My Favorite Scene: Witness (1985) “Don’t Mess With the Amish”

For all the memorable characters he’s created over his career, Harrison Ford has only one Oscar nomination and it’s not for Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Dr. Richard Kimble or Jack Ryan.  His only nomination came from 1985’s Witness, directed by one of the most underrated directors of the 80’s and 90’s: Peter Weir.

In the film, Ford plays a cop who must go undercover with the Amish in order to protect a young child (Lukas Haas) who witnessed a murder.  The film is one of the best of Ford’s career.  Peter Weir has a talent for taking actors who get complacent in one type of role and bringing something hidden out of them (as he did for Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society and Jim Carrey in The Truman Show).  Ford is not exactly Amish in temperment, so on a trip to town, the locals, who are accustomed to teasing the group without reaction, gets a handful from Ford.  He’s not really in a “turn the other cheek” place at this moment.  But then, Ford usually isn’t.

My Favorite Scene: Dead Poets Society (1989) “Oh Captain, My Captain”

We continue to pick scenes from the late Robin Williams’ best works with 1989’s Dead Poets Society.  This is, in my opinion, Williams’ best film.  His unorthodox English-teaching methods exhort his students to seize the day and to love words.

The right words, strung together can lift the spirit to unmatched heights.  The wrong words, strung equally effectively can destroy a life.  Words were Williams’ business and he relished concocting ways to use them in ways that had never before been used.  He wasn’t a wordsmith.  He was a word alchemist.

Trying to pick one scene out of this film is nearly impossible, but-after thinking-I had to go with how the transformed students bid Mr. Keating farewell.  It seems fitting given the circumstances.