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The Saint
Simon Templar (The Saint), is a thief for hire, whose latest job to steal the secret process for cold fusion puts him at odds with a traitor bent on toppling the Russian government, as well as the woman who holds its secret.
1997 · Directed by Phillip Noyce · 116 min · Thriller · Action · Romance · Science Fiction · Adventure · Screenplay in the scene database · 16 frames
Tagline
Never reveal your name. Never turn your back. Never surrender your heart.
Plot
At the Saint Ignatius Orphanage, a rebellious boy named John Rossi refers to himself as "Simon Templar" and leads fellow orphans in an attempt to run away. He tries to bid farewell to a girl named Agnes with a kiss, but they are caught and she accidentally falls from a balcony to her death.
As an adult, Simon—now a professional thief dubbed "The Saint" for using Catholic saints as aliases—steals a microchip from a Russian oil company. Simon stages the burglary during a political rally for the company's owner Ivan Tretiak, a billionaire oligarch and former Communist Party boss rallying support against Russian president Karpov. Simon is caught by Tretiak's son Ilya but escapes with the microchip, and is hired by Tretiak to steal a revolutionary cold fusion formula discovered by Emma Russell, an American electrochemist working at Oxford; Tretiak plans to use Emma's formula for clean, inexpensive energy to monopolize the energy market during a severe oil shortage in Russia, but Tretiak secretly plans to murder Simon for stealing his microchip.
Using the alias "Thomas More", Simon poses as a Boer traveller to seduce Emma, and steals the formula, but when Simon develops romantic feelings for her, he decides to give up on stealing the formula, and when Tretiak threatens to kidnap her, Simon finally steals the formula after a one-night stand. Tretiak realizes the formula is incomplete and sends Ilya and his henchmen to kill Simon, who narrowly escapes. Simon returns to Russia to demand his payment from Tretiak while disguised as Tretiak himself. With all the money obtained from Tretiak, Simon achieves his goal of obtaining $50,550,000 and retires from the robbery trade. A heartbroken Emma reports the theft of her formula to Inspectors Teal and Rabineau of Scotland Yard, who inform her Simon is a wanted international thief.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Wesley Strick, Jonathan Hensleigh
- Cinematography: Phil Meheux
- Edited by: Terry Rawlings
- Music: Graeme Revell
- Production design: Joseph C. Nemec III
- Produced by: William J. MacDonald, David Brown, Mace Neufeld, Robert Evans
Cast
- Val Kilmer as Simon Templar
- Elisabeth Shue as Emma Russell
- Rade Šerbedžija as Ivan Tretiak
- Henry Goodman as Dr. Lev Botvin
- Alun Armstrong as Inspector Teal
- Michael Byrne as Vereshagin
- Irina Apeksimova as Frankie
- Lev Prygunov as General Sklarov
- Charlotte Cornwell as Inspector Rabineau
- Emily Mortimer as Woman on Plane
Production
- Country: United States of America, Russia
- Language: English, Russian
- Studios: Paramount Pictures, Rysher Entertainment, Mace Neufeld Productions, Studio Trite
- Budget: $68,000,000
- Box office: $118,100,000
- Themes: berlin, germany, london, england, gas, based on novel or book, espionage, politics, spy, master thief, thief, scientist
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