HIGHLA-L Digest - 25 Nov 2004 to 1 Dec 2004 (#2004-210)
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Wed, 1 Dec 2004 22:00:10 -0500
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Topics of the day:
1. Season Five dvds: The Ransom of Richard Redstone
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Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 12:20:37 -0500
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Season Five dvds: The Ransom of Richard Redstone
Sorry about the long delay. RL intervenes once again. Commentary
w/screen captures at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/Season5/Ransom.htm
COMMENTARY: Stan K. tells us that, “It was really my story, and of
course when you’re on a show like that,” and you’re not the “main guy”
and you get your own story, Stan says it’s exciting, that there’s more
to do. Stan opines that the “vibes” on the show were “great”.
Adrian Paul says that the episode was a “little spoof”, and he enjoyed
the flashback. They didn’t have much money to shoot the episode because
he had spent $100k over budget on the Rev. 6:8 episode. By the time they
got to “Redstone”, he and the entire crew were exhausted. He felt that
the story was a little disjointed.
Stan says this was the only show that they shot in three separate
cities, Bordeaux, Bergerac and in Paris. To Stan, it felt like a feature
film because they were moving the crew so much to do one episode. All
the locations were exactly as seen, with no sound stages built,
everything was real. He had a lot of fun.
Adrian says everything was very compacted, and in those circumstances
you really have to work on the acting and not try to move it around. He
enjoyed playing the “older” MacLeod, except that he felt personally
“empty” because he had just come from such an intense prep and shoot of
the Horseman episode(s).
Stan says that because the show was written in a very American style of
comedic action, the director (Gerard Hameline) relied on Stan to explain
the nuances of the humor, that he and Adrian were allowed to “run with”
it when they had the scenes, but most of the scenes he didn’t even have
with Adrian, and he carried them himself. Stan talks a little about how
the last thing you want is for the audience to be aware that the actor
thinks he’s doing a comedy, that you need to keep it real, that Hameline
was playing it “for real” while Stan focused on playing it for the humor
of the situation.
Stan says that Hameline took a lot of ideas from him, and that when they
played the scene in the dungeon where the girl slaps him, Stan says, “I
went to Gerard and told him to pull her aside and tell her, ‘Listen, if
this guy pisses you off in the take, just let him have it.’” Stan told
Gerard to urge her to really slap him, and during the take, Stan
deliberately tried to kiss her as she was yelling at him, and she hauled
off and smacked him.
The bit with being drugged was fun, and he had a good time playing being
the idiot. The whole James Bond aspect, driving the Ferarri and wearing
great clothes was a lot of fun.
Adrian (with a little smile) says Stan enjoyed being Robin to his
Batman, that his being 007 didn’t work, “but he was definitely 003, and
he enjoyed doing that.”
OUTTAKES: In a brief clip, we see Adrian and Stan sitting in a car as
they snap the card that has “R. R. Redstone” written on it, and Adrian
makes a comment about “Rah, rah, Redstone” and they both laughingly
break into a brief singing chorus of “Rah! Rah! Redstone!”
In a second brief clip, Adrian and Stan are waiting for the take to
start and Adrian says, “I can’t wait to cut your head off,” and Stan
makes a near-inaudible comment, but I think he says, “You’d never do
it.” It isn’t clear whether that particular exchange was an outgrowth of
some level of irritation between the actors, or the two of them goofing
around.
EPISODE: The prologue opens with a black Porche and a red Ferarri
speeding along winding roads (with Bond-like music playing), passing
each other at various times until they encounter an old car coming in
the opposite direction. They split and go around the oncoming car,
scaring the old man driving it, and the Ferarri gets ahead. The Ferarri
pulls in front of a casino and out steps an elegantly attired Richie,
tugging at the cuffs of his tuxedo. The Porche pulls in, driven by a
pretty blond woman. Richie smugly tells her, “Don’t feel bad, I’m a pro.”
“Really?” she asks. “And I thought you were just a jerk!” and she drives
off.
