A Stranger Among Us (1992)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writer (WGA):

Robert J. Avrech (written by)

Release Date:

17 July 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

In a dangerous world of mystery and intrigue, she's going undercover searching for the truth.

Plot:

In this attempt to revisit the success of Witness in which a cop goes Amish, we here have a cop go undercover among the Hasidic Jews of New York City...

Plot Keywords:

Undercover | Murder | Rabbi | Police | Jewish

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Melanie Griffith	...	Emily Eden
John Pankow	...	Levine
Tracy Pollan	...	Mara
Lee Richardson	...	Rebbe
Mia Sara	...	Leah
Jamey Sheridan	...	Nick
Eric Thal	...	Ariel
David Margulies	...	Lt. Oliver
Burtt Harris	...	Emily's Father
James Gandolfini	...	Tony Baldessari
Chris Latta	...	Chris Baldessari
Jake Weber	...	Yaakov Klausman
Ro'ee Levi	...	Mendel
David Rosenbaum	...	Mr. Klausman
Ruth Vool	...	Mrs. Klausman

Also Known As:

Close to Eden (Australia) (UK) (cable TV title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Brazil:14 | USA:R (original rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (edited for re-rating) | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

83rd Precinct, Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Hollywood Pictures

Trivia:

At the Sabbath meal the assembled group dances to a "niggun" (wordless melody) that is traditional among Lubavitch Chassidim. It is usually sung as a preparation to one of the Rebbe's discourses being repeated from memory, though; not as a slow circle-dance.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The shot of the newsstand shows the Israeli newspaper "Ma'ariv". The movie takes place in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, home mainly to Chassidim of the Satmar dynasty who have been extremely anti-Zionist since the mid 20th century and probably not customers of "Zionist entity" publications. Also, the English-Jewish paper "The Jewish Press" is on display. Since Yiddish is the first language of most Williamsburg chassidim the main papers on display should be in the Yiddish language; Der Yid and/or Der Blatt are the preferred reads.

Quotes:

Emily Eden: With due respect, sir, inside every honest man, there's a thief trying to get out...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Will & Grace: Star-Spangled Banter (#4.8)" (2001)

Treyf

I'd say this movie was a showcase of ham, but then, I respect Jews. (And no, I'm not Jewish).

First off, Melanie Griffith as a hard-boiled cop is like casting Prissy from "Gone With The Wind" as Dirty Harry. Her "bad-ass mama justice" remarks come off about as well as they would if they were cooed by Linda Lovelace in the script of a porn movie. Seeing her simper and flirt and do all that coy crap around the young Talmudic scholar also disgusted me. I mean, the woman was assigned to investigate a disappearance in the Hasidic community and she shows up in a mini-skirt and says "s**t" in front of the rebbe within the first five minutes of the interview. Was she nodding off during all those diversity training seminars and community relations lectures at the police academy or what? Even if she was, wouldn't you expect someone who grew up in New York to have at least *some* familiarity with Judaism?

She treats every one of the Hasidim with arrogant condescension, in the type of "rude asshole" role that makes a viewer's teeth ache, yet we're supposed to somehow care whether, by the end of the movie, she's managed to understand and perhaps even respect them somewhat. And most of her "respect" is an outgrowth of her having the hots for Rebbe, Jr. Between insulting both Hasidic spirituality and the ability of a woman to perform as a professional without falling for some guy -- I mean, does our "heroine" do this on EVERY assignment or something? -- this movie is a busy two hours. Too bad it wasn't a better spent two hours for me. Thumbs DOWN.