10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
it's not the hands of strangers you gotta worry about, January 12, 2001
This review is from: Hands of a Stranger [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Running over 3 hours long, this made for TV movie is well directed and noticably edited at a clip, except when time is needed to explore detail. It's no surprise that the narrative is based on a novel, since there are three plot strands, and it's to Larry Elikann's credit that proceedings build progressively. At the centre are 3 pairs of hands - cop Armand Assante, his wife Beverley D'Angelo, and assistant District Attorney Blair Brown - but their triangle has a lot of intersecting angles. What they have in common is rape. Brown is investigating a gang and D'Angelo is the victim of one. Though the perpetrators are different, it's inevitable that Brown will come to meet D'Angelo. And this is given another dimention by Brown recruiting Assante to help with her investigation, and that's even before D'Angelo is involved! Confused? What I particularly liked was Elikann's decision to not use music, a wise one when so much of the narrative is methodical action. He does succumb to the ubiquitous sax in a sex scene, but the editing cuts away thankfully fast. At first I was irritated by Assante's performance, with his macho strutting and bird-like head movements. In response Brown imitates him and her usual likability is in question. But eventually he becomes more solid (or I overlooked the mannerism) and his final emotionalism is touching. He also has a drunk scene where his energy level picks up considerably. D'Angelo bears the bulk of the load and while she may overdo the distraught victim, she knows how to play against her co-stars, and she excels when she is trapped. Her rape scene is not explicit but the suggestion and Arliss Howard's smiling offender is so perverse that what one imagines is much more powerful. Howard has a sinister briefcase, with undisclosed contents, and when the nature of the photographs he has taken of his acts is seen by someone, they vomit. Brown has the lesser of the 3 roles, but she manages to get a laugh out of a cliched answer to "Are you sure it was him?" - "You hear his voice, and you don't need to hear it again". The frosty treatment she gives to a rape victim is redeemed, and I liked the animal noises she makes in response to Assante at one point. There are a few minor plot holes - Assante staking out his own house to watch D'Angelo, the disappearance of one character without explaination, and Assante being unrecognised by Howard after he has possession of D'Angelo's purse, as if she didn't have a pic of her husband - but these are forgiveable. And we get to witness a rare torture scene which is contextually pleasing.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Based on a true story!!!, January 27, 2010
This review is from: Hands of a Stranger [VHS] (VHS Tape)
What most folks probably don't know is that movie was based on a true story. Back in the early 80's, I was a foreman of a jury in NYC that convicted a guy of kidnapping a couple and raping the woman in a midtown hotel. It was a pretty interesting case, especially for a first-time juror!
Suffice it to say, though, that the movie takes liberties with the real story. Personally, I found real life a bit more fascinating than what ended up in the movie. But that's Hollywood!
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