Product: Kidnapping of President [VHS] (1980)
Rating: 3.0
Surprisingly Decent Cast, Innocuous B-Thriller...
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...