''Ransom'' is a 1996 American

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

from a screenplay by

Richard Price Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer, pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French ...

and Alexander Ignon. The film stars

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocal ...

Rene Russo Rene Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model in the 1970s, appearing on magazine covers such as '' Vogue'' and '' Cosmopolitan''. She made her film debut in the 1989 comedy ' ...

Gary Sinise Gary Alan Sinise (; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor, humanitarian, and musician. Among other awards, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received a st ...

Delroy Lindo Delroy George Lindo (born 18 November 1952) is an English-American actor. He is the recipient of such accolades as a NAACP Image Award, a Satellite Award, and nominations for a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Tony Award, two Critics' Ch ...

, Lili Taylor, Brawley Nolte, Liev Schreiber,

Donnie Wahlberg Donald Edmond Wahlberg Jr. (born August 17, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, record producer, and film producer. He is a founding member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. Outside music, he has had roles in the ''Saw' ...

and Evan Handler. Gibson was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to th ...

. The film was the 5th highest-grossing film of 1996 in the United States. The original story came from a 1954 episode of ''

The United States Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the U.S. Steel, United States Steel Corpor ...

'' titled "Fearful Decision". In 1956, it was adapted by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum into the feature film, '' Ransom!'', starring Glenn Ford,

Donna Reed Donna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger; January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in ...

, and

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. Nielsen was bo ...

Plot

While multi-billionaire Tom Mullen and his wife Kate attend a science fair, their son Sean is kidnapped. Sean is taken to an apartment by Maris Conner, a caterer working for the Mullens, along with brothers Clark and Cubby Barnes, as well as tech expert Miles Roberts. NYPD Detective Jimmy Shaker is Maris' boyfriend and the mastermind behind the kidnapping. The kidnappers send Tom and Kate an e-mail demanding $2 million. Tom calls the FBI, who begin operating from his New York City penthouse under Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins. In private, Tom voices his belief that a union machinist, Jackie Brown, who is in prison following one of Mullen's business scandals, may be behind it. They visit Brown in prison, but he denies any involvement. Tom agrees to the FBI's plan for delivering the

ransom Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice. When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''re ...

. Receiving a phone call from Shaker, who electronically disguises his voice, Tom follows his instructions. He meets Cubby in a New Jersey quarry but refuses to hand over the money when Cubby fails to give him Shaker's promised directions. A fight ensues and the FBI intervene and shoot Cubby, who dies before revealing Sean's location; Tom begins to realize there is no guarantee Sean will be returned alive. Shaker later arranges another drop off, but although Tom initially agrees to take the money alone at first, he instead appears on television and offers the ransom as a bounty on the kidnappers, promising to withdraw the bounty and drop all charges if the kidnappers return Sean alive and unharmed. Despite Kate and Agent Hawkins' pleadings, Tom sticks to his plan, believing it is the best chance for Sean's return. Shaker lures Kate to a meeting where he assaults her and presents Sean's blood-stained t-shirt as a warning to pay the ransom or Sean will die, but Tom responds by doubling the bounty to $4 million. Shaker calls Tom and gives him one final warning to pay the ransom, but Tom still refuses, and Shaker fires a gunshot after Tom hears Sean scream for help, leading Tom and Kate to believe Sean is dead. Clark and Miles attempt to abandon the plan and flee, but Shaker calls in the NYPD to request backup and kills both Clark and Miles while making it look like Miles shot first and kills Maris after she shoots him in the arm from behind. The NYPD arrive and find Shaker with a badly beaten Sean, believing Shaker found and rescued Sean. Hawkins informs Tom and Kate, and they are reunited with Sean while Shaker is hospitalized. Shaker arrives at Tom's penthouse to claim the reward. He intends to immediately leave the country before his connection to Maris is discovered. Sean, however, recognizes Shaker's voice as the kidnapper, causing Tom to notice his son's frightened reaction. Realizing his cover is blown, Shaker plans to kill everyone in the apartment, but Tom persuades him to accompany him to the bank to gain the money and leave peacefully. Shaker attempts to force Tom to wire the money from the house via phone, but Tom stands his ground and warns him that whether he receives his money or not, Shaker will be exposed and hunted citywide. Shaker reluctantly agrees to go to bank, threatening to rekidnap and execute Sean should Tom attempt any double-crossing. On the way, however, Tom discreetly alerts Hawkins, and the police and FBI converge on Tom and Shaker outside the bank. As soon as Tom and Shaker exit the bank, two police officers attempt to detain Shaker, but Shaker shoots them. Tom knocks Shaker to the ground and the two struggle. Tom picks up Shaker's dropped gun and points at him. Hawkins and other police officers demand that Tom drop the gun and walk away. In desperation, Shaker draws another gun, but is shot dead by Tom and Hawkins. Tom finally drops the gun and police rush in to arrest Tom, but Hawkins orders them to stand down, and Tom leaves the scene with Kate.

Cast

as Tom Mullen *

as Kate Mullen * Brawley Nolte as Sean Mullen *

as Detective Jimmy Shaker *

as FBI Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins * Lili Taylor as Maris Conner * Liev Schreiber as Clark Barnes *

as 'Cubby' Barnes * Evan Handler as Miles Roberts * Paul Guilfoyle as FBI Director Stan Wallace *

José Zúñiga José Zúñiga (born April 1, 1965) is a Honduran-American actor.José Zúñiga profile
filmrefere ...

as David Torres *

Dan Hedaya Daniel G. Hedaya (born July 24, 1940) is an American actor. He established himself as a supporting actor, often playing sleazy villains or wisecracking supporting characters. He has had supporting roles in films such as '' True Confessions'' (198 ...

as Jackie Brown *

John Ortiz John Ortiz (born May 23, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his antagonist role as Arturo Braga in '' Fast & Furious'' (2009) and '' Fast & Furious 6'' (2013), and Clyde in '' Jack Goes Boating'' (2010), which earned him a nomination fo ...

as Roberto * David Vadim as an

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

Officer

Reception

''Ransom'' has a 74% rating from

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

based on 74 reviews, with its consensus stating: "Directed with propulsive intensity by Ron Howard, ''Ransom'' is a fiery thriller packed with hot-blooded performances and jolting twists."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave the film a score of 60 based on 21 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film three stars out of four and wrote, "Gibson gives an interesting performance, showing a man trying to think his way out of a crisis, and Sinise makes a good foil: Here are two smart men playing a game with deadly stakes."

Awards and nominations

1997

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Film and Television Music Awards * Won - Top Box Office Film 1997 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

s) * Nominated - Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film 1997

s * Nominated - Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama —

1997

Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

* Nominated - Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture —

1997

Young Artist Awards The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

* Nominated - Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor — Brawley Nolte

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ransom 1996 1996 films 1996 crime thriller films 1990s thriller drama films American crime thriller films American thriller drama films Remakes of American films Films about child abduction in the United States Films about extortion Films about families Films about terrorism in the United States Films directed by Ron Howard Films produced by Brian Grazer Films produced by Scott Rudin Films scored by James Horner Films set in New York City Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York City Films about hostage takings Imagine Entertainment films Films with screenplays by Richard Price (writer) Touchstone Pictures films Warner Bros. films Films with screenplays by Richard Maibaum Films about father–son relationships 1990s English-language films 1990s American films