Harrison Ford
& Kelly McGillis
in the Movie
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Witness the Movie
After Rachel Lapp's husband dies, she and her young son,
Samuel are waiting at a train station. Samuel becomes an eye
witness to a drug murder. What follows is part detective story, part
romance.....and the story of the differences between the
Amish and the "English."
Harrison Ford does an outstanding job of playing detective
John Book who is called in to investigate the crime. Samuel
(Lukas Hass) identifies the killer as another cop on the force,
Det. Lt. James McFee (Danny Glover) who also happens
to be in cahoots with Police Chief Paul Schaeffer (Josef Sommer).
McFee takes some shots at Book, with one bullet hitting it's
mark. Book knows he, Samuel and Rachel (Kelly McGillis) are now hunted
persons, so takes the boy and girl back to their farm near
Strasburg, Lancaster County.
Arriving at the Lapp farm, Book passes out and is taken in by the
Lapp family to heal. Now the fun begins. John Book an outsider
looks, well...like an outsider. He stands out like a sore thumb
so Rachel supplies him with her deceased husbands clothes to
make him look "plain."
Plain he looks but the clothes are a bit too small and Rachel
gets a good laugh. John Book learns quickly to fit in well with
the Amish lifestyle, helping with chores around the farm and
re-discovering his old talents as a carpenter. He even takes
part in an Amish barn raising.
Rachel finds herself looking and thinking more and more about
this handsome man that has come in to their lives. So much
that her grandfather, Eli Lapp (Jan Rubes), becomes concerned
and tells Rachel the elders are thinking of "shunning her."
Rachel tells her grandfather she alone is responsible for her
actions. The romantic action escalates from dancing in the barn
to John Book watching Rachel bathe herself. But as much as
they both want it, Book walks away, explaining to Rachel in
the morning that if they had made love, he would have to stay
and she would have to leave the farm.
Meanwhile McFee and Schaeffer are trying to locate Book and
the boy as they are the keys to keeping their drug dealings
secret. Schaeffer calls the sheriff of Lancaster County asking him to
make some calls to the Amish, which the sheriff is willing to do,
except for one minor detail....the Amish don't have phones.
John keeps in touch with his partner on the police force,
Det. Sgt. Elden Carter (Brent Jennings), but when he learns that
Carter has been done away with by Schaeffer, Book calls
Schaeffer and informs him that he is now the hunted.
On the way back from town, the Amish are stopped by
a couple of taunting teens. Eli tells Book to let it go saying
it's not their way....Book counters with "but, it's my way."
After breaking one of their noses, the local folks inform
the police which is the clue Schaeffer needs.
Book makes plans to leave the farm and revenge his partner's
death. Rachel realizes hes leaving and they both end up in each
other's arms with some passionate kissing.
But Book's departure comes too late as Schaeffer and his
henchmen arrive early the next morning at the farm. Book
tells Samuel to run for his life, but after hearing the shooting
Samuel bravely returns to ring the warning bell. Following
a shoot out in the barn, where both henchmen are killed,
Schaeffer points a gun to Rachel's head and Book surrenders
to save the girl's life.
As they come out of the barn, the community of Amish is
present and Book screams at Schaeffer "Are you going to kill the
boy, are you going to kill all of them?" Schaeffer gives up.
The story ends as Book says his goodbyes to Samuel. Eli
warns him to "be careful out there among the English." But
as much as they both want it, John Book and Rachel never
share a parting kiss or hug.
Witness
1985
Directed by
Peter Weir
Writing credits
William Kelley
Earl W. Wallace
Cast overview
Harrison Ford .... Det. Capt. John Book
Kelly McGillis .... Rachel Lapp
Josef Sommer .... Chief Paul Schaeffer
Lukas Haas .... Samuel Lapp
Jan Rubes .... Eli Lapp
Alexander Godunov .... Daniel Hochleitner
Danny Glover .... Det. Lt. James McFee
Brent Jennings .... Det. Sgt. Elden Carter
Patti LuPone .... Elaine
Angus MacInnes .... Det. 'Fergie'
Frederick Rolf .... Stoltzfus
Viggo Mortensen .... Moses Hochleitner
John Garson .... Bishop Tchantz
Beverly May .... Mrs. Yoder
Ed Crowley .... Sheriff
Runtime: 112 min
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