Witness (Special Collector's Widescreen Edition)
by Peter Weir
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Actor: Harrison Ford, Jan Rubes, Josef Sommer, Kelly McGillis, Lukas HaasDirector: Peter Weir
Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
Cinematographer: John Seale
Producer: David Bombyk
Producer: Edward S. Feldman
Producer: Wendy Stites
Writer: Earl W. Wallace
Writer: Pamela Wallace
Writer: William Kelley
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; German (Original Language)
Format: Anamorphic, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Special Edition
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Witness (Special Collector's Widescreen Edition)
DVD Review: Great movie receives much deserved upgraded DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
Made immediately after "The Year of Living Dangerously", "Witness" continued a winning streak for Australian director Peter Weir. His first "American" movie, "Witness" deals with the conflict between two cultures and, in a sense, two centuries as part of a much more conventional police drama about an Amish boy (Lukas Haas) who witnesses the murder of an undercover police officer in the men's room of a train station. His mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) is traveling with the boy and both are drawn into the police investigation. What Detective Captain John Book (Harrison Ford) who is investigating the case doesn't realize is that someone is out to kill them both. As a result, Book goes undercover himself taking them back to the Amish community they come from and hiding out with them there until he can resolve who is trying to kill them.
Featuring a rich, startling performance from Ford and a powerful turn by Kelly McGillis (who had only appeared on "One Life to Live", a TV movie and the marvelous film "Rueben, Rueben" at that point in her career) "Witness" still manages to amaze with the suspense that Weir generates in the film. His focus on the contrasting cultural values of Book and the Amish community makes the film much more than a conventional "B" movie police crime drama adding depth and nuance to the film.
A much needed improvement over the previous edition of "Witness", this collector's edition looks sharp with vivid colors, sharp image quality and very few digital artifacts. Blacks are rock solid throughout. The original release was a non-anamorphic widescreen image and, as such, this anamorphic presentation is a huge improvement over the previous edition of the movie. The 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround mix sounds solid throughout.
The original "Witness" was released bare bones so this new edition is a welcome change. There's a 5 part documentary "Between Two Worlds" which features new interviews with producer Edward S. Feldman, director Peter Weir, actors Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. Feldman discusses how the original script was presented to many directors (including director David Cronenberg "The Fly") and many turned it down. Feldman and his wife happened to see Weir's "The Year of Living Dangerously" and he commented to his wife about how that was "a movie" and how perfect he would be to direct the film. McGillis discusses how lucky she was to work with Ford and Weir on one of her first major movies. Ford focuses on how difficult it can be to work with a Foreign director where English isn't their primary language so they can frequently lose the nuance of the performance. As Ford points out Weir had the advantage of their common language plus the added advantage of being an outsider culturally giving added perspective to the film. Weir's comments are, not surprisingly, the most valuable as he discusses the challenges of making a film in the United States vs. his home country. He also focuses on how he made substantial changes to the script shifting the point of view from Rachel (McGillis) to Book (Ford) since Book was the outsider in Amish country much like Weir was with the American crew and actors. His perceptive comments are always valuable it's a pity he's not a believer in doing film commentary tracks. He also points out that the sequence in the grain tower was improvised and created by he and Ford a couple of days before shooting as they wanted their "High Noon" like showdown to have something different and unique that might take advantage of the setting.
We get one deleted scene that was added to the network broadcast (it isn't integrated here into the feature either). Like "The Truman Show" it's clear why the deleted scene was cut although it wouldn't have damaged the pacing of the film all that much. Still, the point made in the deleted sequence where Book's nephews show the Amish boy his first video game is charming; thematically it's echoed by other far superior sequences throughout the film. There are also the original TV spots and theatrical teaser and trailer for the movie.
"Witness" was a pivotal film for director Weir as it cemented his reputation as a major film director. It also set the stage for his collaboration with Ford on the underrated "The Mosquito Coast" as well as Weir's work with producer Edward Feldman on "The Truman Show" another pivotal film in Weir's career. Although he didn't wriwrite "Witness", Weir brought his experience as a writer/director to the film and kept the original writers on board to retool the script to fit his unique vision. Typically, the film was honored with an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay but Weir was passed over as director (as he continues to be much like Hitchcock and Welles two other giants of the cinema to which Weir can be compared for his unique personal vision). Paramount has done a great job here improving the transfer as well adding much needed extras to this classic contemporary film. Although 20 years old, "Witness" holds up extremely well today (Weir comments that he thought that it was the one film would be least likely to continue to hold up well and has been pleasantly surprised). Definitely worth an upgrade for fans of this terrific movie!
Description of Witness (Special Collector's Widescreen Edition)
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.Bestsellers in DVD
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