If I remember correctly,this was done for some sort of children's early Saturday afternoon series sometime in the middle 70s.And it shows a lot of work,good writing,careful direction,and outstanding production values.They adhere close to both the spirit and the details of the original opus.Everybody has a lot of fun doing this show,and everybody watching it should get a lot of laughs out of it.My only,criticism is with some of the casting,and that only in the most peripheral fashion.Elam and Martin,as the kidnappers,are an accomplished pair of character actors,who can handle melodrama,farce,low comedy,and straight drama with ease.While one has difficulty imagining them doing Noel Coward,they can play straight or character or comic parts with ease.When one remembers the types of vicious villains that they played in the 50s and 60s,though,their current portrayals don't quite stand up.If a high-spirited kid gave them trouble in a 50s film(given the characters they played then),they probably would have murdered him.And that is something that I find rather disturbing.Otherwise,enjoy this flic as the fun that it is.
4 Reviews
Great family film. Lots of fun.
dukestwinpack30 May 2005
Two harmless con men kidnap the young son of a rich Alabama banker. The boy,instead of being afraid, relishes this "adventure". He begins calling himself Red Chief and tells the kidnappers he'd captured them, and that he's gonna burn one at the stake and scalp the other.
I'm sure "Home Alone" took a few cues from this movie as the kidnappers suffer slapstick indignities at the hands of "Red Chief."
The kidnappers decide $2,000 is too much to ask for a brat like Red Chief and lower the ransom to $1,500.
Meanwhile, the boy's father, well aware of his son's ability to annoy, tells the kidnappers he'll only accept his son back if THEY pay him! Great family film. Lots of fun.
I'm sure "Home Alone" took a few cues from this movie as the kidnappers suffer slapstick indignities at the hands of "Red Chief."
The kidnappers decide $2,000 is too much to ask for a brat like Red Chief and lower the ransom to $1,500.
Meanwhile, the boy's father, well aware of his son's ability to annoy, tells the kidnappers he'll only accept his son back if THEY pay him! Great family film. Lots of fun.
I Loved That Kid!
Hitchcoc1 December 2020
Everyone knows this story and this dramatization puts it all out there. The tale of two guys who think they have the world by the butt, kidnapping the son of a local banker. What they don't know is that they have kidnapped the Tasmanian devil. That kid is as terrifying as any science fiction horror I've seen. What he does to those poor guys is beyond any torture one can imagine. It's very well done. Taught this story many times as a middle school teacher, but did not have access to the film.. Wish I had.
Just like the story, I didn't like it
saint4055 September 2005
Warning: Spoilers
O. Henry's stories interest me with the greatest thought. His stories always have that secret twist at the end of the story to make you wonder, that's why I like his stories. I liked his stories about the safe cracker Mr. Valentine or two friends meeting each other twenty years into the future, but then there was the story the Ransome of Red Chief. Boy did I hate that story, it was so confusing and bleak. Then I saw the short movie based on the story and I knew it would be lame. And I was right. The story is exactly the same as the book, except for a few scenes either added in or modified a bit, the dialog is mostly the same, and the setting is the same. The characters are just like the characters in the book, the two leading bad guys were played perfectly but boy was Red Chief annoying! The movie just kept getting bleaker and shallower. The acting was low tad, the camera direction was pretty pathetic, and over all the film was Major cheesy! Talk about some movie, two dimwitted bad guys and a little brat held up in the woods. And the big twist at the end, boy was I disappointed with O. Henry's twist. The whole thing was bad. The Ransome of Red Chief gets a 3 out of 10, it's a lame duck.
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