The Kidnapping of the President

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".

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.

This movie looked like it was rushed to release for some reason. Definitely not a well made movie. So unbelievable. The scenes where the President (Holbrook) were downtown and walking among the people were a farce. There would not be a chance for the common folk to be within 30 yards of the President in that situation in real life. If it wasn't for the blood and profanity, this was shot like a TV movie. It could have been decent if it was done differently. Holbrook's (President) talents were never realized in this movie. Shatner's acting is okay. The production values in this movie leave a lot to be desired. Overall, I think most people would be better off not wasting time to watch this affair.

The notion that a terrorist could kidnap the President of the United States while he's standing in a crowd shaking hands sure seems ludicrous. And, it's also ludicrous to imagine the Canadian government doing such an awful job protecting the man. You must look past all this in order to enjoy the movie....or at least to not discount it. Additionally, you must also accept that the terrorists could shoot a gas station and make it explode...again and again and only with one shot! And, you must accept that the main terrorist's confederate pulls out the detonator from her pocket and holds it...while a crowd is standing around her...even though she is supposed to stay hidden. And, when an insane man wanders into the middle of this 'situation', nothing is done to stop him until the last possible second. And, a dedicated terrorist changes her mind at the last second. And, finally, you must accept that pretty much everyone in the film, with the exception of the CIA agent (William Shatner), is stupid.

It is a shame, really, as Shatner is very good here and the film has some other excellent actors, such as Hal Holbrook, Van Johnson and Ava Gardner (who does a nice Lady MacBeth impersonation). But the basic premise just doesn't make much sense. For a similar but far more intelligent story, try watching the original "Day of the Jackal". It covers similar ground but does it much more intelligently and believably. Overall, watchable but really, really, REALLY farfetched.

By the way, gas stations do NOT blow up like this. If they did, they'd be blowing up all the time and no one would ever consider driving a gas powered car!

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?