Editing Witness (1985 film) (section)

==Reception==
{{anchor|Critics}}
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''Witness'' holds an approval rating of 94% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The site's critics consensus states: "A wonderfully entertaining thriller within an unusual setting, with Harrison Ford delivering a surprisingly emotive and sympathetic performance."<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1023854-witness |title= Witness (1985) |work= Rotten Tomatoes |access-date= February 13, 2025}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], it has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title=Witness Reviews |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/witness |website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=February 20, 2021 }}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' rated the film four out of four stars, calling it: {{cquote|[F]irst of all, an electrifying and poignant love story. Then it is a movie about the choices we make in life and the choices that other people make for us. Only then is it a thriller—one that [[Alfred Hitchcock]] would have been proud to make... We have lately been getting so many pallid, bloodless little movies—mostly recycled teenage exploitation films made by ambitious young stylists without a thought in their heads—that ''Witness'' arrives like a fresh new day. It is a movie about adults whose lives have dignity and whose choices matter to them. And it is also one hell of a thriller.<ref name=Ebert>{{cite web | first=Roger | last=Ebert | title=Witness | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/witness-1985 | work=RogerEbert.com | publisher=Ebert Digital LLC | date=February 8, 1985 | access-date=June 30, 2018}}</ref>
}} Ebert also praised Ford's work and believed he had "never given a better performance in a movie."<ref name=Ebert/>

[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' was much more negative, saying of the film:

{{cquote|It's not really awful, but it's not much fun. It's pretty to look at and it contains a number of good performances, but there is something exhausting about its neat balancing of opposing manners and values... One might be made to care about all this if the direction by the talented Australian film maker, Peter Weir... were less perfunctory and if the screenplay... did not seem so strangely familiar. One follows ''Witness'' as if touring one's old hometown, guided by an outsider who refuses to believe that one knows the territory better than he does. There's not a character, an event, or a plot twist that one hasn't anticipated long before its arrival, which gives one the feeling of waiting around for people who are always late.<ref>{{cite news | first=Vincent | last=Canby | title=FILM: 'WITNESS,' A TOUGH GUY AMONG THE AMISH | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/08/movies/film-witness-a-tough-guy-among-the-amish.html | date=February 8, 1985 | access-date=June 30, 2018}}</ref>
}}

''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said the film was "at times a gentle, affecting story of star-crossed lovers limited within the fascinating Amish community. Too often, however, this fragile romance is crushed by a thoroughly absurd shoot-'em-up, like ketchup poured over a delicate [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] dinner."<ref>{{cite news |date=December 31, 1984 |title=Witness |url=https://variety.com/1984/film/reviews/witness-3-1200426365/ |access-date=July 19, 2024 |work=Variety}}</ref>

''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out New York]]'' observed, "Powerful, assured, full of beautiful imagery and thankfully devoid of easy moralizing, it also offers a performance of surprising skill and sensitivity from Ford."<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/64714/Witness.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130204120119/http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/64714/Witness.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-02-04 | title = Witness Review | work = [[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out New York]] }}</ref>

''[[Leslie Halliwell#Halliwell's Film Guide|Halliwell's Film Guide]]'' chose ''Witness'' as one of only two films from 1985 to receive a four-star review, describing it as "one of those lucky movies which works out well on all counts and shows that there are still craftsmen lurking in Hollywood."<ref>''Halliwell's Film Guide'', 13th edition&nbsp;– {{ISBN|0-00-638868-X}}.</ref>

''[[Radio Times]]'' called the film "partly a love story and partly a thriller, but mainly a study of cultural collision&nbsp;– it's as if the world of ''[[Dirty Harry]]'' had suddenly stumbled into a canvas by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Brueghel]]." It added, "[I]t's Weir's delicacy of touch that impresses the most. He ably juggles the various elements of the story and makes the violence seem even more shocking when it's played out on the fields of Amish denial."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ferguson |first=John |title=Witness review |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/servlet_film/com.icl.beeb.rtfilms.client.simpleSearchServlet?frn=17783&searchTypeSelect=5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040913091335/http://www.radiotimes.com/servlet_film/com.icl.beeb.rtfilms.client.simpleSearchServlet?frn=17783&searchTypeSelect=5 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 13, 2004 |work=[[Radio Times]]}}</ref>

