''Ransom'', known in North America and some countries as ''The Terrorists'', is a 1975 British neo noir crime film starring Sean Connery and

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor, producer and director. He is known for his television performances, particularly as the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (20 ...

and directed by Finnish director

Caspar Wrede Baron Casper Gustaf Kenneth Wrede af Elimä, known as Caspar Wrede (8 February 1929 in Viipuri, Finland – 25 September 1998 in Helsinki, Finland), was a Finnish theatre and film director. He was long active in the English theatre, co-founding t ...

Plot

A small group of terrorists have seized the British ambassador to the fictitious country of "Scandinavia", and are holding him hostage in his residence. Scandinavia's head of security, Col. Nils Tahlvik ( Sean Connery), wants to take an uncompromising position, but he is overruled by the governments of both Scandinavia and Britain, who insist that all of the terrorists' demands be met. Mey-Air 737-2H5 LN-MTD

A passenger aeroplane arriving at the airport of Scandinavia's capital city is hijacked by another small group of terrorists, led by Ray Petrie (

). The aeroplane ends up parked on an isolated taxiway, and Petrie demands that he be put in touch with Martin Shepherd ( John Quentin), leader of the group holding the British ambassador hostage. Petrie, who is known by Shepherd, convinces Shepherd that his group and his hostages should leave on the hijacked airplane, not on a military plane as originally planned. Tahlvik and his group of military commandos make several attempts to thwart the terrorists' plans, but nothing seems to work out for them. At the last minute, Tahlvik figures out that the "terrorists" on the airplane are actually British secret operatives intent on capturing Martin Shepherd, and that the British officials have been misleading the Scandinavian authorities and undermining Tahlvik's efforts to capture the two terrorist groups. He boards the aeroplane alone just before it is to take off, precipitating a shootout between the two groups that leaves both Shepherd and Petrie dead.

Cast

* Sean Connery as Col. Nils Tahlvik *

as Ray Petrie *

Jeffry Wickham Jeffry Wickham (5 August 1933 – 17 June 2014) was an English stage, film and television actor. He served as President of the actors' trade union Equity from 1992 to 1994 and was the father of the actress Saskia Wickham and Rupert Wickham. ...

as Capt. Frank Barnes *

Isabel Dean Isabel Dean (born Isabel Hodgkinson, 29 May 1918 – 27 July 1997) was an English stage, film and television actress. Life and career Born in Aldridge, Staffordshire, Dean studied painting at Birmingham Art School. In 1937, she joined the Che ...

as Mrs. Palmer * John Quentin as Martin Shepherd (dubbed by Robert Lang) * Robert Harris as Ambassador Palmer * James Maxwell as Bernhard * William Fox as Ferris *

Harry Landis Harry Landis (born Hyman Jacob Londinsky, 25 November 1926 – 11 September 2022) was a British actor and director. He had a long career in theatre, film and television, spanning over 60 years. Landis was best known for playing barber Felix K ...

as Lookout Pilot - George Rawlings * Norman Bristow as Capt. Denver *

John Cording John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

as Bert *

Christopher Ellison Christopher Michael Ellison (born 16 December 1946 in St Pancras, London) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DCI Frank Burnside in the ITV police series ''The Bill'' and short-lived spin-off series '' Burnside''. Education ...

as Pete * Richard Hampton as Joe *

Preston Lockwood Reginald Herbert Lockwood (30 October 1912 – 24 April 1996), known professionally as Preston Lockwood, was an English radio and television actor. The only son of bus driver Herbert Lewis Lockwood and his wife Ethel May (née Preston), Lockwood ...

as Brigadier Hislop * Karen Maxwell as Eva *

Gordon Honeycombe Ronald Gordon Honeycombe (27 September 1936 – 9 October 2015), known professionally as Gordon Honeycombe, was a British newscaster, author, playwright and stage actor. Honeycombe was born in Karachi, in the British Raj. He was educated at th ...

as the newsreader (uncredited)

Production

Un avion DC-9-21 de la compagnie aérienne scandinave SAS

According to

Michael Deeley Michael Deeley (born 6 August 1932) is an Academy Award-winning British film producer known for such motion pictures as ''The Italian Job'' (1969), ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), and ''Blade Runner'' (1982). He is also a founding member and Honora ...

, managing director of British Lion Films, the film was put together by British producer Peter Rawley. He arranged the script and engaged Sean Connery and Ian MacShane, then went to British Lion, who agreed to provide the $1.5 million budget. They sold US and Canadian rights to

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

for $800,000, and sold the rights for the rest of the world for $1 million, making a comfortable profit.

Filming

Filming was carried out in Norway, with a large part of the filming taking place at

Oslo Airport, Fornebu Oslo Airport, Fornebu ( no, Oslo lufthavn, Fornebu), was the primary international airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and the area has since been redevel ...

. Technical services were contracted to

Norsk Film Norsk Film was a Norwegian film production company established in 1932 and disestablished in 2001. It was located in Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast ...

. The aircraft displayed in the hijacking is a

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

in the livery of

Mey-Air Mey-Air Transport A/S, trading as Mey-Air, was a Norwegian charter airline which operated from 1970 to 1974. Owned by shipping owner Hans Otto Meyer, the company flew both smaller ''ad hoc'' charter as well as inclusive tour (IT). Initially opera ...

. Production started in January 1974. During production, Mey-Air defaulted on their payments to Boeing Commercial Aircraft, who sent representatives to Fornebu to repossess the aircraft on 26 February. Filming of the aircraft shots had begun but were not completed.

Media releases

In 2003, the film made its region 1 DVD debut from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in a dual-sided disc with an anamorphic 1.66 widescreen version on side A, and a 1.33:1 full frame version on side B. This release sports the original English mono and is the US version with "The Terrorists" title and opens with the Fox logo. In Europe, the first region 2 DVD release was by Scanbox Entertainment utilizing a 1.33 transfer, followed by a German DVD release by StudioCanal in 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen; both carry the UK "Ransom" title. In Australia, Umbrella Entertainment (under licence from StudioCanal) had put out a DVD release under "The Terrorists" title using the same transfer as the Fox DVD. In 2012, Anchor Bay (under licence from 20th Century Fox) reissued it on DVD and gave it a Blu-Ray debut in the US. This release is the same transfer of "The Terrorists" US version as the 2003 Fox DVD, only with a 5.1 upmix in lieu of the original Mono and no other supplements. This release is now Out of Print. In the UK, it received its DVD and Blu-ray debut by independent label Network (under licence from

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

, owners of the British Lion/EMI catalog) in August 2014. Network's release utilizes a new 2k restoration of the UK "Ransom" version and opens with the British Lion logo. Its supplements are UK Teaser and Theatrical trailers under its "Ransom" title.

References

External links

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RZeview
at Cinema Retro {{Authority control 1975 films British drama films British Lion Films films Films about terrorism Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith Films set in Europe Films set in airports Films set in a fictional country Films about hostage takings 1970s English-language films 1970s British films