Witness (1985)

My Fiance is a Millennial and I've been trying to get her and her friends to watch some classic films. Some, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, The Godfather, Godfellas, The Princess Bride, Blazing Saddles were epic fails for a variety of reasons.
Witness actually stood the Millennial taste test for some reason, and this is significant because it is really hard to get them to watch or listen to anything that is older than 4 years.
That says something, I'm not sure what, but it was a film that they actually sat through.
It is also one of the tightest scripts Hollywood has produced, which is saying something since it was released in 1985 following almost a decade of the best movies that Hollywood has ever produced.
It's pure story, and that story is backed up with acting and directing making for a beautiful picture all around.

When a young Amish boy "Samuel" (Lukas Haas) and his mum "Rachel" (Kelly McGillis) take a trip from their rural, largely agrarian, community into the big city he gets a little more than he bargained for - he witnesses the brutal murder of an undercover cop. The police decide the best way to protect him is to send him home to his family, accompanied by "John Book" (Harrison Ford), whist they await the trial. The perpetrators are on the hunt for him though, and it soon becomes clear that there is someone from within the investigation working with the baddies to track down and eliminate the witness. As an introduction to the lifestyle of this community, Peter Weir offers us quite an insightful assessment of a pacifist, technology free, society trying to live cheek by jowl with the relentless march pf progress and the teasing intolerance of their occasionally provocative neighbours. That they are wholly underprepared for what is coming when the location of the young lad is discovered, is an understatement - and this adds a great deal to the edginess of this thriller, as does the cunning game of cat and mouse amongst the grain silos at the end. There's romance too - as "Book" gradually falls for "Rachel" much to the chagrin of "Daniel" (Alexander Gudunov) which keeps the narrative progressing, albeit slowly, on that front, too. The script doesn't give Ford too much latitude when it comes to charisma - indeed, his characterisation is really rather dull and coupled with the serious paucity of verbiage from McGillis does hold the pace back for quite long chunks of the film. The years have not been especially kind to this - it has become more of a curio than any sort of gripping crime drama, but is still worth watching - and the 9 year old Hass is really rather impressive.