The Ransom

This is a silly flick, but hell, I just love Oliver Reed. Here he's a badass called Nick, a mercenary whose main fighting skills are his steel glance and incredible poker face. These alone are worth your time. All the rest is bonus: Paul Koslo's unbelievable turn as the Native American assassin named Victor, the okay chase scene half way through (with a cowboy chasing Victor in a convertible, shooting him and yeehawing), Jim Mitchum's deadpan role as a tracker, a hip jazzy soundtrack, a Roger McQuinn song about maniac Victor, a couple of bloody killings by crossbow, one weirdo pre-credit sequence in which the killer shoots a couple of lovebirds Zodiac-style and one particularly effective sequence in which Victor stalks an arrogant millionaire played by Stuart Whitman in his mansion. Not a great flick by any means, but it's got a good pace and it's never boring. And hey, Oliver ff-ing Reed!

Paul Koslo appears to be a crossbow killing phantom, since he often shows up out of nowhere, with no obvious means of getting there other than wings. His meaningless rants about the wind, only deepens a total mystery regarding his motivation for extorting the rich. Either an awful lot of this film wound up on the cutting room floor, or this is one of the most underdeveloped scripts ever. Stuart Whitman and Oliver Reed are charged with ending Koslo's mayhem, but to no avail as they seem to be constantly chasing smoke that simply disappears. Throw in the fastest seduction on film between Reed and Deborah Raffin, car chases for the sake of car chases, and you pretty much get the idea. The movie is watchable, because the desert scenery magnificent, but believability is nowhere to be found. MERK

A group of shady businessmen in a wealthy Arizona town find themselves extorted by a man who wants $1 million dollars. Ringleader William Whitaker (Stuart Whitman) decides the best course of action is to hire mercenary Nick McCormick (Oliver Reed) to eliminate the killer. Wow! This was a nice surprise from director Richard Compton (the Macon County movies). It has two great chase scenes, fantastic location work in the desert, and a cast to die for. Seriously, as the opening credits unfold you get like 6 greats in a row - Oliver Reed, Deborah Raffin, Stuart Whitman, John Irleand, Jim Mitchum, and Paul Koslo. Okay, 5 greats and Jim Mitchum. The Code Red blu-ray is definitely the way to see the film. It is presented in the 2.35 aspect ratio and includes a pre-credit sequence that Roger Corman's New World shot for it. Also, there is a longer TV cut which has extra scenes and a voice over by Reed. There is also an incredible 44-minute interview with Koslo. He spends the first 15 minutes talking about his role in this film and then the rest of it is talking about his career. He has great anecdotes about working with Charles Bronson, Charlton Heston, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Shelly Winters, and many more.

In the town of Paradise, Arizona, shady land deals enrich a handful of select few. A Native American (Paul Koslo) travels around a resort town, murdering cops and rich people with a high-powered crossbow, while demanding that the town's richest residents pay him money to stop the killings. The psycho starts killing people in the small town and refuses to stop until he receives several million ransom. The town's mayor and sheriff are corrupt and aware of the land schemes. Incensed by this, native-American Victor plans to extort money from the rich as punishment for the land they stole. He starts by killing two local cops with his crossbow. He leaves a note claiming the rich must pay a ransom or die. He demands a lot of money to be delivered within 24 hours. The Chief of police, Haliburton (John Ireland) , contacts local businessman William Whitaker (Stuart Whitman) and they decide to keep the whole thing confidential. They don't want the Press or the Feds involved since it could reveal the local land frauds. In fact, there is a nosy reporter (Deborah Raffin) snooping here and there. Instead, they hire private security investigator Nick McCormick (Oliver Reed). The latter hires a tracker (James Mitchum) who he takes out of prison to follow the tracks of the relentless killer. The maniac kills anywhere... anytime! Their agony was his ecstasy!.They called it paradise - but it was Hell on Earth!.In Paradise, Arizona, money doesn't talk... it screams. Killing is his passion, money is his motive !.

