WITNESS (1985)

Cast

Plot

The Amish are a puritanical sect whose life in Pennsylvania has remained unchanged since the 18th Century, but when an Amish boy witnesses a murder, cynical big city cop John Book (Ford) investigates the case and, finding his own life endangered, is forced to hot-foot it to their ranch with the bad guys in pursuit. Ford falls in love with the boy's mother (McGillis), and observes the distance between the messy world he leaves behind and the cloistered one in which he takes refuge. Powerful, assured, full of beautiful imagery and thankfully devoid of easy moralising, it also offers a performance of surprising skill and sensitivity from Ford. A fine love story, a fine thriller.