Un chenapan au Far-West

I read this story when I was in seventh grade, and was happy to see this television movie. It flowed nicely with the actual story, and I did not have one complaint. For anyone who has ever wanted to watch or read a family oriented piece, 'Ransom of Red Chief' is a good one.

I'm a big fan of Christopher Lloyd, and I really love the original short story of this. But I'm not a really huge fan of this version (though I don't exactly hate it either).

Christopher is very good in this (and it is the sort of role that seems tailor-made for him). Alan Ruck makes a pretty good job with the small role of the thankless father. And Haley does show a lot of personality and charisma as the main kid, even if he is a bit too "soft and nice". (I swear I saw a version with Alex Linz in the role - who is a lot more inheritantly mischevous. Maybe I just imagined it).

What I don't like about this is that fact that a lot of the broad wit of the original story has been severely toned down and "cutsified". I half-suspect it's because of the mid-90s era, the time of PC and everyone in America is expected to to be gushingly sweet to each other, and nothing bad or mean should ever be shown of tv, or that sort of thing. The whole while feels really tame (and cheap), and really lacks the dynamic punch that made the original story so good.

It's alright as a cutsey family film for undiscerning kids, but it could have been a lot funnier and more "rascally".

You walk into class, and your teacher states that you would be watching short stories that were developed into movies over the next couple of weeks. Your response: Yippe (in a sarcastic way). You finally get to 'Ransom of Red Chief' and it already sounds boring. This happened to me. I didn't really start paying attention until some of my classmates started giggling. Actually, nobody was watching it until it appeared to be a great movie. It was a comedy, about two guys trying to make a quick buck. They had this master mind plan about raising money by kidnapping a man by the name of Ebenezer Dorset's little boy. One would think that the boy, AKA Red Chief would get hurt, but it was the criminals who did. At the end our sides were split listening to it! Have fun with it, and believe me when I say that it is worth while.

This is the typical TV movie. You can tell from its budget, from its look, from its minimalism...

Seriously, this movie is nothing (and I mean, nothing) special. Although very far from being good, it does offer some fun to its audiences, particularly by Haley Joel Osment (he really is the one who steals the show). This was before Haley got widely known. Even in his early years he already possessed great potential for dramatic roles ('Bogus' is one good example of that) and he is better known for his acting skills in drama rather than in comedy. However, in this TV movie he is hilarious (I never thought I'd say this about him one day), particularly anytime he mimics indians and calls himself Red Chief. Not just that, he is way funnier than gloomy in this movie. This is the living proof that Haley could do comedy as well as he could do drama.

As a movie, it actually deserved a 5 rating, but I gave it a 6 as a gratitude gesture over Haley's fantastic performance in an unusual role for him.

'Red Chief', one of O.Henry's most engaging stories, has been filmed at least three times. (I can find no record of the Alex Linz version several have referred to; it does not appear in his IMDb biography.) This version strikes me as the poorest of the three: too much slapstick, too many extraneous characters (the housemaid, the sheriff/narrator) who only slow down the action.

The story was first filmed in 1952 along with four other stories in 'O.Henry's Full House'. The kidnappers were played by the brilliant radio comedian Fred Allen and the equally brilliant pianist/comedian Oscar Levant so it should have been a winner but somehow it failed to click, to me at least. (Lee Aaker of 'Rin Tin Tin' played the boy.) But amazingly the truest and funniest version of this quintessentially American story was filmed in France. 'Le grand chef' (1959) featured Fernandel, then France's leading comic, and Gino Cervi, a prominent Italian actor. 'Red chief' was played by an enchanting youngster named Papouf. Downloadable copies are available but so far I haven't seen one with subtitles. You can use it to brush up on your French or just to enjoy the action.