The Saint (film)
Encyclopedia
The Saint is a 1997 film based on the character of Simon Templar
created by Leslie Charteris
in 1928 for a series of books published as "The Saint." The film
stars Val Kilmer
, Elisabeth Shue
and Rade Šerbedžija
. It was directed by Phillip Noyce
and written by Jonathan Hensleigh
and Wesley Strick
.
Aside from the book series, which ran until 1983, the character of The Saint has also featured in a series of Hollywood movies made between 1938 and 1954, a 1940s radio series
starring Vincent Price
(and others) as Templar, a popular British
television series
of the 1960s which starred Roger Moore
, and a 1970s series starring Ian Ogilvy
.
In this version, Kilmer's character does not claim to be the Simon Templar created by Charteris. He is, in fact, an orphan who chooses his name, Simon Templar—the first name from Simon Magus
, and the last name from his childhood heroes, the Knights Templar
. He refers to himself as Templar only during a flashback sequence at the start of the film. The film itself was a critical failure and a financial disappointment.
Orphanage, a rebellious boy named John Rossi
refers to himself as "Simon Templar" and leads a group of fellow orphans as they attempt to run away to escape their harsh treatment. When Simon is caught by the head priest, he witnesses the tragic death of a girl he had taken a liking to when she accidentally falls from a balcony.
As an adult, Simon (Val Kilmer
), now a professional thief dubbed "The Saint" for using the names of Catholic saints as aliases, steals a valuable microchip from a heavily secured vault at the Tretiak Oil and Gas Industries head office in Moscow. Simon stages the burglary during a political rally held for billionaire, oil tycoon
, Ivan Tretiak (Rade Šerbedžija
). Tretiak is gaining support from the public and the Russian military in a campaign to overthrow the Russian President
. After learning of the heist, Tretiak contacts Simon and hires him to steal a revolutionary cold fusion
formula discovered by American electrochemist
, Dr. Emma Russell (Elizabeth Shue). Tretiak wishes to acquire Emma's theoretical formula—which creates energy that is less expensive and cleaner than petroleum—so he can monopolize the energy market during the current oil shortage crisis in Russia.
Using the alias "Thomas More
," Simon poses as a white South African and steals the formula after having a one-night stand with Emma. Tretiak soon learns Emma's formula is incomplete and orders his henchmen, led by his son Ilya (Valeri Nikolayev), to kill Simon and then kidnap Emma to obtain the remaining information. Heartbroken, Emma reports the theft to Inspector Teal
(Alun Armstrong
) and Inspector Rabineau (Charlotte Cornwell
) of Scotland Yard
, who inform her Simon is a wanted international thief. Emma tracks down Simon to a hotel and confronts him about the theft and his betrayal. The Russian police, loyal to Tretiak, arrest Simon and Emma but they manage to escape from the police van as they are being brought to Tretiak's mansion.
As they flee through the suburbs, Simon and Emma are helped by a prostitute and her family who shelter them in a hidden room in their home. Later, they meet "Frankie" (Irina Apeksimova
), a fence
who sells them the directions through an underground sewer system that lead to the American embassy. Simon and Emma exit the sewer tunnel only to find Ilya and his men waiting for them among a gathering of protestors outside the gates of the embassy. Emma safely makes it to the embassy for asylum when Simon allows himself to be caught by Ilya as a distraction. He then rigs an explosion under a car; the blast injures Ilya and Simon escapes.
Simon plants a listening device in Tretiak's office and learns Tretiak plans to perform a coup d'état
by selling the incomplete cold fusion formula to President Karpov to frame him for wasting billions on useless technology. Tretiak then plans to use the political fallout to depose Karpov and install himself as President. Emma finishes the equations to complete the formula and Simon delivers the information to Tretiak's physicist Dr. Lev Botkin (Henry Goodman
), who uses it to build an apparatus which proves the formula works. Simon infiltrates President Karpov's Kremlin
residence and informs him of Tretiak's conspiracy just as Russian troops loyal to Tretiak detain Karpov. In front of a massive gathering in Red Square
, Tretiak makes the public accusations against the President, but when the cold fusion
reactor is successfully initiated, Tretiak is exposed as a fraud and arrested. He is also revealed to have caused the oil shortage by illegally stockpiling vast amounts of oil.
Some time later, at a news conference at the University of Oxford
, Emma presents her cold fusion formula to the world. Simon attends the conference in disguise and once again avoids being captured by Inspectors Teal and Rabineau when they spot him in the crowd. As he drives away, he listens to a news radio broadcast (voiced by Sir Roger Moore) reporting that $3 billion was recently donated to the Red Cross, Salvation Army
and the United Nations Children's Fund
. The implication being that Simon, who had access to Tretiak's accounts, donated the money anonymously. Furthermore, a non-profit foundation led by Dr. Botkin is being established to develop the cold fusion technology.
