The Oscar-winning Witness, starring Harrison Ford as a police detective in Amish country, marked its 40th anniversary over the weekend.

Witness was reprinted on Blu-ray back in March 2024. Unfortunately, it is sans any bonus features. It’s a shame because this is the type of film that one would love to learn additional insight into the behind-the-scenes process. I’m not sure how much of this is because of Amish protests against the film. It had been a while since I had first watched the film in the late 1990s or early 2000s but it holds up. The 1080p High Definition played beautifully on my 43-inch TV. Following a sold out 4K Ultra HD printing, Arrow Video released their own Blu-ray with bonus features in April 2024.

Philadelphia detective John Book (Harrison Ford) manages to be the saving grace for an Amish family when Rachel Lapp’s (Kelly McGillis) son, Samuel (Lukas Haas), witnesses undercover police officer Detective Ian Zenovich (Timothy Carhart) being murdered at the 30th Street Station.

Book is assigned the case with his partner, Sergeant Elton Carter (Brent Jennings). Samuel isn’t having any luck figuring out who the murderer is. Not until he takes a look at a display case and sees a newspaper clipping featuring narcotics officer Lieutenant James McFee (Danny Glover). Book’s investigation into McFee reveals his involvement with the disappearance of seized chemicals. When he reports his findings to Chief of Police Paul Schaeffer (Josef Sommer), the chief tells him to keep it a secret. Book is later ambushed and shot by McFee at his apartment building.

Realizing that nobody is safe, Book drives the Lapps back to their farm. The Lapps insisted on taking him to a hospital but Book knows that it would mean the gunshot wound would be reported and his location discovered. As such, Rachel nurtures Book back to health while he recovers on their farm following an earlier gunshot wound. The two even develop romantic feelings for each other even if it is against their better judgement. Falling in love would mean either Book stays or Rachel goes. They cannot have it both ways.

While Book is hiding out on the farm, the corrupt officers are trying to figure out where he could be. Working against them is that there are thousands of Amish living in the area. Finding the right family would be like finding a needle in a haystack, especially since they do not have phones. Book gives his location away when he assaults a pair of locals that are harassing his new friends. As you’d expect, the police report gets back to the folks in Philadelphia. Next thing you know, Schaeffer, McFee, and Sergeant Leon “Fergie” Ferguson (Angus MacInnes) come guns a blazing into the Lapp house. Book uses the barn to his advantage.

Produced on a budget of just $12 million, the neo-noir crime thriller became a blockbuster hit, earning $116.1 million at the box office. It would later eight nominations at the Academy Awards, winning for both Original Screenplay and Film Editing. Other nominations were for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Harrison Ford), Cinematography, Art Direction, and Score. To this day, Witness remains Harrison Ford’s only Oscar nomination to date. He turns in some brilliant work, don’t get me wrong, but I would argue that Witness isn’t even his career-best performance. How the actor didn’t get a nomination for his award-worthy worth in The Fugitive is beyond me!

Amish communities asked for a boycott of Witness after it was released in theaters. Similarly, there were requests to not feature Amish sites in future films out of fear that they turn Amish communities into tourist attractions. I couldn’t blame them. Who in the right mind would want to have their community become a tourist attraction? The film even alludes to it as well during a conversation between Book and Rachel when Book is dressed in her late husband’s suit. But despite all of it, the film treats its Amish subjects with care.

Harrison Ford delivers one of the best performances in his career in Witness. We can argue all day as to whether it’s a career-best performance or not.

DIRECTOR: Peter Weir
SCREENWRITERS: Earl W. Wallace & William Kelley
CAST: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Josef Sommer, Lukas Haas, Jan Rubeš, and Alexander Godunov, Patti LuPone, Danny Glover, Brent Jennings

Paramount Pictures released Witness in theaters on February 8, 1985. Grade: 5/5

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