travellers, with the co-operative endeavour of the justly famous barn raising scene, where even the outsider is welcomed and included in an act of joint creation.


48 of 60 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Best peformance Harrison Ford ever gave cjgalwey
question about the last shot... roger_u_04
What was their plan at the end? blando3
Cop who gets murdered in bathroom = Anthony LaPaglia?? jamesahab
who is this sister in baltimore? jeff.covey
Voice-over Removal? Did I dream it? danvhay
Discuss Witness (1985) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page