It’s quite an old American drama suspense thriller film from the 70’s (maybe 80s) about a young boy who witnesses a murder. The victim is shot dead in a big garage by some gang members, and the boy is peeking through a hole of the garage shutter. Somehow they find out the boy is a witness and I can’t remember exactly how it all goes down but the boy and his father (or maybe guardian) leave their town and go on the run from these bad guys.
I recall a scene where at one point they’re driving through a small American town and the boy sticks his head out the window to feel the breeze and they think they’re finally safe, and then suddenly they realise they’re being followed again.
The picture in this link is what the town looked like:
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/57fbd73d06d6622c7c27fc46/master/w_640,c_limit/small-towns-02.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/best-small-towns-america&docid=YNcXzYIWgzh3NM&tbnid=fdNOloIwkhEiZM:&vet=1&w=640&h=420&source=sh/x/im
Near the end of the film after they’ve been on the run for a while, the boy’s father has an idea to hide out in their holiday home which is a small apartment in the middle of nowhere (I think overlooking the sea) and the main guy hunting them manages to get there before them. When they get there, the hunter gets into an explosion and the father is killed in the process… then there’s this amazing but chilling scene where the boy enters the living room of the apartment and sees this bad guy standing there waiting for him with a big window with the view of the sea behind him, and he’s got shards of glass splintered into his body and in his face which makes him look terrifying! The boy finally faced with the hunter manages to shoot him dead, and the boy survives!
The actor with the splinters of glass in his face is so vivid to me as it was really scary, and if I had to compare the actor to someone it would be Christopher Walken, Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris or Christoph Waltz…. Mostly because his hair was fair and he looked like Dutch or German decent, with a sinister, stripped back look, also around 40/50 years old.
Everyone in the film was white, it had a Italian mob kind of vibe to it and it definitely isn’t “Witness” starring Harrison Ford! It wasn’t comedic or over theatrical at all, the style of the film is similar to No Country For Old Men (sinister, straight to the point and violent). Hopefully someone can help, I’ve been trying to find this film for 10 years! I first saw it when I was about 10/11 which was 2007/2008 so can’t remember any names or locations.
Any suggestions welcome, thanks, Sasha x
Hmmmm that’s very close but it’s not it!
The film was definitely set in the USA and had a more serious/dark direction to it. Thanks for your suggestion anyway Casspir!
“Eyewitness” (1970) has a boy witnessing an assassination and he goes on the run, aided by his grandfather, but this movie is set in the Mediterranean (Malta, I think) and not in the US.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066420/