Thu 1 Feb 2018
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: EYEWITNESS (1981).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[10] Comments
EYEWITNESS. 20th Century Fox, 1981. Also released as The Janitor. William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, James Woods, Steven Hill, Morgan Freeman. Director: Peter Yates.
In order to appreciate Eyewitness, aka The Janitor, you need to suspend your disbelief. And then do it again. And yet again. Because there are far too many implausible aspects to this Peter Yates-directed thriller to make it anything other than a mere curiosity.
As in the sense of: how did the filmmakers think that many audiences were going to react to the unlikely romance between a janitor who lives with his vicious attack dog in a small untidy apartment and a wealthy, New York society news anchorwoman? And did they really think that Christopher Plummer was the best actor to portray an Israeli agent – one, I should add, who can’t seem to hold his own against a janitor?
Then there’s the plot. (Spoilers Ahead!) Daryll Deever (William Hurt) and his best friend Aldo (James Woods) are Vietnam veterans working as janitors in New York City. Their boss is a Vietnamese guy who was on the opposite side during the war. When he gets murdered, Darryl pretends he knows more about the crime than he really does so he can get close to TV journalist Tony Sokolow (Sigourney Weaver), who is investigating the story.
What charms her most is when he tells her he’s been her greatest fan for years and is consumed with her and how much he loves her. She’s so taken by this obsessive janitor that she’s ready to leave her urbane Israeli fiancé Joseph (Plummer) who, to everyone’s surprise – or not, is an Israeli secret agent. Lo and behold, it turns out that Joseph is the one who murdered Darryl’s boss. You see, until then everyone thought it had to be Aldo because he hates Asian people so much. That’s why he lives in Chinatown, of course.
Roger Ebert liked this movie a lot more than I did, arguing that all of the things that I found absurd to be indicative of the film’s playing with audience expectations. There’s nothing wrong with playing with expectations, of course. But I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. I think it’s more of a case of a horribly miscast film and a romance at the heart of it that really doesn’t pass the laugh test.
Indeed, the best line in the whole film is when Aldo screams at Darryl saying that this whole romance is absurd because Darryl is just a janitor. If that was in the script, then I’ll give the screenwriter and director credit for some self-awareness. But part of me thinks it was Woods, at his unhinged best, ad-libbing. Final note: look for Steven Hill and Morgan Freeman portraying a pair of world-weary cops working the case. As much as I didn’t care for Eyewitness, I’d watch a movie with these two any day.
February 2nd, 2018 at 7:28 am
I liked it, although it has some weak points. Must be one of the first postmodern thrillers. Hurt plays one of the few vets of Vietnam who is not dangerously mad.
February 2nd, 2018 at 8:51 pm
I reacted much as Jonathan did, I just didn’t think it held together well or ultimately made much sense.
Coincidence played far to great a role, and no one seemed too interested in convincing me to invest in the goings on.
Held up well enough for the first time around, but later viewings make it less appealing with every go round.
February 3rd, 2018 at 8:18 am
Sounds like another case of an attractive-sounding cast being done in by a sadly lacking story. I’m still tempted, though. Any film with Sigourney Weaver in it is hard to resist.
February 3rd, 2018 at 10:38 am
Jonathan, congratulations on another excellent anthology! I reviewed STRANGE ISLAND STORIES on my blog yesterday and I hope my positive review results in increased sales of your book!
Keep up the Good Work!
February 3rd, 2018 at 8:20 pm
Thanks George! Much appreciated.
February 3rd, 2018 at 11:31 pm
Howdy! I remember I watched this movie many years back in my teens, I watched it for Ms Weaver at that time I like Her, but not anymore, do not know what happen, maybe it is Her politics or something else, but as I grew older and more mature I lost interest in Her, and besides I am more in the classic movies that the most modern one, I know this movie was in 1981(I was 14 back then) but movies I am more interested in are the ones starting in the 1915 to 1979 except for the James Bond Movies(I am still following what is happening with that Series) but the rest of Hollywood now I cut the cord or the string pretty much. That movie is far fetched just like James Bond or Spoof of that genre. Have a super day.
February 4th, 2018 at 2:48 am
Splendid cast, interesting director, rather silly and half hearted story.
March 15th, 2018 at 1:18 pm
I saw this when it came out and didn’t like it. A few months back, given my fondness for the leads (won’t say Yates is a favorite, but he did direct one of my favorite films, The Deep), I gave it another try…and still didn’t like it. This post admirably sums up the surfeit of implausibility and coincidence that explains why. I’m as willing to suspend my disbelief as the next guy, but after a while, you just feel like your intelligence is being insulted. Since I also disliked screenwriter Steve Tesich’s Four Friends, and thought his Breaking Away was overrated, the source of the problem would appear to be clear.
December 23rd, 2020 at 5:41 pm
The last time I was convinced that a fictional local news affiliate might credibly employ a roving newsgirl possessed of heartfelt, righteous indignation at the prospect of an innocent man falsely-accused for a crime, was Jane Fonda in ‘China Syndrome’. This flick does boast a fine cast of actors but the plot would strike me as preposterous, if the story was made today. In contemporary America, who the heck is innocent anymore? Who would even care that some stranger got shafted by the system? What newsgirl would give a hoot about a public wrong, or go out of her way to fix a miscarriage of justice? I feel we’ve left all such simple black-and-white-justice-system movies, behind us. Scorcese’s “The King of Comedy” rings truer.
December 11th, 2021 at 2:53 pm
I get all the points of weakness ,but I’m still fond of this movie . I saw it as a child on when it first came on cable . And watch it again when it was broadcast on local tv (abc) I think . For me it’s one of those movies that isn’t great ,but for some reason keeps me watching . I even bought it on Laserdisc . I feel that parts of the movie are missing and it is uneven . I enjoyed it still.