list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Witness on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Witness/38679/default.aspx Title: Witness
Year: 1985
Director: Peter Weir
Plot: In Peter Weir's thriller Witness, Samuel (Lukas Haas), a young Amish boy, witnesses a murder in the restroom of a Philadelphia bus station. Harrison Ford stars as John Book, the police detective investigating the murder. When Book discovers that the crime was part of a conspiracy involving several officials in his department, he flees Philadelphia to the Amish community where Samuel lives with his widowed mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis). Slowly assimilating himself into the Amish community, Book eventually finds himself falling in love with Rachel in the midst of his investigation. Eventually, the corrupt police track Book down, and he is forced to confront them, while also trying to protect Rachel and Samuel. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 21
Number of Lists: 22
Number of blog posts: 3
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Mon, 11 May 2009 01:31:43 GMTWitness1985Peter WeirIn <a href="/players/P___116294/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Peter Weir</a>'s thriller Witness, Samuel (<a href="/players/P____29440/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Lukas Haas</a>), a young Amish boy, witnesses a murder in the restroom of a Philadelphia bus station. <a href="/players/P____24238/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Harrison Ford</a> stars as John Book, the police detective investigating the murder. When Book discovers that the crime was part of a conspiracy involving several officials in his department, he flees Philadelphia to the Amish community where Samuel lives with his widowed mother, Rachel (<a href="/players/P____47443/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kelly McGillis</a>). Slowly assimilating himself into the Amish community, Book eventually finds himself falling in love with Rachel in the midst of his investigation. Eventually, the corrupt police track Book down, and he is forced to confront them, while also trying to protect Rachel and Samuel. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide21Tag Target (>10)2233http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t62908ei3wr.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Witness/38679/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/10/27/36709.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 10/27/2008 7:00:43 PM
Body: It’s been more than 100 years since the Philadelphia Quakers changed their name to the Philadelphia Philadelphians, which was thankfully shortened to “Phillies” very quickly, probably by printers who were afraid of using up all of their ‘P’s in the printing press. Since being founded in 1883, they’ve been one of the most tenacious teams in baseball, winning six pennants, and the World Series in 1980. In fact, in all of American sports (not just baseball), the Phillies are the team that’s been in one city with one name for the longest time. They’re one game away from another World Series win tonight, despite being the Major League team with the most losses in history. We celebrate their scrappiness with a list of quintessential Philadelphia movies. Check them out after the break. Rocky When most people think about Philadelphia and movies, the first thing that springs to mind is the iconic shot of Rocky Balboa running up the stairs to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and triumphantly pumping his fists to the sky from Rocky. City Commerce Director Dick Doran said Sylvester Stallone and the movie did more for Philadelphia’s image than Ben Franklin,  and that scene has probably been recreated by thousands of people that visit the city. In fact, the closing credits of Rocky Balboa is a long montage of images of people imitating his famous run, and there are countless fan recreations on YouTube. The Philadelphia Story Even though it’s set entirely on a Hollywood soundstage, this 1940 film skewers Philadelphia high society  in a comedy of errors. It also features Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant at the top of their game, with Stewart winning an Oscar for Best Actor for his role. Katherine Hepburn had previously starred in the Broadway play the film is based on, and eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes bought the film rights for the play and gave them to her as a gift. Which was somewhat ironic, since Philip Barry had written the play for her in an effort to bring her back to Broadway. It’s still one of the best-written romantic comedies of all time, and the city of brotherly love is probably proud of the fact that its name is in the title. Mannequin Set in the famous Wanamaker’s department store in downtown Philadelphia, this is one of those quintessential 1980s movies that critics hated, but audiences adored. Although this story about window display mannequin come to life might not hold up well today, it has grossed over $42 million dollars and was considered such a success that they made a sequel in 1991 called Mannequin Too: On The Move. That one didn’t do quite so well. The original featured both Andrew McCarthy during his rise in the Brat Pack, and Kim Cattrall in her pre-pre-pre Sex and the City days. Besides giving us Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” the film has become iconically linked with Philadelphia through Wanamaker’s, now a Macy’s, which was the first department store in Philly and one of the first in the United States in 1876. Philadelphia This movie provided the one-two punch of a powerful performance from Tom Hanks along with Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” song, both of which netted Oscars. This film not only addressed AIDS and gay issues in a straightforward manner that was extremely new for Hollywood, it helped open the