===Accolades {{anchor|Awards}}===
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Recipient
! Result
! {{abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}}
|-
|rowspan=8| [[58th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] 
| [[Edward S. Feldman]]
| {{nom}}
| rowspan=8| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1986 |title=58th Academy Awards |website=oscars.org |date=October 4, 2014 |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Peter Weir]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] 
| [[Harrison Ford]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] 
| [[Earl W. Wallace]], [[William Kelley (screenwriter)|William Kelley]] and [[Pamela Wallace]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]] 
| [[Stan Jolley]] and [[John H. Anderson]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| [[John Seale]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]] 
| [[Thom Noble]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
| [[Maurice Jarre]]
| {{nom}}
|-
|rowspan=7|[[British Academy Film Awards|BAFTA Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
|
| {{nom}}
| rowspan=7 |<ref>{{cite web |title=Film in 1986 |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1986/film |website=BAFTA Awards |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] 
| Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley and Pamela Wallace
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|Best Actor]] 
| Harrison Ford
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|Best Actress]] 
| [[Kelly McGillis]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Original Music|Best Music]] 
| Maurice Jarre
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]] 
| John Seale
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]] 
| Thom Noble
| {{nom}}
|-
|rowspan=6| [[Golden Globe Awards]]
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]] 
|
| {{nom}}
| rowspan=6 | <ref>{{cite web |title=Witness |url=https://goldenglobes.com/film/witness/ |website=Golden Globe Awards |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director]] 
| Peter Weir
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]] 
| Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley and Pamela Wallace
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama|Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama]] 
| Harrison Ford
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress]] 
| Kelly McGillis
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]] 
| Maurice Jarre
| {{nom}}
|-
|rowspan=2| Kansas City Film Critics Circle
| Best Film 
|
| {{won}}
| rowspan=2 | <ref>{{cite web |title=KCFCC Award Winners – 1980-89 |url=https://kcfcc.org/kcfcc-award-winners-1980-89/ |website=Kansas City Film Critics Circle |date=December 14, 2013 |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| Best Actor 
| Harrison Ford
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Writers Guild of America]]
| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]]
| Earl W. Wallace, William Kelley and Pamela Wallace
| {{won}}
| <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |title=1986 Awards Winners |website=wga.org |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121205095022/http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |archive-date=2012-12-05 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 21, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Directors Guild of America]]
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directing]]
| Peter Weir
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web |title=38th DGA Awards Nominees |url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1980s/1985.aspx?value=1985 |website=dga.org |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Grammy Awards]]
| [[Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media|Best Score]]
| Maurice Jarre
| {{nom}}
| <ref>{{cite web |title=Maurice Jarre - 28th Annual Grammy Awards |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/maurice-jarre/3470 |website=grammy.com |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[American Cinema Editors]] 
| Best Edited Feature Film 
| Thom Noble
| {{won}}
| <ref>{{cite book|last1=Goodman |first1=Robert M. |last2=McGrath |first2=Patrick |year=2002 |title=Editing Digital Video: The Complete Creative and Technical Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FW59a17sdgC |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |pages=287–297 |isbn=978-0071406352 |access-date=July 20, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Australian Cinematographers Society]] 
| Cinematographer of the Year 
|rowspan=2| John Seale
| {{won}}
|-
| [[British Society of Cinematographers]] 
| Best Cinematography 
| {{nom}}
|}

===Controversy===
Leading up to and following its release, ''Witness'' was met with controversy from the Amish communities where it was filmed,{{sfn|Hostetler|Kraybill|1988|pages=220–235}} and was subject to debate from editors, scholars, and other parties regarding its depiction of the Amish.{{sfn|Weaver-Zercher|2001|p=152}} Some accused the film of exploiting the Amish community for commercial purposes, while others felt that the depiction of Amish characters in an R-rated film was insensitive to the Amish's beliefs.{{sfn|Weaver-Zercher|2001|pages=152–153}}

A statement released by a law firm associated with the Amish claimed that their portrayal in the movie was not accurate. The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom called for a boycott of the movie soon after its release, citing fears that these communities were being "overrun by tourists" as a result of the popularity of the movie, and worried that "the crowding, souvenir-hunting, photographing and trespassing on Amish farmsteads will increase." After the movie was completed, Pennsylvania governor [[Dick Thornburgh]] agreed not to promote Amish communities as future film sites. A similar concern was voiced within the movie itself, where Rachel tells a recovering Book that tourists often consider her fellow Amish something to stare at, with some even being so rude as to trespass on their private property.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amish ask boycott of movie 'Witness' |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h6ccAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GGIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3978,64379 |work=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |date=February 16, 1985 |via=Google News}}</ref>