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MAJOR SPOILERS If I tell you that this film was made in Atlanta for $350,000 and stars Jeff Fahey and Corey Feldman, you'll probably assume that it is a total suckfest, but you'll be wrong. It has some merit. Oh, it does have its problems. It is not very original, it looks cheap, the direction is quite clumsy in some scenes (the camera whips back and forth during a conversation, for example), and the photography is too dark in general. All of that notwithstanding, it is a watchable straight-to-vid that turned out to have a pretty cool little ending. It ain't Citizen Kane, but I survived it without the fast forward button, and I suppose you might say it's a helluva movie considering it was produced by a disc jockey for 350 grand. Steve Barnes, who produced this movie and played the hit man, is a top morning drive jock in Atlanta. His production company, Barnesology Pictures, negotiated a three picture deal for Barnes to produce and star. No Witness was the first of the three. It's a crime thriller about a corrupt senator (Fahey) who has been indicted on several counts. He embarks upon a campaign of bumping off anyone who can implicate him in dirty doings. The senator insists on a policy of "no witnesses" when the murders are committed. He uses an efficient professional killer, but the senator and the hit man do not meet face to face in order to maintain the politician's deniability. The killer is hired by his smart-ass toady (Feldman). The script introduces the concepts in a clever opening scene. As the film begins, we see some drug dealers bursting in on a suburban couple, demanding the payoff from some earlier deal. The intruders are just about to kill Ozzie and Harriet when a vigilante bursts through the door and bumps off the tough guys. It's a good scene fraught with dramatic tension, but nothing so very remarkable until the suburbans thank their rescuer, whereupon he surprises them and the audience by killing them as well! He than arranges all the bodies and guns to create the impression of a shoot-out. What's going on? Two things. The scene successfully whets the appetite, and also establishes the "no witnesses" rule. We realize that everybody who sees the professional killer must die. Tough break for Ozzie and Harriet. As the film progresses through a series of twists and turns, the Senator eventually hires the hit man to kill a 17 year old girlfriend who has become a potential nuisance to his re-election campaign. This, the hit man does successfully, but only after a long chase through a building where the senator himself is giving a speech. The killer finally stalks and kills his prey in the men's room - just as the senator enters to take a leak. Oh, boy! Maybe that "no witnesses" policy wasn't that good an idea after all. The hit man leaves by commenting to the senator's lifeless body, "you should have held it." The end. (More or less.) |
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| Corey Feldman did an absolutely excellent job in all respects (jeez, I never expected to be typing that) as the senator's toady. His line readings were credible, and filled with a lot of humor and irony that he personally added to the character. Amazingly, Corey almost made it through the entire film without his obligatory trademark sunglasses, but he did finally manage to slip them on, although just for a couple of frames. |
Jeff Fahey did a decent job, but he was badly miscast as a U.S. Senator, when he obviously should have been the hit man. It was pretty hard to believe that anybody would vote for this guy. There are some weird lookin' and actin' senators, but not many with spikey unkempt hair and crazy eyes. Senators may be corrupt and debauched, but they can't look corrupt and debauched, or they lose elections.
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Unfortunately Barnes himself is not a great actor. His hit man
character was supposed to be cold and detached, but Barnes was downright wooden.
No, he's not pretending to be a well-armed ice man. His hat is supposed to say POLICE. I guess the other letters would have put them over budget. |