, a 1960s series starring Roger Moore
; Return of the Saint
, a 1970s updating starring Ian Ogilvy
; a failed 1987 pilot for American TV, The Saint in Manhattan starring Andrew Clarke
; and a set of feature-length made-for-television adventures produced in Australia
in 1989 starring Simon Dutton
. Of these, the Moore series remained the definitive television adaptation.
In the mid-1980s, tabloid gossip newspapers such as the National Enquirer reported that Moore was planning to produce a new Saint movie, with Pierce Brosnan
(then known for playing the Templar-influenced character Remington Steele
on TV) being considered for the role, though nothing came of this project.
The reference work The Saint: A Complete History by Burl Barer
(McFarland 1992) was written at a time when another set of plans were under way to launch a new Saint film series, which would have been faithful to the original writings of Leslie Charteris and feature characters from the original books. This project also failed.
A few years later, Paramount Pictures
' attempt to make a film of The Saint started with the powerhouse above-the-line team of Robert Evans
as producer, Steven Zaillian
as writer and Sydney Pollack
as director. Ralph Fiennes
— hot from Schindler's List
and Quiz Show — was offered $1 million for the lead, but eventually passed. In a 1994 interview for Premiere
magazine, Fiennes said the screenplay
— racing fast cars, breaking into Swiss banks — was nothing he hadn't seen before.
Robert Evans left the project — although, contractually, his name remains on the final film's credits — and David Brown
(Jaws
, Driving Miss Daisy
) took over. A new story was commissioned from Jonathan Hensleigh
(Die Hard with a Vengeance), which cast Simon Templar as a mercenary hired by a billionaire Russian oil and gas tycoon to steal the secret of cold fusion from an eccentric but beautiful American scientist. The story would take place in Washington, D.C.
, Upstate New York, St. Petersburg
, and Moscow
. Setpiece
s included Dr. Russell skydiving while strapped into a wheelchair and a plane landing in Red Square
. Darwin Mayflower described it as one of the top unproduced screenplays. Phillip Noyce
was hired to direct.
Providing a link to both the 1960s The Saint
TV series and the later Return of the Saint
revival of the 1970s, Robert S. Baker
, the producer of both series, was brought in an executive producer of the film.
In a 1997 interview with Des O'Connor
for his ITV
show, Hugh Grant
says he passed on the role after a meeting with Noyce because he didn't like the director's approach to the character. Mel Gibson
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
, Kevin Costner
, and Johnny Depp
all refused the role. Schwarzenegger later said he was sorry he did not do it. Val Kilmer
was cast after rejecting to reprise the role of Batman
/Bruce Wayne in Joel Schumacher
's Batman & Robin and the script was rewritten by Wesley Strick
to suit his style.
Strick's rewrite relocated the action to London
and Oxford
and merged two villains together by having Tretiak running for president himself rather than endorsing a puppet candidate. Kilmer was constantly pressing for more disguises in the film, although Paramount wanted to keep that idea for their Mission: Impossible
franchise. The Saint, as devised by Charteris in the 1930s, used crude disguises instead of the sophisticated ones shown in this film.
Unusually for an action star of the time (as in heroes played by Seagal
, Willis
or Mel Gibson
), this Saint refrained from killing and even the main villains live to stand trial. Charteris' version had no qualms about taking another life.
The name Leslie Charteris is noticeably absent from the opening credits of the film, upsetting fans of the writer.
When the final film was test screened, audiences reacted badly to the death of Dr. Emma Russell.
In the original version of the film — as in the original Jonathan Hensleigh script — Dr. Russell, having escaped Russia via the American embassy, collapses while giving a lecture and dies in the Saint's arms. Watching the videotape back, he sees Tretiak Jr. stabbing her in the leg with the tip of his cane. The final half-hour has the Saint returning to Moscow to destroy the villains' plans and avenge her death. With Dr. Botvin's help, he switches the formulas around and humiliates Tretiak during his show trial of the Russian president. The Tretiaks shoot their way out of the crowd and escape back to their mansion, with the Saint and the Russian army in pursuit. Tretiak shoots the treacherous Dr. Botvin. The Saint arrives and finds the bodies of Botvin and Tretiak, killed by his own son. The Saint battles Dr. Russell's killer on the stairwell as Russian tanks pound the mansion walls, exposing and setting fire to the vast stockpile of heating oil in the basement. With the stairwell disintegrating around them, the fight spills out on to the chandelier, suspended above the blazing oil. The Saint teases Treatiak Jr. with the disc containing the formula for cold fusion. As he reaches out for it, the Saint cuts the rope and Tretiak Jr. plummets to a fiery death. Returning to Dr. Russell's home, the Saint finds a letter from her, a tear fills his eye and he vows from now on to use his skills only for good.