As the episode begins, Duncan is emerging from a grocery story to
discover that his car is being towed away. Turns out that his name was
given as security for a Ferarri that one “Richard Redstone” took out for
a test drive, who drove off and never returned. Duncan slyly tells the
car dealer that Richard Redstone was really Richard Reciovich, a killer
for the Russian mafia, the most wanted man in all of Europe and vividly
and painfully describes what the mafia does to those who inform on them.
The dealer is frightened into giving Duncan back his car, and an
irritated Duncan goes looking for Richie.
In the meantime, Richie is gambling in the casino, evidently doing
pretty well, except that he manages to spill a little champagne on a
lovely blond woman, Marina leMartin. Richie spins her a fantastic story
about him being the wealthy CEO of a high tech company. Marina signals
to a waiter to bring them champagne, and Richie gets dizzy so she
suggests they go for a drive. She is driving (fortunately) and Richie
ends up sloppily trying to kiss her before passing out. The waiter shows
up and they drive off, ending up at a large French chateau.
Richie wakes up chained to a bed, and Marina, after chastising Richie
for yelling at her about kidnapping him, explains that they need
$200,000 Franks to keep from losing their family chateau because they
can’t pay the mortgage that her financially inept grandfather took out
on the estate to pay the bills. She says that the money should be easy
for a wealthy man like Richard Redstone to acquire.
Duncan shows up at the casino, also dressed in a tuxedo, but he takes
time to age himself a little by graying his hair and filling out his
face a little a-la-Marlon Brando in “The Godfather”. We get a flashback
to the same casino in 1978, where Disco!Duncan appears, complete with
silver metallic tuxedo, ruffled-front shirt and imitation Beatles
haircut. There is a brief encounter that implies that Duncan knows a
Bond-like British secret agent who should “say hello to “M” for me.”
The girl Duncan is with wins a large pot of money, to the dismay of
Carlo, the manager of the casino. The owner, Baron leMartin, is not
alarmed, saying that when a beautiful woman wins, it is always good for
the house.
In the present, Duncan strolls into the casino, using a cane, greeting
Carlo as an old acquaintance. Duncan asks about the Baron, but Carlo
says the Baron retired and that he (Carlo) now runs the casino. Duncan
asks about “Richard Redstone”, learning that he had left with Baron
leMartin’s granddaughter the previous day.
The waiter, in actuality an artist who lives at the chateau, assists
Marina in tending to the still-chained Richie. That evening she tells
Richie that the chateau isn’t just her home, it is her life and that she
would do anything to keep it. The only alternative to paying off the
mortgage is to marry the man who holds it. Richie is attracted to her
and they kiss. He begs her to at least release one cuff, which she does.
They kiss again, and Richie feels the presence of an Immortal (it is
Duncan arriving outside). He demands that she unlock the other cuff, but
she refuses and leaves. Richie frantically pulls and yanks, finally
collapsing the canopy bed on top of him, and still has a part of the
bedpost chained to his hand. He clumsily escapes out a window, running
into Duncan and telling him what had happened to him, begging Duncan to
help the le Martins with the 200 Franks.
The artist (Edward) is becoming suspicious that Richie is not what he
appears to be, and he and Marina discover Richie has escaped. Richie
then shows up at the door, returning voluntarily to his captivity, but
Edward clonks him on the head with a vase (complete with tweeting bird
sounds).
Now Richie is chained up in the wine cellar, where he ends up telling
them he doesn’t really have any money, but that he wants to help them
anyway. Edward is now convinced that Richie is really rich and just
pretending to be poor to trick them into letting him go.
Duncan shows up at the chateau (with the door almost answered by Baron
leMartin, who is more than a little dotty). Duncan tells Edward that he
is the CFO of Richard Redstone’s company, there to give them the 200,000
Franks, so now Marina is convinced that Richie is both a savior and a
liar. In the meantime, Duncan is obviously beginning to enjoy the charade.
Richie and Marina go to Carlo to pay off the chateau’s debt, but Carlo
refuses the check because they missed the deadline by one day. He will
sell them the chateau, however for 10 million franks. Richie goes to
Duncan, asking him to put up the money so they could convert the chateau
into a hotel. Duncan agrees the idea isn’t bad, but even he couldn’t get
together the money in the short time required, and that Richie ought to
tell Marina the truth.
