Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story

For the German film, see The Murderers Are Among Us.

For the song, see Murderers Among Us (song).

Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Brian Gibson and written by Abby Mann, Robin Vote and Ron Hutchinson. The film stars Ben Kingsley, Renée Soutendijk, Craig T. Nelson, Anton Lesser, Jack Shepherd and Paul Freeman. The film premiered on HBO on April 23, 1989.^[1][2][3][4]

Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story
Genre	Biography Drama War
Written by	Abby Mann Robin Vote Ron Hutchinson
Directed by	Brian Gibson
Starring	Ben Kingsley Renée Soutendijk Craig T. Nelson Anton Lesser Jack Shepherd Paul Freeman
Theme music composer	Bill Conti
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Graham Benson David R. Ginsburg
Producers	Bob Cooper John Kemeny Abby Mann
Cinematography	Elemér Ragályi
Editors	Éva Gárdos Randy Kumano Chris Wimble
Running time	160 minutes
Production companies	Citadel Entertainment HBO Pictures
Original release
Network	HBO
Release	April 23, 1989 (1989-04-23)

Plot

The film is based on Wiesenthal's book of the same name that was published in 1967.

As Austrian Jews living in Ukraine at the beginning of World War II, Simon Wiesenthal and his family are captured by Nazis and sent to live in a series of prison camps, where Wiesenthal cheats death several times. When he is liberated from Mauthausen in 1945, Wiesenthal provides vital information to the Americans in the Nuremberg War Trials and dedicates his life to hunting down Nazi war criminals, even though doing so comes at a cost to his family.

Awards and nominations

• 41st Primetime Emmy Awards, Los Angeles: Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or a Special, 1989
• CableACE Award: Best Movie or Miniseries, 1990
• Funke Mediengruppe, Germany: Golden Camera Award for Best International Actor, Ben Kingsley, 1990
• 5th TCA Awards, Los Angeles: Nominee: Program of the Year, 1989
• CableACE Award: Nominee: Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries, Renée Soutendijk 1990
• CableACE Award: Nominee: Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Special, Ben Kingsley, 1990
• 41st Primetime Emmy Awards, Los Angeles: Nominee: Outstanding Drama or Comedy Special, 1989
• 41st Primetime Emmy Awards, Los Angeles: Nominee: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special, Ben Kingsley, 1989
• 47th Golden Globe Awards, Los Angeles: Nominee: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, Ben Kinglsey, 1990

Cast

• Ben Kingsley as Simon Wiesenthal
• Renée Soutendijk as Cyla
• Craig T. Nelson as Major Bill Harcourt
• Anton Lesser as Karl
• Jack Shepherd as Brodi
• Paul Freeman as Josef
• David Threlfall as Alex
• Louisa Milwood-Haigh as Paulina
• Robert Morelli as Reed
• Sándor Téri as Hauptmann

See also

• The Boys from Brazil (1978) — Film starring Laurence Olivier (in his final Oscar-nominated performance) as a Nazi hunter character, loosely based upon Simon Wiesenthal.