Test audiences didn't like that Dr. Russell died three-quarters of the way into the film; it was confusing as to what had happened to her. The novelization features an alternate version in which Dr. Russell lives and the Saint and Tretiak Jr. still battle on the chandelier. In the end the producers decided to cut Dr. Russell's death scene, chopped off the action-packed climax, inserted footage of the Tretiak's being arrested and filmed a new epilogue at Oxford. (Footage from the original ending features prominently in the film's trailer.) Director Phillip Noyce hopes one day to be able to restore the original version for DVD
.
The Saint featured the Volvo C70
, a nod to the Volvo P1800
of the original series.
, a noted expert on the history of Simon Templar and Leslie Charteris.
and "6 Underground
" by the Sneaker Pimps
were played during the credits, and released as single
s to promote the movie.
The Saint
soundtrack album, The Saint: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack included many songs from the electronica
age. Aside from Duran Duran and the Sneaker Pimps, recording artists included Orbital
, Moby
, Fluke
, Luscious Jackson
, The Chemical Brothers
, Underworld
, Daft Punk
, David Bowie
, Dreadzone
, Duncan Sheik
,The Smashing Pumpkins, Everything but the Girl
and the theme "Polaroid Millenium" by British musician Su Goodacre (alias "Superior") which also played during the final credits.
Internationally the film earned $56,700,000 bringing the overall total to $118,063,304.
gives the film a score of 30% based reviews from 44 critics.
Todd McCarthy of Variety
called it "a generic suspenser that doesn't taste bad at first bite but becomes increasingly hard to swallow".
Janet Maslin of The New York Times
cited it as "loud, frantic, ridiculously overproduced and featuring a preening performance by Val Kilmer as a supposedly brilliant master of disguise, The Saint is sheer overkill".
Tom Long of the Detroit News described the film as "a piece of mass-market movie bubblegum that stretches incredulity and then snaps apart".
Simon Templar
Simon Templar is a British fictional character known as The Saint featured in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris’s...
created by Leslie Charteris
Leslie Charteris
Leslie Charteris , born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, was a half-Chinese, half English author of primarily mystery fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint."-Early life:Charteris was born to a Chinese father...
in 1928 for a series of books published as "The Saint." The film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
stars Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
, Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
and Rade Šerbedžija
Rade Šerbedžija
Rade Šerbedžija , occasionally credited as Rade Sherbedgia in some English-language productions, is a Croatian actor, director and musician of Serb origin. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now internationally known mainly for his supporting roles in...
. It was directed by Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce is an Australian film director.-Life and career:Noyce was born in Griffith, New South Wales, attended Barker College, Sydney, and began making short films at the age of 18, starting with Better to Reign in Hell, using his friends as the cast...
and written by Jonathan Hensleigh
Jonathan Hensleigh
Jonathan Blair Hensleigh is an American screenwriter and film director, working primarily in the action/adventure genre of films.-Early life:...
and Wesley Strick
Wesley Strick
Wesley Strick is an American screenwriter who has written such films as the comic-horror hit Arachnophobia, the Martin Scorsese remake of Cape Fear and the videogame adaptation Doom.-Life and career:...
.
Aside from the book series, which ran until 1983, the character of The Saint has also featured in a series of Hollywood movies made between 1938 and 1954, a 1940s radio series
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
starring Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
(and others) as Templar, a popular British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television series
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
of the 1960s which starred Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
, and a 1970s series starring Ian Ogilvy
Ian Ogilvy
Ian Raymond Ogilvy is an English film and television actor.-Early life:He was born in Woking, Surrey, England, the son of advertising executive Francis Ogilvy and actress Aileen Raymond .He was educated at Sunningdale School, Eton College and at the Royal Academy of...
.
In this version, Kilmer's character does not claim to be the Simon Templar created by Charteris. He is, in fact, an orphan who chooses his name, Simon Templar—the first name from Simon Magus
Simon Magus
Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, in Latin Simon Magus, was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip the Apostle, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in . The sin of simony, or paying for position and influence in the church, is...
, and the last name from his childhood heroes, the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
. He refers to himself as Templar only during a flashback sequence at the start of the film. The film itself was a critical failure and a financial disappointment.
Plot
At the Saint IgnatiusIgnatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...
Orphanage, a rebellious boy named John Rossi
Saint Giovanni Battista de Rossi
Saint John Baptist de Rossi is a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.-Life:St John Baptist de Rossi was born in the municipality of Voltaggio, in the Province of Alessandria, Piedmont, then a part of the Duchy of Savoy. He was one of four children of Carlo de Rossi and Francesca Anfosi, relatively...
refers to himself as "Simon Templar" and leads a group of fellow orphans as they attempt to run away to escape their harsh treatment. When Simon is caught by the head priest, he witnesses the tragic death of a girl he had taken a liking to when she accidentally falls from a balcony.
