The Stranger (1987)

Director:

Adolfo Aristarain

Writer:

Dan Gurskis (writer)

Release Date:

4 December 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A woman suffering from amnesia discovers that she is the sole surviving witness to a brutal murder. Although the police can find no clues about any murder, the killers begin to hunt her. |

Plot Keywords:

Amnesia

Cast

Bonnie Bedelia	...	Alice Kildee
Peter Riegert	...	Dr. Harris Kite
Barry Primus	...	Sergeant Drake
David Spielberg	...	Hobby
Cecilia Roth	...	Anita
Ricardo Darín	...	Clark Whistler
Julio De Grazia	...	Jay
Ernesto Larrese	...	Lark
Sacha Favelevic	...	Robin
Federico Luppi	...	Manager
Adrian Ghio	...	White intruder
Arturo Maly	...	Father
Marina Magali	...	Actress
Tito Mendoza	...	Hobo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Adolfo Aristarain	...	Movie goer
Jacques Arndt	...	Rhea
Richard Barnes	...	Brandt (as Milton James)
Melvin Daniel	...	Black Man
Heidi Froseth	...	Fat Woman
Julio Kaufman	...	Dr. Hobby
Haydée Padilla	...	Desk Woman
Miguel Ángel Paludi	...	Croupier (as Miguel Paludi)
Lala Sunblad	...	Mother
Sofía Viruboff	...	Desk Girl
Patricia Zangaro	...	Female Police Officer

Also Known As:

El extraño (Argentina)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Argentina | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo | Dolby

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company:

Michael Nolin

Soundtrack:

Mirrors and Lights

good amnesia thriller with an original twist towards the end

We see a woman hiding in an isolated house, as two armed men terrorize three people in the living room, and a pop song plays loudly on a record player. The three people get shot, and the woman runs. She winds up in town, where she hops into her car and speeds off, but gets into an accident, and someone sets her car ablaze. However, she'd gotten out of the car before it caught fire, and winds up in the hospital with amnesia. All she can remember is the gunmen, the murders, and fleeing the house.

A psychiatrist returns to the hospital he works at, having lost over $60,000 in Las Vegas. He treats the woman with amnesia until a specialist can arrive from out of town. The police, not knowing anything about the murders she remembered, are skeptical. They disseminate her photo by newspaper and TV, and a gunman soon arrives to kill her, at which point she's taken a little more seriously. The bad guys intimidate the doctor, by buying his marker, and demanding that he find out what happened to something of theirs the woman took. I know I've seen other movies with the plot element of "bad guys pressure doctor to find out information from patient," but the only one I can think of at the moment is Don't Say a Word (2001) - which I would say was a better movie than this one.

This was a pretty good thriller. There was a neat twist towards the end I particularly liked that cleared up a question I had that had occurred to me early on in the movie. The ending itself was fairly predictable.