InWitness Protectionlifelong Mafia hood Bobby "Bats" Batton (Tom Sizemore) wakes up one ... more
night to discover a price on his head and nowhere to go but to the cops, under protection as a federal witness. Based on the article "The Invisible Family" by Robert Sabbag, this HBO film drops us into the volatile period between lives as Bats takes his family off the streets and into a federal bunker where they begin shaping their new identities. Surrounded by surveillance cameras and locked in an apartment that feels like a fancy prison block, the formerly prosperous family starts to suffocate and self-destruct while it becomes clear just what a "readjustment of expectations" really means.Sizemore is excellent as the hot-headed gangster paralysed by helplessness, but Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is especially moving as the once-hopeful wife who buckles as her husband's secrets and lies are revealed. It's an interesting dynamic: the swaggering goodfella forced into a working-class life elicits little sympathy, but the toll on the family torn apart by recriminations, blame and frustration is affecting and powerful. They're undergoing a crash course in family therapy with federal official Forest Whitaker as their tough-love crisis counsellor. While the screenplay at times feels contrived, the drama is always potent. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com
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Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: K.C. Bascombe - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jesse James, Rachel Skarsten, Charles Powell, Linda Purl, Kevin Zegars
Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Advantages: atmospheric,intillegent,terrific Harrison Ford performance Disadvantages: none
Witness released back in 1985 is one of Harrison fords best movies and certaintly contains his best acting .It is directed by Peter Weir who had earlier acheived fame with Gallipolli(1981) and the Year of living dangerously(1983),both starring Mel Gibson.Ford stars as philadelphia cop John Book who takes into his protection a amish family Rachael( kelly mcgliss) and son Samuel(lukas Haas).The young Samuel witnesses a murder in the toilets at Philadelphia station and is in shock.After seeing a picture at the police station,Ford realises that the murder has been commited by corrupt detectives.After an attempt is made on his life ,he goes into hiding back in the familys Amish community.However the corrupt cops go after him and sets up a tense thriller.
Ford is excellent in his role as John Book,bringing a tough but tender side to his ...
harj123 24.06.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Witness (DVD)
Advantages: Artistic and probing Disadvantages: Not for me
Witness is a 1985 film starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis, and features a moving tale of police protection in the Amish community. The film was critically acclaimed for its brutal handling of what could be a sensitive topic, something which is commonplace in cinema in the 21st Century, and for being very dark, not just in content but in filming as well. Directed by Peter Weir, it is one of the many films that chowcases Harrison Ford's talent as an actor and not just an action star.
Ford plays John Book, a hardnosed cop who must go undercover in the Amish community to protect a young boy named Samuel who is the only witness to a murder. Book befriends Samuel (Lukas Haas) and his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) as he becomes emotionally attached to the community as a whole and begins to understand it a little more. But there are ...
pmcds 14.11.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Witness (DVD)
Advantages: Intelligent thriller, good acting, superb director Disadvantages: None
'Witness' (1985) is a film directed by Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show) that manages to be both a gripping thriller, a slow-burning romance, and an intelligent foray into religious beliefs and tolerance.
Rachel Lapp (Kelly McGillis) is a young Amish widow attempting a visit to her sister with her young son Samuel (Lukas Haas) in tow. Delayed at a train station, Samuel accidentally witnesses the murder of a cop. Reluctantly the Amish pair are drawn into the modern 'English' world of which they want no part as Samuel is required to identify the murderers. Part and parcel of this modern world is the streetwise detective John Book (Harrison Ford) whose casual approach to all the things that horrify Rachel illustrates the gulf between their two cultures.
As the film goes on Book is in turn reluctantly immersed ...
Robs86 06.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Witness (DVD)
Bobby Batton is a key figure in Boston's criminal underworld. He had been helping himself to the Mafia's profits and they had sent a hitman for him in the middle of the night. He survives the attack, but he must disappear. Eventually he is forced to give evidence to the FBI to save the lives of his family.
Rating: B - Recommended (Entertainment Weekly, p.77, 23/06/2000)
"...[The] 'process of forced metamorphosis is both fascinating and frightening'..." (New York Times, p.E26, 16/06/2000)
DVD Description
From director Richard Pearce (A FAMILY THING, LEAP OF FAITH) comes a suspenseful, thrilling drama featuring Sizemore's (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, WITNESS TO THE MOB) Golden Glob nominated performance as a mobster who must take his family into the Witness Protection Program after putting their life in jeopardy and testifying against his own mob boss. Whitaker (GHOST DOG: The Way of the Samurai) is an agent who helps the family cope with the psychological stress that comes with a life in hiding and the acquisition of a new identity. An HBO original presentation.
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