Customer Reviews

The Kidnapping of the President

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Released at the dawn of the 1980s (just predating the Reagan assasination attempt), "The Kidnapping of the President" is earnest and does have some exciting moments, but the lousy script, tepid direction and a plot loaded with implausibilities undermine it. William Shatner is in full hammy swing as a Secret Service agent trying to protect the President (Hal Holbrook, doing the best he can with the dialogue) on a diplomatic trip to Toronto. A repulsive South American revolutionary manages to "kidnap" the President (he spends over an hour of the film locked in an armoured truck), and Shatner spends the rest of the film plotting, brainstorming, arguing and even muttering the F word in his efforts to rescue the President before explosives in the truck are detonated.

The dialogue is appalling at times. The limited budget also rears its ugly head here and there. There's one hilarious goof early in the film. Shatner is walking out of the Oval Office (which looks pretty shabby); the outside of the door he is exiting through is clearly white. Once the door is shut and Shatner is on the outside of it, the door is now a VERY dark wood color!

The supporting cast features two big names in the twilight of their careers. Van Johnson is good as the hapless, seemingly corrupt vice president. Fellow MGM alumni Ava Gardner (in one of her last feature film roles) is his ambitious, unscrupulous wife. Unfortunately she's not given much to do but shriek, curse and toss her head of hair around in what is little more than a bloated cameo. What a waste. If nothing else, Ava does look good.

The film does boast location filming in Toronto that actually utilizes the city for a change. And again, there are some exciting moments...but you have to sit through sometimes interminable gaps to get to them.

Sometimes this pops up on TV on a weekend afternoon or late at night. It's a harmless way to kill an afternoon, but i wouldnt recommend actually spending money to get it, unless you're a big fan of Shatner's patented non-too-subtle art of drama...

"The Kidnapping of the President" is a cheesy film from 1980 with lots of big names in their joint creative declines. This made in Canada cheapie is set in Toronto and boils down to this: Holbrook has been warned by Secret Service agent Shatner (as Jerry O'Connor) of a threat on his life there, and he recommends not going, while the bone-headed and arrogant head of the CIA wants to be in charge of the security detail, and at first appears to prevail, as Holbrook goes to Toronto. There is lots of over-the-top dialogue in the film, the worst case being when Shatner is told "Toronto's going to be a piece of cake," and he ominously replies "They said the same thing about Dallas." Boo!

Once in Canada, they immediately run afoul of murderous South American Marxist guerrillas led by Roberto Assanti (Miguel Fernandes), who have an elaborate and idiotic plan to kidnap the President for political pursuits and personal profits. Apparently sensing his Canadian roots, Shatner in his best T. J. Hooker impression hammily plows through the situation in which the terrorist puts Holbrook in an armored car with explosives inside, and it's now a game of beat the clock. I can't rightly say how many tenets of law enforcement are violated by willingly giving over the President to a known murderer and terrorist, but you will have no difficulty in spotting many of them yourself.

Assanti turns himself in while the ineffective bribe-taking Vice President (Van Johnson) debates about whether or not to meet the demands of the terrorists (they want $100 million in diamonds and two airplanes with a midnight deadline; via radio Holbrook defiantly says no.) In his most trying hour, Holbrook resists more than anyone thought he could amidst the pathos. The wife of the VP (Ava Gardner in one of her least palatable roles) is a horrible manipulative shrew who sees this as an opportunity for her husband to ascend politically, and advises him accordingly. There's a lot of subplots going on here to suit the multi-star cast, including a particularly rancid story about the First Lady's false sprained ankle.

Ultimately Shatner gets one of the Marxist terrorists to flip on Assanti as he killed her sister, and with the information he develops he comes up with a plan to get the President out of the truck by going through the engine and firewall with a cutting torch. This part is so stupid, you'll just have to watch it yourself to believe it. The brave Holbrook is rescued in the nick of time in a very lame scene, and good triumphs over evil once again.

This bloated piece of political swill combined the time-honored elements of many fading stars with subplots for each, and a time-sensitive hostage crisis (we've certainly, and normally unfortunately, seen these features many times since), with the product being an overwrought action film with an especially hammy performance by Shatner.

Thanks Canada!

As part of a look at the portrayl of the President throughout the decades, I took a look at Kidnapping. Compared to the other movies I watched, State of the Union (1948), Seven Days in May (1964), and The American President (1995), this is by far the worst. With its nonsenical plot in which Shatner gives the President to the terrorist to ultimate victory by a herotic Shatner, this movie is mundane, dull, and pointless. Typical non-Star Trek Shatner in the 80s. A definate "Don't Buy" unless you're researching a project.

Forget that Shatner is at his hammiest best, forget that Hal Holbrook is the President we'd all like to have, forget the Police Chief of Toronto is played by the "Nabob Coffee Guy," what you want to take away from this video is that I was in this movie and Shatner punched me in the gut just before the President gets handcuffed to the guy with the dynamite-now THAT'S action!

Stompy