They both go to Edward, Marina and the Baron and tell them the story. In
the course of that conversation, it is revealed that there were a bunch
of old painted canvases that had fallen from the canopy when Richie
broke the bed. They go to inspect them, hoping that one of the famous
painters the leMartins had supported over the centuries had left a
painting, but they are all by a leMartin ancestor who had fancied
himself an artist, but had no talent. Among the old paintings is a
portrait of Duncan MacLeod, which he quickly rolls up and puts out of
sight.
Against the urgings of Richie and her grandfather, Marina decides she
has to marry Carlo to save the chateau. Duncan also urges her not to
marry Carlo, but she is determined. Carlo comes to pick her up and
Duncan notices that Carlo is wearing a familiar watch. We get a
flashback to 1978, where after a seduction scene, Duncan and his
girlfriend are robbed by a masked man of the cash she had won at the
casino. The thief also takes Duncan’s watch, and it is the same watch
Carlo is wearing in the present.
Duncan goes to Baron le Martin to find out how Carlo got the casino, and
the Baron says that Carlo “came into a fortune” about the same time
Duncan and his girlfriend were robbed. Richie and Duncan drive to the
casino in the Ferrari, running the same old man in the same old car off
the road in their haste. Duncan confronts Carlo about the robbery, who
tells him that the watch doesn’t prove a thing. Duncan agrees, but pulls
out a gun and threatens to shoot Carlo. Richie yells that it’s not worth
killing over, grabs the cane and knocks the gun from Duncan’s hand.
Carlo picks it up and Duncan lunges, also grabbing the gun and putting
his hand on the trigger. The gun fires, Duncan is shot, and in a bit of
over-acting, Duncan elaborately gasps and dies. As Carlo insists it was
an accident but Richie tells him that he will swear that it was murder
unless Carlo turns over the deed to the chateau and the casino and goes
away forever. Carlo agrees to turn over the deed to the chateau as
Dead!Duncan is trying to mouth to Richie to be sure and get his watch
back. Carlo refuses, however, to turn over the casino but does agree to
give up the watch.
In a celebratory dinner at the chateau, Richie agrees to help Marina fix
the chateau up. The Baron decides they need a really good bottle of wine
to toast the occasion and leads Duncan to the wine cellar. Duncan
inspects a newer section of wall, and finds a conveniently located
sledgehammer. In a few blows, he knocks out a section of the wall,
revealing a large stock of excellent, valuable wines. Duncan explains
that when WWII broke out, a lot of families built fake wine cellars for
the Nazis to find, hiding their best wines, and that based on the value
of the bottles he sees, the le Martins are not poor any longer.
MY COMMENTS: Ergh. This ranks pretty darn close to the bottom in quality
for me, right next to The Zone, which at least had some nice fight
scenes. It was poorly written, the casting was unremarkable, and the
most amusing moments were in the flashback, with Disco!Duncan hamming it
up in both a swipe at the whole Bond phenomenon, as well as the
ridiculous suit and bad hair.
I think Stan is awful in this show, and has several embarrassingly bad
moments, with the worst being his slurring, drugged-out groping of
Marina. I won’t go into an Acting 101 lecture here, but that is the
absolutely wrong way to play a drunk. I kind of liked the dotty Baron,
but Adrian looked like he was putting minimal effort into a spoof role
that he only found mildly amusing, and Stan, well the less said the
better about the acting skills displayed in this episode.
Most people know that I'm not a big Richie Ryan fan, and frequently find
his character to be so self-absorbed as to be irritating. Watching Stan
K.'s commentary for this episode gives me a clue as to why that trait
seems to be so pervasive.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d rank this as about a 2.
MacGeorge
All commentaries available at:
http://www.wordsmiths.net/MacGeorge/episodes/indexframeset.htm
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 25 Nov 2004 to 1 Dec 2004 (#2004-210)
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