Rent Witness (1985)

Entertaining Cop Thriller - Witness review by GI

A good solid police thriller from the 80s that cemented Harrison Ford as a major league star and moved him away from the science fiction genre where he had made his name. It's also a clash of cultures themed narrative and a romance thrown in for good measure. It remains an entertaining watch and it's Kelly McGillis who stands out with her performance as a widowed Amish woman. The murder of an undercover police officer in Philadelphia is inadvertently witnessed by a young Amish boy (Lukas Haas) who is travelling with his mother, Rachel (McGillis). Detective John Book (Ford) is assigned to the case and it quickly transpires that corrupt cops are behind it all meaning Book has to hide out within the Amish community. This causes all sorts of tensions with the strange community who shun modernity and most importantly, violence. As love blossoms between Book and Rachel the film climaxes in a 'High Noon' style confrontation. There's some interesting showcasing of the attitudes of the ignorant Americans towards the Amish who are portrayed as misunderstood but ultimately kind and caring avoiding too much emphasis on the very patriarchal dominance and morality of the Amish society. But as a thriller from the 80s, when it was a big box office hit, this is a film that is worth a watch if you've never seen it.