Ransom series

  • Ransom! (1956)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, May 2022) I’ll be honest: My interest in watching this version of Ransom! had more to do with dim-but-positive memories of the 1996 remake and an interest in seeing how film noir it could be than any specific interest in the film itself. Under these expectations, it’s not much of a surprise if the film is a slight disappointment. For one thing it takes forever to get going – the lengthy introduction takes its time in setting up our wealthy hero (Glenn Ford) and his family, then how the situation gets going as his son gets kidnapped. Working with police in ineffectual attempts to talk to the kidnappers is next, with plenty of 1950s procedural details about call-tracing and how kidnapping for ransom usually goes. By the time we get to Ransom!’s most interesting moment – the protagonist taking to the airwaves to offer the ransom as bounty on the kidnappers – there’s scarcely ten minutes left to the film: the kid pops up a few moments later, and then we’re done. For twenty-first century viewers, there’s at least one act missing. It’s notable that the film never shows the kidnappers either – the focus is strictly on the protagonist, his family, police and an errant reporter (a young and darker-haired Leslie Nielsen in his big-screen debut). It may explain things to know that the film was based on an hour-long radio drama – such as why it feels padded even at 102 minutes. Ransom! is not a bad film per se, but it clearly feels like a prototype for the much denser and thrilling 1996 remake.

  • Ransom (1996)

    Ransom (1996)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, February 2000) It takes some effort to put together a good thriller, but no one ever accused Ron Howard of not being a professional filmmaker. Here, he draws upon Mel Gibson, Renee Russo and Gary Sinise to set up a sombre kidnapping affair that quickly goes awry. Solid leading-man Gibson is perfect for the role, and Sinise makes the most of his name’s resemblance with sinister as the bad guy. Even though the film feels slightly too long at more than two hours, it moves quickly and the viewer is never bored. The conventional finale disappoints somewhat, as if the scriptwriters didn’t know what to do with their last-minute twists. But Ransom mostly delivers what it sets out to do; a good, fun, crunchy thriller.

    (Second Viewing, On Cable TV, May 2022) So, TCM just had a double-bill with both the 1956 version of Ransom! and the exclamation-less 1996 Ransom remake – I just couldn’t let the occasion go by to compare and contrast.  I had dim but favourable memories of the 1996 film, so I was curious to find out if my disappointment in the 1956 film was a nostalgic artefact or a real appreciation.  Well, the verdict is in and the remake is the best film for two or three reasons.  The first, obviously, is that director Ron Howard had many more tools in his mid-1990s toolbox – decades’ worth of thriller-film formula elements, better equipment, use of colour, slicker sets (including many exteriors) and arguably better actors in Mel Gibson and Gary Sinise.  Which brings us to a second, crucial improvement: showing hero (Gibson) and antagonist (Sinise) trying to outwit each other throughout the film.  Finally, let’s acknowledge that there’s simply more plot to this remake: While the 1956 film essentially concluded on the central idea of both films (offering the ransom as bounty-hunting prize), the remake adds at least an act’s worth of increasingly frantic action as the consequences of this turn play out.  The result being executed with the big budget that standalone thrillers could still command back in the mid-1990s, Ransom still feels like a terrific, clever thriller.  It’s got some style, great anchor performances and a twisty script that throws in one curveball after another, often as the two lead characters change their plans in reaction to one another.  (That tit-for-tat plot leadership may feel like an elementary thriller asset, but you’d be surprised at the number of suspense films where the protagonist is constantly on the defensive from the villain’s plans.)  I had no trouble liking Ransom all over again a few decades after first watching it, and even –especially- when measured against its inspiration.  It makes the 1956 film look like a prototype, which is about the best thing one can say about a remake.