door for future films and even television series in the sexually conservative (at least in gay and lesbian terms) entertainment industry. It also was shot in key locations around the city, including the courtroom scenes which were filmed in an actual court in Philadelphia. Ironically, Denzel Washington’s character says he prays that the Phillies will win the pennant, and when this film came out in 1993 they did just that. The Sixth Sense M. Night Shyamalan famously shoots all of his movies in or around Philadelphia, and this is easily his most famous. Shymalan goes out of his way to show that the film is set in his hometown, including in the opening scene where Bruce Willis and Olivia Williams are looking at a citation Willis has just received from the mayor. The camera pans all the way down to show the words “of Philadelphia.” The film also features several key locations in South Philadelphia. The filmmaker has continued to show love for the city, although audiences haven’t been loving his movies. The Sixth Sense grossed over $600 million at the worldwide box office, but his latest, The Happening, has only pulled in $163 million. Dawn of the Dead Although most of this film takes place in a shopping mall in Monroeville, PA, the action starts in Philadelphia with the main characters fleeing from pandemonium in the city via helicopter. The entire city has become overrun with zombies, which is probably high time to leave any city. The Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team responds to an apartment building full of zombies, which doesn’t turn out so well for them since zombie attack from your reanimated dead loved one probably isn’t in the training manual. Romero shot the film in and around Philadelphia for around $650,000 dollars in 1978, and it still stands as one of the best horror movies of all time and the strongest in his zombie trilogy which includes Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead. National Treasure Right on the heels of the success of The Da Vinci Code came this Nicolas Cage starrer with historic clues to lost treasure hidden in Philadelphia. The central clue in the film is the Declaration of Independence, which leads the main characters to Independence Hall (where the Declaration was signed) in Philadelphia where they find a pair of special glasses hidden by Philadelphia’s most famous historical resident, Benjamin Franklin. Although the treasure ends up being underneath an old church in Boston, the scenes in Philadelphia with the secret brick and Franklin’s glasses are one of the most interesting homages to Indiana Jones’ headpiece to the Staff of Ra in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nicolas Cage’s character is also named Benjamin Franklin Gates, so they had to show some Philly love. Trading Places This comedic version of the prince and the pauper tale is set in an affluent neighborhood in Philadelphia, and in the offices of a commodity brokerage downtown. It’s a double rags to riches tale, with Winthorpe and Billy Ray (Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy) swapping places before they turn the tables on the Duke brothers and bankrupt them as well. Winthorpe’s mansion is actually a real location in a ritzy part of town, and many of the downtown scenes key Philadelphia locations and even local television reporters as extras. Although Randolph and Mortimer return briefly in Murphy’s Coming to America, they’re seen as bums in New York, and not Philadelphia. Witness Ironically, most of this key Philadelphia movie doesn’t take place in the city at all, but rather in the Amish communities of nearby rural Lancaster County. The film opens with a very young Lukas Haas witnessing a murder, which leads to a conspiracy within the city’s police department. Police Captain John Book, played by Harrison Ford, is shot while discovering this, and takes Haas back home to protect him. However, he collapses from his bullet wound, and is nursed back to health by a bonnet-wearing Kelly McGillis. He stays on to protect the boy, and is eventually accepted by the community before offing the bad guys and returning to the big city. 12 Monkeys While this Terry Gilliam post-apocalyptic film is set mostly in modern-day Baltimore and Philadelphia, it’s the shots of the virus ravaged Philly that are the most haunting. Bruce Willis roams the future devastated landscape in his steampunk environmental suit while encountering wild animals and looking for clues that can help the human race repopulate and return to the surface. The iconic ending sequence in the airport was actually shot inside the Philadelphia Convention Center, and the asylum where Willis is a patient is the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is the one of two things Charles Dickens wanted to see when he visited the U.S. The other was Niagara Falls. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:00:43 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com10/27/2008 7:00:43 PMIt’s been more than 100 years since the Philadelphia Quakers changed their name to the Philadelphia Philadelphians, which was thankfully shortened to “Phillies” very quickly, probably by printers who were afraid of using up all of their ‘P’s in the printing press. Since being founded in 1883, they’ve been one of the most tenacious teams in baseball, winning six pennants, and the World Series in 1980. In fact, in all of American sports (not just baseball), the Phillies are the team that’s been in one city with one name for the longest time. They’re one game away from another World Series win tonight, despite being the Major League team with the most losses in history. We celebrate their scrappiness with a list of quintessential Philadelphia movies. Check them out after the break. Rocky When most people think about Philadelphia and movies, the first thing that springs to mind is the iconic shot of Rocky Balboa running up the stairs