Witness / The Mosquito Coast

WITNESS, 1985, Paramount, 112 min. Dir. Peter Weir. Harrison Ford shines in one of his best dramatic roles as a Philadelphia cop who hides out in an Amish community – and finds himself falling in love with widow Kelly McGillis. The film also sports the feature film debut of actor Viggo Mortensen in a small supporting role.

THE MOSQUITO COAST, 1986, Warner Bros., 117 min. Working from a Paul Schrader script adapted from the Paul Theroux novel, Peter Weir directs an uncompromising, complex character study of spiritual crisis teetering over the brink into madness. Harrison Ford gives one of his finest performances as an egocentric inventor determined to realize his utopian ideal in the backwaters of Central America, even if it destroys his family (Helen Mirren is his wife, River Phoenix his eldest son). A harrowing journey into a modern heart of darkness.