Bobby Gold (Joe Mantegna) is a homicide detective whose specialty is hostage negotiation. Among his colleagues he is renowned for his golden tongue; they call him the Orator. Bobby's own Jewishness means nothing to him; it's buried under layers of cop. He only thinks about himself as a Jew in the negative. Being Jewish has always meant that he has had something to prove; without really knowing it, it's why he always has to be the first one through the door. Then, an unexpected event forces him to reevaluate his attitudes. On the way to another bust, he becomes accidentally involved in investigating the murder of an old Jewish woman who was killed in the store she had kept for decades in what has now become a black ghetto. It's not a case he wants, but because he is Jewish and the family of the murdered woman has pull downtown, he's ordered to stick with it. At first, he is outraged. He wants nothing to do with these seemingly paranoid, rich Jews. Everywhere they look, they see a conspiracy, and he doesn't buy it. Gradually, though, he begins to realize that some of their claims may be true; that, indeed, the murder may have been part of a well-organized antisemitic campaign. As he digs into the details of the crime, Bobby begins to move away from his society of cops and rediscover his repressed Jewish identity. In searching for what he believes to be his true self, he becomes involved with a militant Jewish group fighting a rabid clan of neo-Nazis who, it's believed, are responsible for the old woman's murder.

Country: US    Genre: Drama    Released: 1991   
Rating: M    Format: