Eyewitness (1981 film)
| Eyewitness | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Peter Yates |
| Produced by | Peter Yates |
| Written by | Steve Tesich |
| Starring |
William Hurt Sigourney Weaver Christopher Plummer James Woods Morgan Freeman |
| Music by | Stanley Silverman |
| Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
| Editing by | Cynthia Scheider |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release dates | February 13, 1981 |
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8.5 million[1] |
| Box office | $4.5 million (US/ Canada)[2] |
Eyewitness is a 1981 thriller film about a television news reporter and a janitor who team up to solve a murder.[3] The film was directed by Peter Yates, written by Steve Tesich and stars William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and Christopher Plummer.[3] Hum To Mohabbat Karega a 2000 Bollywood thriller-comedy film starring Karishma Kapoor and Bobby Deol was inspired by Eyewitness.
Plot
New York janitor Daryll Deever (Hurt) is an avid fan of television news reporter Tony Sokolow (Weaver). A wealthy man suspected of criminal connections is murdered in Daryll's office building and Tony suspects Deever knows something about it.
She keeps after him for information, a pursuit Daryll allows because he is romantically interested in Tony, and a "cat and mouse" game ensues. This convinces the real killers that Daryll does know vital information about the murder, so he and Tony end up with their lives in danger over this false assumption.
Cast
- William Hurt as Daryll Deever
- Sigourney Weaver as Tony Sokolow
- Christopher Plummer as Joseph
- James Woods as Aldo
- Steven Hill as Lt. Jacobs
- Morgan Freeman as Lt. Black
- Pamela Reed as Linda
- Irene Worth as Mrs. Sokolow
- Kenneth McMillan as Mr. Deever
Production
The news equipment and promotional posters actually belonged to the real television station, WNEW-TV. It is now the local Fox affiliate, (Fox 5 New York) WNYW. Several station employees cameod in the film. Sigourney Weaver, whose father Sylvester "Pat" Weaver had been a top network television executive, also worked for the station in order to gain experience. Today, both WNYW and the film are owned by Fox's corporate owner, News Corporation.
Director Yates and screenwriter Tesich had collaborated two years earlier on the film Breaking Away.
References
- ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p259
- ↑ Solomon p 235. Figures are rentals not gross.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lanken, Dane (1981-03-09). "'Eyewitness' well-flavored". The Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
External links
- Eyewitness at the Internet Movie Database
- Eyewitness at the TCM Movie Database
- Eyewitness at Rotten Tomatoes
- Eyewitness at Box Office Mojo
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