Testimone d'accusa

Restaurant owner Sam Paxton (Aidan Quinn) witnesses a mob hit in a crowded bar and is the only one to tell police he saw the killer. The news thrills U. S. Attorney James Falcon (Brian Dennehy), who is looking to use the witness to put away the Irish mob in NYC. However, Paxton soon finds himself up against both the threatening mob and locals that cherish a misguided "don't snitch on your community" ethic. This HBO movie reunites Dennehy with F/X (1986) director Robert Mandel and is quite good in showing the inner workings of both the prosecutor's office and the mob. Quinn is excellent in the lead and Dennehy is also great as the ruthless attorney who will stop at nothing to get his case. Both were nominated for Cable ACE awards. There is a great supporting cast including Stockard Channing as another lawyer (she was nominated for an Emmy for this), Laura Harrington as Paxton's suffering wife, Delroy Lindo as a detective, Ken Pogue as the bar owner, and Colm Meaney and Tobin Bell as a couple of Irish thugs. And, per Hollywood casting rules, since it is technically a mob picture Tony Sirico has a small role too.

No clue about grand jury procedure, no clue how cops work, no clue about the department of justice, no clue about courtroom procedure. The writer should get acquainted with the workings of the witness protection program. Given the awful, completely unrealistic script, the actors did the best they could, especially Stockard Channing. The only reason I rated it so high was the excellent views of the mean streets of an urban area, and the excellent camera work. There have been so many excellent movies about witnesses to murder, criminal prosecution, and police work and the justice system. Go see any of them and skip this one.

Brian Dennehy, Stockard Channing, and Aiden Quinn star in the 1989 "Perfect Witness" for HBO.

Dennehy is the DA of New York City, and Channing an Assistant DA with whom he is romantically involved. She has been working on a witness who (David Proval) who will testify against organized crime.

Then a restaurateur (Quinn), while making a phone call in a bar, witnesses a contract hit. The DA's office is all over him to get him to testify. He consents until his family is harassed and then refuses, going before the Grand Jury and flatly refusing to testify.

There is an interesting plot twist at the end.

Pretty good movie with a group of top actors in the lead. Quinn looks so different today - back then he was a skinny guy whom Sinatra's daughter wanted to play her father. He does a fine job. Dennehy is one of the great actors, having seen him on stage in "Long Day's Journey" - he has immense power. Channing, blond here, is excellent as someone who wonders if it's all worth it.

Ken Pogue plays the weakling bartender who saw the murder and claims his back was turned. He's very good.

The leads were American but everybody else, as far as I could tell, was Canadian. Some of the New York scenes were not New York but pretty impressive, better than usual.

HBO I believe does much more impressive work now - this seems like a typical TV movie.

Quinn's character witnesses the murder while he's in a phone booth. Just think - today he would have used a cell phone from the restaurant and been out of the whole thing.

This kept my interest for over halfway but then story began to get a little too depressing and the language got offensive and the whole thing just sort of collapsed. Near the end, I could care less what happened.

I am used to hearing actor Brian Dennehy's verbal blasphemy. He's one of the worst of all times in that regard, abusing the Lord's name in vain, but it was disappointing to see Aiden Quinn's character, "Sam Paxton," slowly deteriorate. He was likable most of the way, and then started to cop an attitude. What happened to Stockard Channing's character "Liz" also was disappointing.

Overall, too much of a downer to recommend.

"Perfect Witness" is a typical journeyman HBO tv flick which tells of a small time restauranteur (Quinn) in NYC who witnesses a gangland hit, identifies the killer from mug shots but refuses to testify, and finds himself being squeezed by a US Attorney (Dennehy) and the mob with equal vigor. Overall the film is a mediocre telling of an interesting story with a hook at the end which is almost worth the wait. All drama with no action, romance, sex, or other trimmings, "Perfect Witness" makes for a flawed but okay watch for the needy channel surfer. (C+)