Eyewitness (1981)

Review by All Movie Guide
Although Steve Tesich's script is somewhat less smoothly constructed than most Hollywood-tooled thrillers, his gift for characterization makes the film much more enjoyable than the typical genre fodder. Like many of his protagonists, Tesich's janitor is a resolutely unglamorous figure pining after a seemingly unattainable woman, and as in a fairytale, she finally discovers his inner beauty, although in this case, his looking like the young William Hurt may have something to do with it. Despite a plot which hangs on the slimmest of coincidences, and becomes more far-fetched with every new twist, Weaver and Hurt have a chemistry that carries one over the bumps. Tesich also gives the film a quirky spin through the characters of Woods' feckless con-man, his hard-working sisterPamela Reed, and Kenneth MacMillan as Hurt's blustering father. His characterization of the corrupt European aristocrats is less assured, and they remain as vague and unconvincing as the political machinations on which the plot hinges. Yet the film's final sequence contains a memorable scene featuring a herd of horses charging out of a New York armory. The film's astonishing cast also includes Christopher Plummer, Irene Worth, Morgan Freeman, and Steven Hill. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide