Proof of Life **** (2000, Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, David Caruso, Pamela Reed) – Classic Movie Review 1032

Director Taylor Hackford’s 2000 thriller is the one where Meg Ryan met and fell for Russell Crowe in real life. It is a scalding, epic action thriller about kidnap and retrieval.

Alice Bowman (Ryan) begs Terry Thorne (Russell), an expert professional negotiator, to try to free her engineer husband Peter (David Morse), abducted for a huge ransom by Latin American guerrillas. Crowe acts Ryan off the screen in a thrilling action hero performance, David Morse excels in a difficult, passive role of the victim husband, and David Caruso is sparky as Crowe’s war buddy, Dino.

The suspenseful, high-octane movie goes into overdrive in the last half-hour for a nailbiting slam-bang finish, and it’s all pounded along by Danny Elfman’s exciting score. Tony Gilroy’s excellent screenplay is based on William Prochnau’s article Adventures in the Ransom Trade.

Pamela Reed, Anthony Heald, Stanley Anderson, Gottfried John, Alun Armstrong, Michael Kitchen and Margo Martindale co-star.

When director Hackford complained that the star couple’s much publicised affair had ruined his film’s chances at the American box-office, Crowe called him a ‘fXXXing idiot’ and a ‘knob’.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1032

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