azgirl188
I completely agree with the previous comment, this movie should have a higher rating in my opinion. I thought that Barry Flatman, as the evil District attorney, did a great job at being slimy and mean. He reminded me a little of Micheal Douglas. Yancy butler is a wonderful actress and played each of her characters so well. I especially loved the role of the old lady! Amazing... The little boy, Justin, was so cute as her shy son.I am such a fan of movies that have twists and turns.... this one had it all. I don't want to say too much more as I don't want to spoil the movie. A clever movie with a super cast. ;o)
blanche-2
A woman goes after a crooked DA in "The Witness Files," a 1999 film starring Yancy Butler, David Newman and Barry Flatman. Butler plays a victim of domestic violence, Sandy Dickinson, who killed her husband and was sent to prison. She is promised early parole by the DA who put her there (Newman) if she will pose as a witness to help him put away a mob boss. In order to be with her son, she agrees. Since she's a former actress, she's able to disguise herself as a street person and tell the police that she saw the mobster commit murder. Everything goes smoothly until someone tries to kill her.This is a far-fetched story but nevertheless absorbing, with the beautiful, throaty-voiced Butler handing in a fine performance as Sandy. David Newman is extremely likable as Dennis, the detective who falls in love with Sandy without knowing her true identity. And this is a plot hole - when it is learned that Sandy is missing, why did a detective working with the DA never look at a photo of her and realize she was the woman he fell in love with? As stated above, the story is a little out there.A good rental.
krorie
Writer Cameron Kent has some good ideas but fails to make them gel in a script full of plot holes and improbable situations. The cast headed by Yancy Butler as target Sandy Dickinson do the best they can with what is given them. Perhaps the stand out performance is by Barry Flatman as archfiend Frank Sutton hiding behind the law for his nefarious schemes of self-aggrandizement, but no one is less than adequate for this suspense thriller.Sandy Dickinson is in prison for murdering her abusive husband to protect herself and her son, Justin (Matthew Harbour). Surprisingly, the man who prosecuted her on involuntary manslaughter charges, Frank Sutton, obtains a parole for her after she agrees to falsely testify for him against a mob leader. Unbeknownth to Sandy, Frank keeps witness files, hence the apropos title, on key witnesses who somehow end up dead. Sandy becomes a target for Frank's hit men but successfully eludes them by her own machinations and talents as a make-up artist. She is aided by a police detective, Dennis McCoy (David Nerman), and her friends from prison and elsewhere. That Sandy and Dennis fall in love doesn't prevent Sandy from using Dennis to deal effectively with Frank to get rid of him for good. How she does this is much too contrived but still entertaining.A bonus is the haunting music of Canadian artist Christopher Dedrick, particularly the closing theme.
candicedc
I would like to find out the name of the song and the performer that was the last song of the movie. It was played during the subtitles at the end of the movie. Who sang the song and what is the name of the song? That's it. I really liked the move and it held my interest the entire time. The actors were very convincing and attractive. The only thing I couldn't figure out was that it seems that the detective/investigator that was dating the the ex-con lady, Sandy, towards the end of the movie would have taken the time and interest to view a photo of the missing "dead" lady Sandy by looking in her prison files. There would have been a photo of her and an investigator would have wanted to see a photo of the person that is supposedly dead and missing.
AD
