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:

When a brutal murder occurs among the Hasidic Jewish community and looks like an inside job, tough New York cop...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Jewish | Undercover | Jewish Culture | Orthodox Jew

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

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 (as Chris Collins)
Jake Weber	...	Yaakov Klausman
Ro'ee Levi	...	Mendel
David Rosenbaum	...	Mr. Klausman
Ruth Vool	...	Mrs. Klausman
Edward Rogers III	...	Det. Tedford (as Ed Rogers III)
Maurice Schell	...	Det. Marden
Ira Rubin	...	French Rebbe
Françoise Granville	...	French Rebbetzen
Rena Sofer	...	Shayna
Shifra Lerer	...	Yiddish Woman #1
Eleanor Reissa	...	Yiddish Woman #2
Jim Lovelett	...	File Room Clerk (as James Lovelett)
Jack Gill	...	Zap Goon
Steve Hamilton	...	Paramedic
Paul Zim	...	Cantor
Drew Eliot	...	Inspector
Sasha Pasmur	...	Klausman Son (as Alexander Pasmur Jr.)
John Louis Fischer	...	Yussel
Jack Beers	...	Rebbe's Assistant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dean Rader-Duval	...	Mugger (uncredited)
Abe Shainberg	...	Chosid in Wedding and Funeral Scene (uncredited)
Jay Brian Winnick	...	Rebbe's Advisor (uncredited)

Directed by
Sidney Lumet

Writing credits (WGA)
Robert J. Avrech		(written by)

Produced by
Robert J. Avrech	....	co-producer
Carol Baum	....	executive producer
Sandy Gallin	....	executive producer
Steve Golin	....	producer
Burtt Harris	....	line producer
Lilith Jacobs	....	associate producer
Howard Rosenman	....	producer
Sigurjon Sighvatsson	....	producer
Susan Tarr	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Jerry Bock

Cinematography by
Andrzej Bartkowiak

Film Editing by
Andrew Mondshein

Casting by
Joy Todd

Production Design by
Philip Rosenberg

Art Direction by
W. Steven Graham

Set Decoration by
Gary J. Brink

Costume Design by
Gary Jones
Ann Roth

Makeup Department
Naomi Donne	....	makeup artist
Carl Fullerton	....	makeup designer
Craig Lyman	....	makeup artist
Francesca Paris	....	hair stylist
Allen Weisinger	....	makeup artist
Scott Hersh	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
John H. Starke	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Burtt Harris	....	assistant director
John Penotti	....	assistant director

Art Department
Hal Bock	....	head carpenter
John Ralbovsky	....	scenic foreman
Bruce Swanson	....	set dresser
Richard A. Ventre	....	scenic artist (as Dick Ventre)

Sound Department
Richard P. Cirincione	....	sound editor
Sara Corrigan	....	sound
Tom Fleischman	....	sound re-recording mixer
Susan Sklar Friedman	....	assistant sound editor
Neil L. Kaufman	....	sound editor
Bruce Kitzmeyer	....	foley editor
Christopher Newman	....	production sound mixer
Maurice Schell	....	supervising sound editor

Special Effects by
Gregory C. Tippie	....	special effects

Stunts
John Cenatiempo	....	stunts
Jack Gill	....	stunt coordinator
John Hayden	....	stunts
Scott Rhodes	....	stunt performer

Camera and Electrical Department
David E. Baron	....	second assistant camera
Jack Coffen	....	rigging electrician
David Norris	....	camera operator: Wescam camera

Casting Department
David H. Kramer	....	adr voice casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Timothy Alberts	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Jennifer Davidoff Cook	....	first assistant editor
Anne McCabe	....	apprentice film editor

Music Department
Jack Elliott	....	music adaptor

Other crew
Robert C. Albertell	....	production assistant
Brett Botula	....	location manager
Jay Cannold	....	accountant
Marie Gabriel	....	stand-in: Ms. Griffith
Sandy Green	....	production accountant
Leelee Groome	....	production assistant
David Hummel	....	production assistant
David Penotti	....	production assistant
Martha Pinson	....	script supervisor
Maurice Schell	....	adr loop group
Darren Wiseman	....	assistant location manager

