Thirty years on, Ron Howard’s Ransom remains a thriller about a man who changes the rules. Released in 1996, the American action thriller was directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Richard Price and Alexander Ignon. It stars Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Brawley Nolte, Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg and Evan Handler. The film was produced by Touchstone Pictures.
The kidnapping runs on an inside job
In the plot, millionaire airline magnate Tom Mullen and his wife Kate are at a science fair when their son Sean is kidnapped. The kidnappers are Maris Conner, a caterer working for the Mullens; brothers Clark and Cubby Barnes; and tech expert Miles Roberts. Jimmy Shaker, an NYPD detective who is Maris’s boyfriend, leads the operation. The assailants send Tom and Kate a video of a bound Sean demanding $2 million.
Tom refuses the first drop
Tom calls the FBI, who operate from his NYC penthouse under Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins. He follows Shaker’s electronically disguised instructions and meets Cubby in a New Jersey quarry. When Cubby does not give him the promised directions to Sean, Tom refuses to hand over the money. In the ensuing fight, the FBI shoots Cubby, who dies of his injuries before revealing Sean’s location.
The ransom becomes a bounty
Tom realizes the kidnapper has no intention of returning Sean alive. Appearing on television, he presents the money with a warning that he will not only refuse to pay the kidnappers, but offers the ransom money as a bounty on the kidnapper, dead or alive. Shaker later lures Kate to a meeting where he assaults her and presents Sean’s blood-stained T-shirt as a warning to pay. Tom responds by doubling the bounty to $4 million.
Shaker’s own crew collapses
Clark and Miles attempt to abandon the plan and flee, but Shaker, still determined to claim the ransom, requests police backup, claiming to have found the kidnappers, then kills both men. When Maris shoots him in the arm from behind, he kills her as well. The NYPD arrives to find Shaker with a badly beaten Sean, bound and eyes duct-taped over, while believing Shaker rescued Sean. Later, both Sean and Tom recognize his voice and expressions as the assailant.
It opened above Romeo + Juliet and Set It Off
For its opening weekend, Ransom collected a total gross of $34.2 million, beating out Romeo + Juliet and Set It Off to secure the number one spot. It had the second-highest opening weekend for a Disney film, behind The Lion King, as well as the company’s largest live-action opening weekend, surpassing the previous record held by The Rock five months earlier.
It held the live-action record until Armageddon
The film held the latter record until the opening of Armageddon in July 1998. Ransom also achieved the third-highest November opening weekend, after Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Interview with the Vampire. It would hold the record for having the highest opening weekend for a Ron Howard film for four years until 2000 when it was taken by How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
It made $309.5 million worldwide
Although it was overtaken by Space Jam in its second weekend, Ransom would still make $22.3 million and outgross newcomer The Mirror Has Two Faces. During its theatrical run, Ransom earned $136.4 million domestically and $309.5 million worldwide, making it the seventh-highest-grossing film of 1996.
Critics and awards were generally favourable
On Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of 74 critics’ reviews are positive, with a consensus that reads: “Directed with propulsive intensity by Ron Howard, Ransom is a fiery thriller packed with hot-blooded performances and jolting twists.” Metacritic assigned a score of 61 out of 100 based on 21 critics, and CinemaScore audiences gave an average grade of A−. Roger Ebert 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.” The film won the 1997 ASCAP Top Box Office Film award and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Mel Gibson, a Saturn Award nomination for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, an Image Award nomination for Delroy Lindo and a Young Artist Award nomination for Brawley Nolte.
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Facts from Wikipedia: Ransom (1996 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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