The Ransom

An American Indian named Victor (Paul Koslo, "The Stone Killer") is running around an Arizona town picking off people with his trusty crossbow. What he wants is for all the local fat cats to pay him a million to make him stop the killings. The richest jerk in the area, William Whitaker (Stuart Whitman, "The Comancheros"), hires a mercenary, Nick McCormick (Oliver Reed, "The Devils") to work on behalf of him and his peers. Since these particular fat cats are by and large a corrupt bunch, they would rather not use the regular legal channels. John Ireland ("I Saw What You Did") is the rather useless sheriff, Jim Mitchum ("Trackdown") a local hired for his tracking skills, and Deborah Raffin ("Death Wish 3") the reporter who takes a shine to gruff stranger-in-town Reed.

Directed by the late cult filmmaker Richard Compton ("Macon County Line"), "The Ransom" (also known as "Maniac!" and "Assault on Paradise") is decent entertainment, as far as it goes. There's nothing particularly interesting or different about it, it just tells a passable, routine story in capable fashion. It does have some good set pieces, whether they be vehicular chases or a stalking / suspense sequence set at Whitakers' estate. It is rather amusing, and ridiculous, how Victor is almost always way ahead of everybody else. He seems to have little trouble infiltrating defences and acquiring excellent vantage points. Nicely photographed (by Charles Correll) in scope, and scored (by Don Ellis), it moves along pretty well, but never gives us much info about, or insight into, the characters. Most of them are ciphers. And very little is done with many of the plot details.

Still, it's a treat to see Reed do just about anything, and here he gets to be moderately badass and try out an American accent. Raffins' reporter is a largely useless character, but Whitman is fun as the cranky moneybags who becomes increasingly frustrated over Victors' success and McCormicks' insistence on doing things his way.

Overall, a reasonable way to kill an hour and a half, with a fairly high body count but not much in the way of gore.

Six out of 10.

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.

Assault on Paradise (1977)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A small town full of rich people find themselves being terrorized by an Indian who is shooting and killing people with a crossbow. He offers to stop the killing in exchange for one million dollars. The rich people decide to bring in Nick McCormick (Oliver Reed), an expert in tracking down people like the killer.

ASSAULT ON PARADISE was also released under the title MANIAC but no matter what you call it the film itself is fairly entertaining if a bit brain dead. I say that it's a bit brain dead because it's not quite clear what the killings are for and it's not quite clear what all the rich people are hiding. Everything is pretty much being done in secret yet there's really no explanation of what is happened and why.

The film's strongest point are the cast members who turn in very fun performances. Reed could play a role like this in his sleep and I'm sure this was just a paycheck to him but he still manages to turn in a good performance. I thought he was quite believable in the part and he made for a good lead. Veterans Stuart Whitman and John Ireland add some nice support as does James Mitchum in his role as a tracker. Deborah Raffin plays a somewhat love interest but her character and the motivations are about as strange as the killers. Paul Koslo plays the killer.

The film's biggest problem, other than the screenplay, is the fact that the direction by Richard Compton doesn't really get any suspense from the material. I would have liked a bit more tension but that's just not to be found anywhere. The film also shows some signs of tinkering as the opening sequence was thrown on for no real reason and it sticks out like a sore thumb. With all of that said, if you're a fan of the cast then there's some entertainment to be found here.

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.

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