to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and triumphantly pumping his fists to the sky from Rocky. City Commerce Director Dick Doran said Sylvester Stallone and the movie did more for Philadelphia’s image than Ben Franklin,  and that scene has probably been recreated by thousands of people that visit the city. In fact, the closing credits of Rocky Balboa is a long montage of images of people imitating his famous run, and there are countless fan recreations on YouTube. The Philadelphia Story Even though it’s set entirely on a Hollywood soundstage, this 1940 film skewers Philadelphia high society  in a comedy of errors. It also features Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant at the top of their game, with Stewart winning an Oscar for Best Actor for his role. Katherine Hepburn had previously starred in the Broadway play the film is based on, and eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes bought the film rights for the play and gave them to her as a gift. Which was somewhat ironic, since Philip Barry had written the play for her in an effort to bring her back to Broadway. It’s still one of the best-written romantic comedies of all time, and the city of brotherly love is probably proud of the fact that its name is in the title. Mannequin Set in the famous Wanamaker’s department store in downtown Philadelphia, this is one of those quintessential 1980s movies that critics hated, but audiences adored. Although this story about window display mannequin come to life might not hold up well today, it has grossed over $42 million dollars and was considered such a success that they made a sequel in 1991 called Mannequin Too: On The Move. That one didn’t do quite so well. The original featured both Andrew McCarthy during his rise in the Brat Pack, and Kim Cattrall in her pre-pre-pre Sex and the City days. Besides giving us Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” the film has become iconically linked with Philadelphia through Wanamaker’s, now a Macy’s, which was the first department store in Philly and one of the first in the United States in 1876. Philadelphia This movie provided the one-two punch of a powerful performance from Tom Hanks along with Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” song, both of which netted Oscars. This film not only addressed AIDS and gay issues in a straightforward manner that was extremely new for Hollywood, it helped open the door for future films and even television series in the sexually conservative (at least in gay and lesbian terms) entertainment industry. It also was shot in key locations around the city, including the courtroom scenes which were filmed in an actual court in Philadelphia. Ironically, Denzel Washington’s character says he prays that the Phillies will win the pennant, and when this film came out in 1993 they did just that. The Sixth Sense M. Night Shyamalan famously shoots all of his movies in or around Philadelphia, and this is easily his most famous. Shymalan goes out of his way to show that the film is set in his hometown, including in the opening scene where Bruce Willis and Olivia Williams are looking at a citation Willis has just received from the mayor. The camera pans all the way down to show the words “of Philadelphia.” The film also features several key locations in South Philadelphia. The filmmaker has continued to show love for the city, although audiences haven’t been loving his movies. The Sixth Sense grossed over $600 million at the worldwide box office, but his latest, The Happening, has only pulled in $163 million. Dawn of the Dead Although most of this film takes place in a shopping mall in Monroeville, PA, the action starts in Philadelphia with the main characters fleeing from pandemonium in the city via helicopter. The entire city has become overrun with zombies, which is probably high time to leave any city. The Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team responds to an apartment building full of zombies, which doesn’t turn out so well for them since zombie attack from your reanimated dead loved one probably isn’t in the training manual. Romero shot the film in and around Philadelphia for around $650,000 dollars in 1978, and it still stands as one of the best horror movies of all time and the strongest in his zombie trilogy which includes Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead. National Treasure Right on the heels of the success of The Da Vinci Code came this Nicolas Cage starrer with historic clues to lost treasure hidden in Philadelphia. The central clue in the film is the Declaration of Independence, which leads the main characters to Independence Hall (where the Declaration was signed) in Philadelphia where they find a pair of special glasses hidden by Philadelphia’s most famous historical resident, Benjamin Franklin. Although the treasure ends up being underneath an old church in Boston, the scenes in Philadelphia with the secret brick and Franklin’s glasses are one of the most interesting homages to Indiana Jones’ headpiece to the Staff of Ra in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nicolas Cage’s character is also named Benjamin Franklin Gates, so they had to show some Philly love. Trading Places This comedic version of the prince and the pauper tale is set in an affluent neighborhood in Philadelphia, and in the offices of a commodity brokerage downtown. It’s a double rags to riches tale, with Winthorpe and Billy Ray (Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy) swapping places before they turn the tables on the Duke brothers and bankrupt them as well. Winthorpe’s mansion is actually a real location in a ritzy part of town, and many of the downtown scenes key Philadelphia locations and even local television reporters as extras. Although Randolph and Mortimer return briefly in Murphy’s Coming to America, they’re seen as bums in New York, and not Philadelphia. Witness Ironically, most of this key