Moving film with silly and non-sense in the extreme script, really violent at times, but with lack of originality, campy dialogue , a lot of plentiful action scenes, including wild car chases , pursuits, thrills and violence. This is a medium-budget American movie concerning a young Indian exacts a strong vendetta. A Western-style film set in Arizona, although a bit more contemporary than the old west. Starring Whitman as the richest man in the town, Oliver Reed as the mercenary hired to kill the extorsionist played by Paul Koslo. The latter is a native Indian who turns into one army man , spending several minutes destroying property , shooting by means a crossbow to police officers and other contenders. As revenge is the top priority , as the protagonist tormenting and reckoning the bad guys along the way. The picture deals with usual theme in the cinema of the 60s and 70s : a merciless vendetta. There are some slow moments, but worse than these are the unanswered questions about why the murderer dresses like an American Indian and what this motive really is. The main and support cast is made up of known actors giving functional interpretations, such as: Oliver Reed, Deborah Raffin, James Mitchum, Stuart Whitman, John Ireland and Paul Koslo.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Richard Compton. Richard had a long film career. His debut feature "The French Way", was never released in America. Compton followed this film with the nifty biker flick Angels Die Hard (1970), which was the first movie to be released by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Compton then did the excellent and unjustly overlooked psycho Vietnam veterans exploitation winner Welcome Home Soldier Boys (1971). He scored his biggest hit with the outstanding cult classic Macon County Line (1974); the unexpected enormous box-office success of this movie begot a handful of similar Southern-fried "don't go down to Dixie" drive-in pictures, which include Jackson County Jail (1976), A Small Town in Texas (1976), and Nightmare in Badham County (1976). He followed directing the tepid semi-sequel Return to Macon County (1975) and a post-nuke sci-fi picture, Ravagers (1979). In the early 1980s Compton began directing more and more for television; he's done several made-for-TV pictures and numerous episodes of famous TV series. ¨The Ransom¨ rating: 5/10. Average but passable and acceptable at times.

Medium budget action film thats not as bad as made out. But I'm not saying it's good either. But it does have something.

OK the premise is a bit naff. A unnamed wealthy small town in the South-West ( the film was filmed around Scottsdale and Mesa in Arizona) is terrorized by an American Indian with a crossbow who seeking to address the injustices of the past by extorting the town rich of $5 million. Add to that the fact that all of the roles are underwritten and there are many undeveloped plot lines. Without being too picky and in no order: is the Indian really an Indian, why all the Indian mysticism, why is he extorting money, what about his Olympius career, what about the lucrative land deal the big wigs are trying to put together, why does this small community have so many rich people ...

Also everyone seems to know each other very well after just meeting. Its as if the actors are anticipating the next scene. Oliver Reed's character abuses, woos, threatens and beds a reporter in about 2 minutes of screen time ! He also forms a friendship based on mutual respect with Jim Mitchum's character in their 4 scenes together.

To top this off a lot of the action is a bit lame.

So what does the film have? A great cast of familiar faces! I can sit through any tripe if you throw enough faces from years past at me. Stuart Whitman as the millionaire is good ( the best scene in the film is where he and the Indian are playing cat and mouse in his mansion), John Ireland does not have a lot to do but is always dependable, Robert Mitchum's son Jim is vastly underrated ( where is Tarantino to revive his career) and also doesn't have much to do but I suppose he was cast as a familiar face to the 70s action movie crowd ( check him out in "Trackdown"), Paul Koslo again plays the bad guy ( he was the bad guy in so many 70s films and was always excellent) and almost lifts the ridiculous role above what it is worth! Oliver Reed and Deborah Raffin are OK.

So if you get a buzz , as I do, watching films from the 70s and 80s with great actors of years past in small leads or supports then this is the ticket for you. For my money the action is fast paced and never boring ( its just not that good). The director, Richard Compton, also directed drive-in cult classic " Macon County Line".

By the way the theme song ( for Victor the Indian) , "Shoot Him", was co-written and performed by Roger McGuinn ( of the Byrds) and its lyric explains a lot of the motivations behind the Indian's character .... which the script writers had failed to do.