This film is based on
the 1995 book Painfully Rich: the Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the
Heirs of J. Paul Getty by John Pearson.
The Getty abduction also inspired the book Man on Fire written by A.J. Quinnell
and the film with the same title directed by Tony Scott. The setting of this film is in Rome of
1973. John Paul Getty III is
kidnapped and thrown into a Volkswagen van by masked Italian men. He is the grandson of Jean Paul Getty
and he is the richest human being in the world. He is now 80 years old and a billionaire oil magnate but he
is notoriously miserly with his money. The mere kidnapping of his favorite grandson isn’t reason enough to part
with any money?? Gail Getty is
John’s mother, she has four children and she is divorced from her husband John Paul
Getty Jr. Everyone thinks Gail has
money but she took no money or support from her divorce. All she wanted was to be free from her marriage and full custody of her
children. Her former husband
wasn’t involved in any of the negotiations because he became a heroin addict due
to the death of his second wife. Getty sends his security man Fletcher Chace to look after his
interests. The
kidnappers grow very tired of taking care of John Paul Getty III and they are anxious
to see some money. They finally
give up and John Paul Getty III is sold to the highest bidder. The stakes are higher now and this set
of kidnappers is out for the money with a vengeance.
There is a disclaimer
at the end of this film stating that certain liberties were taken with the
historical record. Obviously, the kidnappers did not do any background check concerning the penny pinching of this very rich man!! I thought this
film was good, there were a lot of tense moments and at other times I wanted to
double or triple slap J. Paul Getty!!
He was worried about paying any ransom since he had 13 other
grandchildren that could be kidnapped for money. The kidnappers had a doctor cut off Paul’s ear with just a
sniff of chloroform for the pain. Paul was held
from July 10, 1973 until December 15, 1973, a total of 158 days!! It seemed he never was able to clean up or change his clothing and his diet may have been crackers? His mother Gail was frantic and the
press hounded her every move. Nine
of the kidnappers were apprehended, two were convicted and the other 7 were
acquitted due to lack of evidence. The kidnappers included a carpenter, hospital orderly, ex-con,
olive-oil dealer and high-ranking members of the Mafia organization in
Calabria. 3 1/2* (I liked this movie)
132
min, Bio directed by Ridley Scott with Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer,
Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Timothy Hutton, Charlie Plummer, Charlie Shotwell,
Andrew Buchan, Marco Leonardi, Giuseppe Bonifati, Nicolas Vaporidis, Andrea
Piedimonte Bodini, Adele Tirante.
Note: Imdb 6.9 out of 10, 77% critic 67%
audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert
3*, Amazon Video 3.6* out of 5* with 140 reviews, Metacritic 72 out of
100 with 47 critics 6.4 out of 10 with 129 reviews.
Special
Note: Filmed in Bracciano and
Rome, Lazio, Italy; Jordan; Hertfordshire, England, UK. Kevin Spacey was originally cast as Jean
Paul Getty but he was removed and Christopher Plummer stepped in with less than
two weeks to learn his lines.
Plummer did have the advantage of having Getty as his guest in London at
a couple of his parties in the 60’s.
Reshoots took eight days and the cost was $10 million. Wahlberg and Williams also needed to
return to the Rome set during the Thanksgiving holiday of 2017. Wahlberg had lost 30 pounds for his
next film and his costumes needed tailoring. Plummer was 88 at filming and he needed no special makeup
applications for this role. Angelina
Jolie was offered the role of Gail but she declined. Natalie Portman was also asked to take the role but she was
pregnant with her second baby.
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