Philadelphia movie doesn’t take place in the city at all, but rather in the Amish communities of nearby rural Lancaster County. The film opens with a very young Lukas Haas witnessing a murder, which leads to a conspiracy within the city’s police department. Police Captain John Book, played by Harrison Ford, is shot while discovering this, and takes Haas back home to protect him. However, he collapses from his bullet wound, and is nursed back to health by a bonnet-wearing Kelly McGillis. He stays on to protect the boy, and is eventually accepted by the community before offing the bad guys and returning to the big city. 12 Monkeys While this Terry Gilliam post-apocalyptic film is set mostly in modern-day Baltimore and Philadelphia, it’s the shots of the virus ravaged Philly that are the most haunting. Bruce Willis roams the future devastated landscape in his steampunk environmental suit while encountering wild animals and looking for clues that can help the human race repopulate and return to the surface. The iconic ending sequence in the airport was actually shot inside the Philadelphia Convention Center, and the asylum where Willis is a patient is the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is the one of two things Charles Dickens wanted to see when he visited the U.S. The other was Niagara Falls. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/jakestevens/archive/2008/1/26/24381.aspx Post By: JakeStevens
Post To: JakeStevens Blog
Post Date: 1/26/2008 11:31:57 AM
Body: Peter Weir is one of my favorite film directors and this film is the epitome of his Malick-like style. My point of view is the complete opposite of Mr. Freeberg's below - I felt the scenes that mattered the least to me in this film were the "action" or "cop" scenes, but unfortunately, we need them to get the characters in their situations. There are long passages of no dialogue when Ford finds himself working alongside the Amish, and I believe this is storytelling at it's best - purely visual. There's an intense attraction between Ford and McGillis, and the dancing scene is pure magic and restraint. I understand how someone could mistake this film as boring (i.e. - not really paying attention) because I think it's been wrongly billed as an "action" movie when in reality it's a very touching "love" story, but it is definitely not a boring film.
]]>Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:31:57 GMTJakeStevensJakeStevens Blog1/26/2008 11:31:57 AMPeter Weir is one of my favorite film directors and this film is the epitome of his Malick-like style. My point of view is the complete opposite of Mr. Freeberg&#39;s below - I felt the scenes that mattered the least to me in this film were the &quot;action&quot; or &quot;cop&quot; scenes, but unfortunately, we need them to get the characters in their situations. There are long passages of no dialogue when Ford finds himself working alongside the Amish, and I believe this is storytelling at it&#39;s best - purely visual. There&#39;s an intense attraction between Ford and McGillis, and the dancing scene is pure magic and restraint. I understand how someone could mistake this film as boring (i.e. - not really paying attention) because I think it&#39;s been wrongly billed as an &quot;action&quot; movie when in reality it&#39;s a very touching &quot;love&quot; story, but it is definitely not a boring film. http://www.spout.com/blogs/davisfreeberg/archive/2006/5/22/1265.aspx Post By: davisfreeberg
Post To: Davis Freeberg's DVD AllStars
Post Date: 5/22/2006 5:05:00 PM
Body: Over the last 20 years, I've probably seen Witness show up on TV at least 10 times. Each time I saw that it was on, I'd watch for a minute and then move onto something more excited. The film has always gotten great reviews and I figured that it was a great film, but I had always walked in on the boring parts. Unfortunately, after watching the whole movie this weekend, I can tell you that the whole thing is boring.The film starts off by following an Omash mother and child on their way to visit relatives. Unfortunately, the son witness the murder of a police officer at a train station and becomes a crucial witness in a police corruption case. The whole movie is spent "protecting" the child from these bad guys who someone feel that by killing the kid their problems will magically go away. They eventually have a stand off and of course Harrison Ford saves the day, but the whole movie moves very slowly and requires several brain suspension if you really want to get into the film. Overall the acting was well done, but it's hard for me to reccomend this as a classic from the 80's.
]]>Mon, 22 May 2006 21:05:00 GMTdavisfreebergDavis Freeberg's DVD AllStars5/22/2006 5:05:00 PMOver the last 20 years, I've probably seen Witness show up on TV at least 10 times. Each time I saw that it was on, I'd watch for a minute and then move onto something more excited. The film has always gotten great reviews and I figured that it was a great film, but I had always walked in on the boring parts. Unfortunately, after watching the whole movie this weekend, I can tell you that the whole thing is boring.The film starts off by following an Omash mother and child on their way to visit relatives. Unfortunately, the son witness the murder of a police officer at a train station and becomes a crucial witness in a police corruption case. The whole movie is spent "protecting" the child from these bad guys who someone feel that by killing the kid their problems will magically go away. They eventually have a stand off and of course Harrison Ford saves the day, but the whole movie moves very slowly and requires several brain suspension if you really want to get into the film. Overall the acting was well done, but it's hard for me to reccomend this as a classic from the 80's. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/murder/MemberTagFilms.aspxmurder
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