''The Saint'' is a 2017 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Ernie Barbarash Ernie Barbarash is a film director, screenwriter and producer, perhaps best known as co-producer of the films ''American Psycho 2'', ''Cube 2: Hypercube'', ''Prisoner of Love'', ''The First 9½ Weeks'' and ''The Cat's Meow''. Barbarash also wrote ...

and starring

Adam Rayner Adam Chance Abbs Rayner (born 28 August 1977) is an English actor. He is known for television roles including: Dominic Montgomery in ''Mistresses'', Dr. Steve Shaw in ''Hawthorne'', Aidan Marsh in '' Hunted'', Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed in ''Tyran ...

in the title role of

Simon Templar ''The Saint'' is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books un ...

, created by

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.Sir Roger Moore's final film appearance and the film was dedicated to his memory as he died two months before the release; Moore portrayed Templar in a 1960s TV series of the same title. Filmed in 2013 as a

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

for a proposed TV series, the film was not originally intended for release when the series was not picked up. It eventually saw release direct-to-video in 2017 when it was released in tribute to Moore following his death.

Ian Ogilvy Ian Raymond Ogilvy (born 30 September 1943) is an English actor, playwright, and novelist. Early life Ogilvy was born in Woking, Surrey, England, to Francis Fairfield Ogilvy, brother of advertising executive David Ogilvy, and actress Aileen ...

, who portrayed Templar in a 1970s TV series titled ''

Return of the Saint ''Return of the Saint'' is a British action-adventure television series that aired for one series in 1978 and 1979 in Britain on ITV, and was also broadcast on CBS in the United States. It was co-produced by ITC Entertainment and the Italian bro ...

'', also appears.

Plot

intervenes when terrorists attempt to trade gold to the

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...

for bombs. After subduing both parties, he takes most of the gold and escapes, leaving his calling card as "The Saint". Agent Cooper of the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

has been monitoring the meeting.

Nigerian President The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Nigeri ...

Ezekiel Ibaka secures $2.5 billion in private aid for his country, but a mysterious man (

) instructs associate Arnie Valecross, a private banker with criminal ties, to steal the funds. He gives Valecross a ring, claiming that it is an heirloom he took from "someone pathetic". Templar takes the gold from the Moscow heist to an old friend in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. He gives instructions to distribute the funds among various

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and ...

organizations. In

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Valecross diverts the funds to one of his own accounts and requests protection from the FBI. His mysterious employer sends his henchman, Rayt Marius, to kidnap Valecross' daughter Zooey, giving Arnie only 48 hours to return the money. In

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, Templar hears of the Nigerian theft and agrees to help recover the funds. Simon's friend

Patricia Holm Patricia Holm is the name of a fictional character who appeared in the novels and short stories of Leslie Charteris between 1928 and 1948. She was the on-again, off-again girlfriend and partner of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint", and shared a nu ...

and the FBI each use their own methods to quickly identify the thief as Valecross and track him to the Grand Del Mar Resort in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. Special Agent John Henry Fernack, who has been pursuing The Saint for years, gets to Valecross' suite first and unsuccessfully attempts to question him. Templar uses the adjoining room to break into Valecross' suite, but he is discovered. Valecross asks Templar to rescue his daughter. Marius uses a helicopter to fire on Templar through the window. Templar shoots down the helicopter, but Valecross is fatally wounded. As he dies, Valecross tells Templar: "The account numbers are in your ring, the key is in the nomad". Simon and Patricia engage Doyle Cosentino to develop a new plan now that Valecross is dead. It is revealed that Simon met Patricia in Iraq while escaping from the Russian deal. The trio search for the "nomad" in Valecross' home. Mrs Valecross immediately recognizes Templar. They decide to call Marius, who has a history with Patricia. Fernack obtains help from the Los Angeles Police Department in the form of Detective Garces (

Greg Grunberg Gregory Phillip Grunberg (born July 11, 1966) is an American film and television actor best known for starring as Eric Weiss in the ABC series ''Alias'', Matt Parkman in the NBC series ''Heroes'', Temmin "Snap" Wexley in '' Star Wars: The Forc ...

