Story of movie Eyewitness 1981 Film : Eyewitness (released in the UK as The Janitor) is a 1981 thriller film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It stars William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer and James Woods. The story involves a television news reporter and a janitor who team up to solve a murder.
| 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 |
| Music by | Stanley Silverman |
| Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
| Edited by | Cynthia Scheider |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8.5 million or $6.4 million |
| Box office | $4.5 million (US/ Canada) |
Screenplay
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.
- William Hurt as Daryll Deever
- Sigourney Weaver as Tony Sokolow
- Christopher Plummer as Joseph
- James Woods as Aldo
- Irene Worth as Mrs. Sokolow
- Kenneth McMillan as Mr. Deever
- Pamela Reed as Linda
- Steven Hill as Lt. Jacobs
- Morgan Freeman as Lt. Black
- Alice Drummond as Mrs. Eunice Deever
- Keone Young as Mr Long's Son
The news equipment and promotional posters actually belonged to the real television station, WNEW-TV in New York, now known as the Fox owned-and-operated TV station WNYW Fox 5. Several station employees cameoed 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, 21st Century Fox.
Producer-director Peter Yates and screenwriter Steve Tesich had collaborated two years earlier on the film Breaking Away.
Hum To Mohabbat Karega, a 2000 Bollywood thriller-comedy film starring Karishma Kapoor and Bobby Deol was inspired by Eyewitness.
In the concert scene early in the movie, Christopher Plummer's character paraphrases a quote from Beverly Sills - "You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."
