The Kidnapping of the President

THE KIDNAPPING OF THE PRESIDENT is a familiar but well-handled hostage thriller in which Hal Halbrook plays an American president kidnapped and held for political reasons by South American terrorists. This one starts off with some rather extraordinarily violence and grit for the era which felt to me, as a seasoned fan of Italian cinema, inspired by the hard-hitting cinema of Fulci and his giallo contemporaries; there's certainly no shying away from the violence here. From there we move into more familiar territory as William Shatner's secret service man tries to tackle a complex situation. The level of grit is admirable, the suspense works well and the punctuation of violent moments offsets the tension nicely.

My original review written in August 1980 after a press screening in Manhattan: A fine action-suspense film shot last winter in Canada, "The Kidnapping of the President" has good topical prospects in this presidential campaign year. Lack of b.o.-exploitable names in the familiar cast should be a stumbling block, however.

Functional script by Richard Murphy from Charles Templeton's novel has Third World terrorists devising a plot to bring America to its knees by kidnapping the president. Hot issue of whether anyone should accede to terrorists' demands is pic's central theme.

After an unpromising, needlessly bloody opening set in South America, film settles down to gripping tale of terrorists led by chilling psychotic Miguel Fernandes, snatching president Hal Holbrook, who is wading through a crowd in downtown Toronto. Handcuffing himself to Holbrook, Fernandes believably makes off with his hostage by threatening to detonate explosives strapped to his vest. Plausibility of this well-directed staging drives home the fact that any politician routinely risks death in public appearances from some deranged person willing to forfeit his own life in the bargain.

Storing the prexy in a booby-trapped security truck, Fernandes holds up the U. S. government for $100,000,000 ransom. Secret Service head William Shatner, vying with the CIA for jurisdiction authority, is faced with the tough decision. Excellent last-reel pacing leads to suspenseful resolution.

Key subplot involves veep Van Johnson also under pressure. First faced with a "Billygate"-type bribery scandal and secondly ambivalent about saving Holbrook, as wife Ava Gardner eggs him on to take a stand.

After the fiasco of his first feature "Stone Cold Dead", director George Mendeluk has come back with a solid action film, which wisely doesn't hide its Canadian origins. Murphy's script marks a welcome return to features by the screenwriter of "Boomerang", "Panic in the Streets" and "Compulsion". Mike Molloy's budget-stretching photography in the oval office set and on Toronto locations is outstanding.

Shatner and Holbrook are effective in their central roles, but the film's real star is Fernandes, creating a spell-binding anti-hero as the lead terrorist. Elizabeth Shepherd is quite affecting in her small role as the First Lady. Guestars Van Johnson and Ava Gardner form an attractive couple as veep and wife in their first featured teaming in 35 years, since "Three Men in White".

I really wanted to hate this movie. William Shatner has played in some real turkeys, 'Big Bad Mama' being a prime example. However, there was something about this film that I really liked. Maybe it was WS looking all natty and noble in his navy blue suit and trench coat. Or the idea of Van Johnson as the vice president, married to Ava Gardner -- oh, what a casting fiasco that was! Or Hal Holbrook being presidential yet once again. Or the fact that this was a Canadian film actually shot on location in Toronto (starring my favorite guy from north-of-the-border). The story wasn't too bad, the acting wasn't too horrible. And did I mention how cute Shatner looked?

When the government was helping create a film industry here in Canada, it followed this pattern b film with a named actor. This time the name actor is William Shatner, and the b action film is about terrorist grabbing the president. Unbelievable at the time, but after 9/11 James Bond plots become more believable every week. It is entertaining, and I like Shatner in it, I forgotten abit of the ending. Entertaining, but a B film. 5/10

At the very least The Kidnapping Of The President should discourage Barack Obama or Mitt Romney against foreign travel. Even in a country like Canada with close cooperation between governments, there's still a turf war over security.

And some security President Hal Holbrook had. A Che Guevara wannabe Miguel Fernandes wires himself with explosives and handcuffs himself to Holbrook while he's visiting Toronto. Great crowd control from the RCMP. He demands one hundred million dollars in diamonds or he and a confederate who lock Holbrook in an armored vehicle will blow it up.

There are a couple of side issues in this film. Fernandes has the sister of a former comrade whom he killed convinced that it was those no good Yankee capitalists that did Cindy Girling's sister. Secondly President Holbrook before leaving for Toronto confronts Vice President Van Johnson about some indiscretions that were never fully explained and wants him off the ticket. Now Johnson is the guy who is making the command decisions from the White House about the ransom money and of course Holbrook's life.

William Shatner is the Secret Service agent in charge and he does one colossal breach of stupidity during the crisis that I'm still reeling over. I can't say what it is, but no Secret Service agent would do it or for that matter any law enforcement person.

The Kidnapping Of The President is a rather mediocre product from Canada and I'd skip it.