Production Companies

• Hollywood Pictures
• ISIS
• Mansfield Pictures
• Propaganda Films
• Sandollar

Distributors

• Buena Vista Pictures (1992) (USA) (theatrical)
• Egmont Film (1993) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Europa Vision (1993) (Finland) (VHS)
• Future Film (2011) (Finland) (DVD)
• Gativideo (Argentina) (video)
• Laurenfilm (Spain)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (2001) (Finland) (TV)
• Nelonen (1997) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

"Close to Eden" - Australia, UK (cable TV title)
"Une étrangère parmi nous" - Canada (French title) (imdb display title), France (imdb display title)
"En främling mitt ibland oss" - Sweden
"En morder iblandt os" - Denmark
"Idegen közöttünk" - Hungary
"Mia xeni anamesa mas" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Muukalainen keskellämme" - Finland
"O Assassino Está Entre Nós" - Portugal
"Obcy wsród nas" - Poland (imdb display title)
"Od tod do raja" - Slovenia
"Sanfte Augen lügen nicht" - Germany
"Stranac medju nama" - Serbia (imdb display title)
"Strangers" - Germany
"Uma Estranha Entre Nós" - Brazil (imdb display title)
"Un extraño entre nosotros" - Argentina
"Una estranea fra noi" - Italy
"Una extraña entre nosotros" - Spain

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and violence (edited for re-rating)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Yiddish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-16 | 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 (Qualidade) | 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 Horror Business (2005) (V)

Oy Vey!

Director Sidney Lumet is no hack - his resume includes classics such as "The Pawnbroker," "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," and "Network." But every artist is entitled to the occasional misstep, and at least "A Stranger Among Us" is more an interesting failure than the outright disaster "The Wiz" was.

Lumet is dealing with a number of problems here, first and foremost among them a meandering script that can't quite decide what its main storyline should be. Ostensibly a crime drama centering on the murder of a merchant in Manhattan's diamond district (the stretch of 47th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues), it persists in wandering off in two other directions - Brooklyn's Hassidim community and its age-old traditions, and the threat of forbidden love between one of its members and the detective assigned to the case. While the scenes involving the religious rituals and customs add nothing to the plot, they at least are interesting and informative about a culture foreign to most viewers. Less compelling are those moments involving Ariel and Emily of the NYPD, since their interest in each other strains credulity, not only because their backgrounds make it unlikely, but due to the lack of any chemistry between Eric Thal and Melanie Griffith.

Griffith is Lumet's other major problem here. No doubt she was cast because at the time she was still Hollywood's flavor-of-the-month, but we are asked to suspend disbelief and accept her not only as a New York police officer, but as one who would be selected to go undercover and infiltrate the Jewish community and live with them as one of their own. Dying her blonde locks brown does nothing to make Griffith less the "shiksa" (Gentile woman) than she obviously is, and it's unlikely anyone in Crown Heights would have mistaken her for anything but. Yet - oddly enough - although plainly she's out of her element, the fish-out-of-water aspects of the story just don't work.

By the time whodunit is revealed, you may not care who was responsible for the nearly-forgotten crime lost in a jumble of sub-plots - but give it a moment or two of thought and you'll wonder how the victim's body could have been hidden where it was by the person implausibly identified as the killer. It's a plot twist that just isn't quite - forgive the pun - kosher.

The actors cast as the elder Jews and the atmosphere in which they live and worship add an air of authenticity that's missing from any of the scenes involving police procedures. Lee Richardson is impressive as the rebbe who, despite his misgivings, must welcome the street-smart female cop into his home. John Pankow, Mia Sara, and Jamey Sheridan do well in their small supporting roles, and James Gandolfini makes an appearance as a thug in a foreshadowing of his career as Tony Soprano, but Eric Thal is saddled with the almost impossible task of making us believe he would forsake his strong religious beliefs and dedication to Kabbalah for the hard-talking, gun-toting Griffith.

Despite its many flaws, "A Stranger Among Us" is one of those films that makes a long flight, rainy day, or dateless Friday night easier to endure. As a Lumet credit, it's a far cry from "Serpico," but a hell of a lot better than "The Wiz."