Eyewitness (1981)

I enjoyed watching Eyewitness even more than I thought I would. Even though I know better, I almost allowed myself to be swayed by the short segments of the film that I watched, more than once, on television and interrupted by commercials. These glimpses gave me the feeling that I wouldn’t like the film all that much. I’m glad I didn’t let them keep me from seeing the film on DVD from beginning to end, without interruption.

Eyewitness introduces its main characters in alternating sequences at the start of the film. (I never did get to see these sequences when I would come upon the film on television.) Viewers know that something is being left out for each character, and the technique builds interest and suspense. The opening credits appear over a pan shot of a building’s boiler room, with machinery working and steam hissing. Viewers learn right away with this sequence that Daryll is a janitor working nights in a large office building in New York City.

(This article about Eyewitness contains spoilers.)

Daryll starts his nightly routine. He interrupts someone leaving the office of Long Ltd. Deever wants to talk to Mr. Long about a misunderstanding concerning someone named Alan (“Aldo”) Mercer. Viewers learn only later that Aldo and Daryll are good friends who met when serving in the Vietnam War. Mr. Long brushes Daryll off and closes his office door in his face. When Daryll goes home at the end of his shift, a large black dog in his apartment attacks him. But this type of staged attack is part of their routine; the dog is Deever’s pet. Viewers also learn that Daryll is obsessed with a news anchor named Antonia (“Toni”) Sokolow. He tapes all her broadcasts.

The film cuts to Toni Sokolow playing the piano as part of a trio. Her father is on violin, her mother on bass. When they finish, her fiancé Joseph gets up in front of the group to talk about raising money to help Jews escape the Soviet Union. He is impassioned about this cause and has no trouble asking the members of the small audience for money. In their midst is a recent immigrant from Russia, and everyone welcomes him warmly.

The next day, Toni Sokolow drives Joseph to the airport. He is off to Israel for more charity work presumably, although neither of them says exactly why he is going. Toni mentions seeing a woman, a stranger, at the recital at her parents’ house. Joseph says little about the woman or about his work trip. When Toni drops Joseph off, she tells him that he is keeping something from her. He admits, “A little.” There is room for doubt in their relationship, for both of them and for the audience, but the reasons for this doubt are unclear.

Daryll is back at work. (He, Toni, and Joseph have yet to cross paths.) He spots someone in red sneakers hiding behind some of the boiler room machinery, but it’s just a ruse by Aldo Mercer, Deever’s friend. Mercer complains about fighting in Vietnam to save the country, only to have all the Vietnamese living now in New York City. Mr. Long is one of them. Deever and Mercer had heard of Mr. Long in Vietnam: He bought and sold everything, including information. Everyone on all sides bought from him, everyone was indebted to him, and no one liked him. Later that night, Daryll investigates Long’s office because of an unusual noise coming from it. He finds Long’s body with his throat cut. Instead of reporting the murder, Daryll leaves the office building for the night. He has his reasons, but they aren’t disclosed until later in the film.

The following day, Daryll is interviewed by the police, specifically by Lieutenant Jacobs and Lieutenant Black. He tries to cover for his friend Aldo. The police detectives know that Aldo was court-martialed for cowardice and that Daryll is a decorated war hero. When Daryll leaves the office building after his police interview, he spots Toni Sokolow waiting to learn more about the murder for her newscast. Daryll approaches Toni and pretends to know something about Long’s murder so he can talk to her. She wants to interview him and get it on tape so that she will have a lead for her news story. Daryll goes along without giving Toni anything definite.

It’s a move that will haunt him: The police detectives suspect both Daryll and Aldo of Mr. Long’s murder. When Toni and her work associates review the tape of Daryll trying to impress her and to convince her that he knows something about the murder, they all believe that he is hiding something.

But for Daryll, suspicion begins to fall on Aldo. Daryll is seeing Aldo’s sister, Linda, and she tells Daryll that she is sick of lying. She admits to providing an alibi for Aldo’s whereabouts the night of Long’s murder, but it was a lie. She doesn’t know where Aldo was that night. She asks Daryll if he knows what Aldo was doing, but he doesn’t, which makes him worried about what his friend might be capable of and what he has done.

