7. Eyewitness (1981)
Director: Peter Yates Cast: William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer Eyewitness is a little gem worth checking out mainly because of the solid performance of its lead, William Hurt, who plays Daryll. Daryll is a schlep, a janitor who is obsessed with a female TV news reporter named Tony Sokolow, played by Sigourney Weaver. When Hurt stumbles upon a dead body in the office building where he works, he tries to parlay his knowledge of the crime into a date with Tony, whom hes never met. It helps his cause that Darylls friend, played by James Woods, is the most likely suspect in the case. Hurts performance is brilliantly layered in this film. At one moment hes confessing his love for this TV reporter hes never met, which is really creepy, and the next he shows some degree of nobility and sympathy. While Daryll seems to lack any sort of moral compass whatsoever, one wonders if he is perhaps mentally off somehow. His obsession with Tony (he tapes the nightly newscast just to watch her) is irrational, and he seems to assume a relationship where there is none. Then theres Christopher Plummer, Tonys husband, who becomes jealous of the time Tony is spending with Daryll. And when hes jealous, he doesnt play nice. Eyewitness is on the surface a well-made murder mystery. Director Peter Yates (Bullitt) weaves a complex tale of intrigue with a plot that moves steadily and surely to its resolution. But Eyewitness is also a morality tale in which each major character is willing to make compromises to achieve his or her own ends. The film is also interesting in that it marks the rise of Hurts star in Hollywood. With Altered States behind him, he would go on to superstardom in the late 1980s and earn four Oscar nominations and one win, for Kiss of the Spider Woman.