Eyewitness

United States

1981

102 Min

Color

English

Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
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DIR Peter Yates

CAST William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, James Woods, Irene Worth, Kenneth McMillan, Pamela Reed, Albert Paulsen, Steven Hill, Morgan Freeman

Synopsis

Smitten with TV reporter Tony Sokolow (Sigourney Weaver), unassuming janitor Daryll Deever (William Hurt) intimates that he knows more than he’s telling when the journalist shows up at his workplace to cover a murder. Her interest piqued, Tony pursues him to get the scoop, and they join forces (in more ways than one) to investigate the killing. Meanwhile, they’re in the culprits’ crosshairs in this atmospheric thriller from director Peter Yates.

Director

Peter Yates

Yates began staging plays in the British provinces at the age of 19 and worked as an assistant to J. Lee Thompson and Tony Richardson in the early 1960s. He then alternated between film and TV work and made his feature debut with “Summer Holiday” (1963). Yates’ early work exhibited a talent for fast-paced action, reflected in such films as “Bullitt” (1968), which included one of the most harrowing car chases ever filmed, and “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” (1973). In a change of pace, he directed the coming-of-age comedy-drama “Breaking Away” (1979). During the 1980s Yates crafted a number of fine, character-driven studies such as “The Dresser” (1983) with Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney, “Eleni” (1985) and “Suspect” (1987). In the 90s, he worked sporadically, helming “Roommates” with Peter Falk, and reuniting with Finney for the Irish drama “The Run of the Country” (both 1995). —TCM.com