Taglines: Their plan was perfect… they weren’t.
Suicide Kings movie storyline. Charlie Barret walks to his private table in a restaurant, only to see two young men sitting at his table – Avery and Max. Another young man who is friends with Avery and Max, Brett, joins them shortly after Charlie sits down and begins chatting with them. Charlie happens to know Avery’s father, and after an initial reluctance, is willing to go with the boys for a “night on the town”.
Before meeting Charlie, they had previously planned to use chloroform to knock him out in their car. The plan goes awry, and Charlie fights back, almost wrecking the car before they can finally put him under. When Charlie wakes up, he sees himself surrounded by the three men, and a fourth friend, T. K., checks his vital signs. It is revealed that Charlie is Carlo Bartolucci, a former mob figure.
The boys explain that Avery’s sister, Elise, has been kidnapped, and that the kidnappers are demanding a $2 million ransom for her release. Unable to come up with the money on such short notice, they figure Charlie still has connections to get the money and set up an exchange. To ensure that Charlie knows how serious they are, Charlie is shown his cut-off finger, still wearing his signet ring, as the same was done to Elise. As incentive for his cooperation, they explain that they will do to him everything done to Elise.
Charlie flies into a rage and threatens to kill them, though he eventually agrees to help. As Charlie requests continual alcoholic drinks and his blood does not properly clot, T. K., a medical student, explains that Charlie’s alcoholism may cause him to die of blood loss if he is not taken to a hospital. Charlie contacts his lawyer, who in turn contacts Lono, Charlie’s bodyguard, asking him to track Charlie down.
Lono goes about his own investigation, asking for, and in some cases beating out, information from people, including the hostess, Jennifer, who usually waits on Charlie, and a friend of Charlie’s, Lydia. During the course of these conversations, Charlie unnerves the friends with stories of his early years as a gangster, including the origin of his signet ring.
Suicide Kings is a 1997 American mystery crime film based on Don Stanford’s short story The Hostage and directed by Peter O’Fallon. It stars Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Johnny Galecki, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Sisto and Henry Thomas. The film follows the group of criminals who kidnap a respected Mafia figure. It has a 34% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $1.7 million in the US.
Suicide Kings (1998)
Directed by: Peter O’Fallon
Starring: Christopher Walken, Denis Leary, Sean Patrick Flanery, Johnny Galecki, Nina Siemaszko, Jay Mohr, Jeremy Sisto, Henry Thomas, Cliff DeYoung, Laura San Giacomo
Screenplay by: Josh McKinney, Gina Goldman, Wayne Rice
Production Design by: Clark Hunter
Cinematography by: Christopher Baffa
Film Editing by: Chris Peppe
Costume Design by: Genevieve Tyrrell
Set Decoration by: Ken Kaufman, Traci Kirshbaum
Art Direction by: Max Biscoe
Music by: Graeme Revell
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence and language, and for some nudity and drug use.
Distributed by: Artisan Entertainment
Release Date: April 17, 1998
Hits: 78