The main characters are connected in ways that will surprise them when they learn of them. Long was involved in Joseph’s international project to get Russian Jews out of Russia and bring them to the United States. Long channeled the money and was paid by Joseph. But he kept demanding more and more so Joseph killed him. Joseph confesses this to Toni’s parents because they are part of the operation, although they didn’t know that Joseph is a killer until he admits as much to them. He also maintains that Daryll Deever now knows about the operation and the murder of Long and that he will have to kill Deever, too, which sets up the final meeting between Joseph and Daryll.

Daryll Deever is played by William Hurt, and he is terrific in the part. In a memorable scene, he tries to seduce Toni by asking her if her floors need buffing. He describes his process for buffing floors, and he fills it with so much sexual innuendo that Toni pauses long enough for viewers to think she just might say yes. But she declines—for now. She isn’t ready for his advances, and neither of them trusts the other yet.

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of Hurt, but only because of his personal life: He didn’t treat his significant others all that well apparently. But actors’ personal lives have little to do with making a great film meant for theater release. Sigourney Weaver is also great in the role of Toni Sokolow. The two of them have on-screen chemistry, and when they do finally become involved romantically, it is completely believable.

Eyewitness introduces some grand ideas, for instance, Jews escaping oppression in the Soviet Union, and the effects of the Vietnam War on so many people, not just the returning war veterans. But these themes are part of the characters’ lives. The plot is not about international human smuggling or war; it’s about people living in New York City who are coping with these themes and the murder of someone connected to many of them. It’s really a simple story that keeps viewers engaged and ties up its loose ends.

And it is beautifully made. The colors are rich and the shadows are deep. Eyewitness was filmed mostly on location in New York City, which gives it a fascinating backdrop. New York City is so big and so varied that it is almost always a character itself, and it doesn’t disappoint in Eyewitness. The film was released in 1981, so viewers get to see the city as it was then, a little bit of historical perspective.

I watched Eyewitness on DVD, which came with commentary by the director, Peter Yates, and “moderator” Marcus Hearn. This commentary was more like an interview, with Hearn asking Peter Yates about his career and his films, not just Eyewitness. I don’t think Hearn had anything to do with producing Eyewitness, but he was a good interviewer and a fan of Peter Yates, and he made some good points of his own. For instance, the film is a whodunit on the surface, but it is very complex, with many themes, including romance, disillusionment, power, powerlessness, attachment, obsession. He is the one to point out that Daryll Deever transitions from stalker to lover rather successfully. Toni at first wants information from Daryll, but she starts to fall in love with him as the narrative progresses and she learns what Joseph has been doing behind her back.

From the audio commentary I learned that the working title for Eyewitness was The Janitor Can’t Dance, which I think would have worked well, but apparently the producers thought it would confuse viewers. Maybe they were interested solely in the murder mystery and not the relationships between the main characters. The working title is a reference to a story that Daryll tells Toni about his past, and it makes him much more sympathetic than he originally appears. The title for release in the United Kingdom was simply The Janitor.

The film’s commentary is worth a look and a listen. I enjoyed it after seeing the film. I have seen Eyewitness at least twice now, and, like so many noir films, a repeat viewing really helps to catch all the fine details. And I have a soft spot for New York City from the 1970s and 1980s: the city itself, just as it was, and as Peter Yates said in the commentary, is a wonderful backdrop to the story.

February 13, 1981, release date  •  Directed by Peter Yates  •  Screenplay by Steve Tesich  •  Music by Stanley Silverman  •  Edited by Cynthia Scheider  •  Cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti

William Hurt as Daryll Deever  •  Sigourney Weaver as Antonia (“Toni”) Sokolow  •  Christopher Plummer as Joseph  •  James Woods as Alan (“Aldo”) Mercer  •  Irene Worth as Mrs. Sokolow  •  Kenneth McMillan as Mr. Deever  •  Pamela Reed as Linda Mercer  •  Albert Paulsen as Mr. Sokolow  •  Steven Hill as Lieutenant Jacobs  •  Morgan Freeman as Lieutenant Black  •  Alice Drummond as Mrs. Eunice Deever  •  Chao-Li Chi as Mr. Long  •  Keone Young as Mr. Long’s son  •  Sharon Goldman as the Israeli woman

Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation  •  Produced by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation