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Witness offers no reference to a probable inspiration

posted 9 years ago by blasko-5
5 replies | jump to latest

"Witness" (and the imdb entry on it) offers no reference to a probable inspiration: the John Wayne film, "Angel and the Badman," appears to be fundamentally the same story structure. It seems to me inconceivable that the writers of "Witness" were not inspired by "Angel and the Badman" (or even "Guys and Dolls"). "Angel and the Bad Man" was re-made once under the same title and yet again under the title, "The Outsider." "Witness" is a very good film but some recognition for its ancestor is certainly due.

[–] mjkbk 8 years ago

I read that "Witness" screenwriter Earl W. Wallace was directly inspired by late 70s work he had done for the TV series "How the West Was Won"--in which a character (Bruce Boxleitner's 'Luke Macahan') was wounded and taken in by a religious sect.....which he later considered joining after falling in love with the beautiful member who nursed him back to health.

Whether Wallace's "West" story was in turn inspired by "Angel and the Badman" is another question, but those two stories DO bear remarkable similarities.

[–] blasko-5 8 years ago

I thank you for the additional information.

[–] christomacin (4529) 2 years ago

The Powell and Pressburger film "The 49th Parallel" from 1941 has a group of German soldiers stranded in Canada making their way across the country to still-neutral American territory. Along the way they seek refuge in a Hutterite Colony. They're the bad guys in that movie but the situation is similar.

[–] lynnrnsd 7 years ago

But in Angel and the Bad Man, he was a gunfighter. I guess the general idea is very similar though.
I'm not sure what you're looking for. A line in the end credits saying "inspired by"? Bottom line is that there's nothing new under the sun.

[–] samoanjoes (50955) 7 years ago

"No reference", "probable inspiration". Why offer a reference to something that may not be an inspiration at all?