Scott LeBrun An American Indian named Victor (Paul Koslo, "The Stone Killer") is running around an Arizona town picking off people with his trusty crossbow. What he wants is for all the local fat cats to pay him a million to make him stop the killings. The richest jerk in the area, William Whitaker (Stuart Whitman, "The Comancheros"), hires a mercenary, Nick McCormick (Oliver Reed, "The Devils") to work on behalf of him and his peers. Since these particular fat cats are by and large a corrupt bunch, they would rather not use the regular legal channels. John Ireland ("I Saw What You Did") is the rather useless sheriff, Jim Mitchum ("Trackdown") a local hired for his tracking skills, and Deborah Raffin ("Death Wish 3") the reporter who takes a shine to gruff stranger-in-town Reed.Directed by the late cult filmmaker Richard Compton ("Macon County Line"), "The Ransom" (also known as "Maniac!" and "Assault on Paradise") is decent entertainment, as far as it goes. There's nothing particularly interesting or different about it, it just tells a passable, routine story in capable fashion. It does have some good set pieces, whether they be vehicular chases or a stalking / suspense sequence set at Whitakers' estate. It is rather amusing, and ridiculous, how Victor is almost always way ahead of everybody else. He seems to have little trouble infiltrating defences and acquiring excellent vantage points. Nicely photographed (by Charles Correll) in scope, and scored (by Don Ellis), it moves along pretty well, but never gives us much info about, or insight into, the characters. Most of them are ciphers. And very little is done with many of the plot details.Still, it's a treat to see Reed do just about anything, and here he gets to be moderately badass and try out an American accent. Raffins' reporter is a largely useless character, but Whitman is fun as the cranky moneybags who becomes increasingly frustrated over Victors' success and McCormicks' insistence on doing things his way.Overall, a reasonable way to kill an hour and a half, with a fairly high body count but not much in the way of gore.Six out of 10.

bobcobb-84371 This is a silly flick, but hell, I just love Oliver Reed. Here he's a badass called Nick, a mercenary whose main fighting skills are his steel glance and incredible poker face. These alone are worth your time. All the rest is bonus: Paul Koslo's unbelievable turn as the Native American assassin named Victor, the okay chase scene half way through (with a cowboy chasing Victor in a convertible, shooting him and yeehawing), Jim Mitchum's deadpan role as a tracker, a hip jazzy soundtrack, a Roger McQuinn song about maniac Victor, a couple of bloody killings by crossbow, one weirdo pre-credit sequence in which the killer shoots a couple of lovebirds Zodiac-style and one particularly effective sequence in which Victor stalks an arrogant millionaire played by Stuart Whitman in his mansion. Not a great flick by any means, but it's got a good pace and it's never boring. And hey, Oliver ff-ing Reed!

FieCrier Paul Koslo plays an ex-olympic athlete who for unspecified reasons is now trying to collect millions of dollars from a town's rich people by dressing up like a native American in leather and warpaint and killing police and prominent citizens with a bow and arrow.While it seems like he put a lot of effort into his plans to kill people, collect the money, and escape, at the same time he's very careless, nearly getting shot or caught almost every time. At one point, he kills a man in a parade. No one seems to know where he was when he shot the man, but inexplicably he jumps onto his motorbike and rides right into the parade route so that everyone can see him, and easily follow him.The rich people hire McCormick, played by Oliver Reed, to try to catch or kill Koslo. Early on, Reed purposely drives off with a TV journalist's microphone, and then when she follows him to a bar to retrieve it, he has a Tequila Sunrise ready for her. However he then pulls out a loaded gun and holds it to her head, threatening her not to move. Inexplicably, a moment later they're consensually in bed together.The story is absurd. This is not a very good movie at all.

emm This killer MANIAC is an Injun who brings down two cops with an arsenal of arrows, only to be wanted and captured by local authorities. Want to find out the rest of the story? Then sit back and stay comfy out of this dumb and boring thriller that reveals a wrongful identity of lameness. Otherwise, I've just saved you a great deal of 90 minutes from this! And no, this isn't the Caroline Munro bloodbath classic that would consume your everyday life forever.