). The two men nearly catch Simon when he, Patricia and Doyle leave the Valecross home. The trio notice the men tailing them and escape. Fernack catches up to Templar on a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

railway car in a busy retail area. Simon overpowers and handcuffs him, escaping by jumping onto a car moving in the opposite direction. Simon, Patricia and Doyle visit former counterfeiter Sonali Alves in her hidden

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

fighting studio and gambling den. They ask for help breaking into Valecross' data storage facility. She forces Simon to battle a fighter in the ring while handcuffed in exchange for the heist gear he needs. During the fight, Simon's handcuffs are broken and he easily defeats his opponent. Entering the storage facility, Patricia knocks out the guards. She guides Simon as he penetrates the security on two heavy duty doors and disables the pressure-sensitive floor. He uses a glove that mimics fingerprints of a building employee to access the computer server room, and begins searching for the account data. Fernack arrives too late and Simon escapes with the data, locking Fernack in the server room. Outside, Templar finds that Garces has been shot and that Marius has captured Patricia. Fernack agrees to work with Simon to rescue Patricia and Zooey. Overpowering the armed guards on the boat, they attempt to trade the stolen funds for Marius' hostages. Marius reveals that Patricia is his ex-wife and that he is working for the man who killed Simon's parents. Fernack tries to rescue Zooey but is restrained by her stepmother, who is working with Marius. Templar shoots Marius when tries to use Zooey as a shield, and Patricia knocks him to the floor. Marius refuses to identify his employer. Zooey returns the money to President Ibaka. Templar evades Fernack. The mysterious man calls for help from an associate (

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...

) who refuses him, knowing their superiors will make an example of him for his failure. Simon tails the mystery man, recognizing him as his parents' killer by a unique tattoo on his arm. Templar identifies him as Xander, hired by Simon's father to train Simon to fight as a youth. Xander warns him that it does not end with him hinting others had a hand as well. Resisting the urge to kill the man, Templar allows Xander to be arrested by Agent Cooper on terrorism charges. Simon disappears from sight while still remembering it never ended with Xander.

Cast

Production

A new television adaptation of ''The Saint'' was announced in December 2012;

was appointed to produce a new series to star

as Simon Templar and

Eliza Dushku Eliza Patricia Dushku (; born December 30, 1980) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Faith in the supernatural drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1998–2003) and its spin-off series ''Angel'' (2000–2003). She als ...

as his assistant Patricia Holm. In a later promotion, it was also shown that Moore would star in the new series, as would his successor in ''Return of the Saint'',

. Production of a pilot episode was completed by early 2013. As of summer 2014, it was awaiting a broadcast time in the U.S. However, the piece underwent reshoots for the ending and add an extra prologue in November 2015, and the pilot episode was retooled as a TV film, ''The Saint'', getting an online release on 12 July 2017, two months after Moore's death. The pilot was based upon the character created by

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.The Last Hero ''The Last Hero'' is a short fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the twenty-seventh book in his ''Discworld'' series. It was published in 2001 in a larger format than the other ''Discworld'' novels and illustrated on every page by ...

''. Although the character of Patricia Holm was a regular presence in the Saint novels from the 1920s through the early 1940s, this was only the second production (after the 1943 film ''

The Saint Meets the Tiger ''The Saint Meets the Tiger'' is the title of a crime thriller produced by the British unit of RKO Pictures, produced in 1941, but not released until 1943. This was to be the last of the eight films in RKO's film series about the crimefighter ...

'') in which she has appeared. Inspector John Henry Fernack was also a prominent recurring character in the books. While the pilot was directed by

Simon West Simon Alexander West (born 1961) is an English film director and producer. He has primarily worked in the action genre, most notably as the director of the films ''Con Air'', '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'', '' The Mechanic'', and ''The Expendab ...

, the new material to extend it was directed by Ernie Barbarash. He had limited windows of availability for Rayner, who was busy on his series ''

Tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to rep ...

'', and Dushku; in the new material Rayner sports a beard, as in ''Tyrant'', and Templar's new scenes with Holm take place over Skype calls so the actors did not need to be available on the same day. Inspector Fernack does not appear in the new scenes with the bearded Templar; an equivalent role is filled by Kyle Horne as FBI agent Cooper. Ian Ogilvy's role was greatly expanded, with new flashbacks to establish his backstory, and Roger Moore recorded new dialogue to replace lines which no longer fit the reworked plot.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint, The 2017 television films 2017 films 2017 action thriller films 2010s spy films American spy films American television films American action thriller films The Saint (Simon Templar) Films set in Moscow Films set in Bucharest Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Paris Films set in San Diego Films set in London Films based on television series Films about theft Television pilots not picked up as a series Films directed by Ernie Barbarash Television films based on television series 2010s English-language films 2010s American films