As an adult, Simon (Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
), now a professional thief dubbed "The Saint" for using the names of Catholic saints as aliases, steals a valuable microchip from a heavily secured vault at the Tretiak Oil and Gas Industries head office in Moscow. Simon stages the burglary during a political rally held for billionaire, oil tycoon
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
, Ivan Tretiak (Rade Šerbedžija
Rade Šerbedžija
Rade Šerbedžija , occasionally credited as Rade Sherbedgia in some English-language productions, is a Croatian actor, director and musician of Serb origin. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now internationally known mainly for his supporting roles in...
). Tretiak is gaining support from the public and the Russian military in a campaign to overthrow the Russian President
President of the Russian Federation
The President of the Russian Federation is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Russian Federation...
. After learning of the heist, Tretiak contacts Simon and hires him to steal a revolutionary cold fusion
Cold fusion
Cold fusion, also called low-energy nuclear reaction , refers to the hypothesis that nuclear fusion might explain the results of a group of experiments conducted at ordinary temperatures . Both the experimental results and the hypothesis are disputed...
formula discovered by American electrochemist
Electrochemistry
Electrochemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies chemical reactions which take place in a solution at the interface of an electron conductor and an ionic conductor , and which involve electron transfer between the electrode and the electrolyte or species in solution.If a chemical reaction is...
, Dr. Emma Russell (Elizabeth Shue). Tretiak wishes to acquire Emma's theoretical formula—which creates energy that is less expensive and cleaner than petroleum—so he can monopolize the energy market during the current oil shortage crisis in Russia.
Using the alias "Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
," Simon poses as a white South African and steals the formula after having a one-night stand with Emma. Tretiak soon learns Emma's formula is incomplete and orders his henchmen, led by his son Ilya (Valeri Nikolayev), to kill Simon and then kidnap Emma to obtain the remaining information. Heartbroken, Emma reports the theft to Inspector Teal
Claud Eustace Teal
Claud Eustace Teal is a fictional character who made many appearances in a series of novels, novellas and short stories by Leslie Charteris entitled The Saint, starting in 1929...
(Alun Armstrong
Alun Armstrong (actor)
Alun Armstrong is a prolific British character actor. Armstrong grew up in County Durham in North East England. He first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of...
) and Inspector Rabineau (Charlotte Cornwell
Charlotte Cornwell
-Life and career:Cornwell was born in Marylebone, London, England, the daughter of Ronald Cornwell. She is the half-sister of spy novelist John le Carré . She describes him as "the best brother a girl could have"...
) of Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
, who inform her Simon is a wanted international thief. Emma tracks down Simon to a hotel and confronts him about the theft and his betrayal. The Russian police, loyal to Tretiak, arrest Simon and Emma but they manage to escape from the police van as they are being brought to Tretiak's mansion.
As they flee through the suburbs, Simon and Emma are helped by a prostitute and her family who shelter them in a hidden room in their home. Later, they meet "Frankie" (Irina Apeksimova
Irina Apeksimova
Irina Apeksimova is a Russian stage and screen actress.Apeksimova was the child of classical musicians, Victor Nikolaevich Apeksimova and Svetlana Yakivna Apeksimova...
), a fence
Fence (criminal)
A fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale, sometimes in a legitimate market. The fence thus acts as a middleman between thieves and the eventual buyers of stolen goods who may or may not be aware that the goods are stolen. As a verb, the word describes the...
who sells them the directions through an underground sewer system that lead to the American embassy. Simon and Emma exit the sewer tunnel only to find Ilya and his men waiting for them among a gathering of protestors outside the gates of the embassy. Emma safely makes it to the embassy for asylum when Simon allows himself to be caught by Ilya as a distraction. He then rigs an explosion under a car; the blast injures Ilya and Simon escapes.
Simon plants a listening device in Tretiak's office and learns Tretiak plans to perform a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
by selling the incomplete cold fusion formula to President Karpov to frame him for wasting billions on useless technology. Tretiak then plans to use the political fallout to depose Karpov and install himself as President. Emma finishes the equations to complete the formula and Simon delivers the information to Tretiak's physicist Dr. Lev Botkin (Henry Goodman
Henry Goodman
Henry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning. He played character roles in episodes of the popular UK police drama The Bill...
), who uses it to build an apparatus which proves the formula works. Simon infiltrates President Karpov's Kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
residence and informs him of Tretiak's conspiracy just as Russian troops loyal to Tretiak detain Karpov. In front of a massive gathering in Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
, Tretiak makes the public accusations against the President, but when the cold fusion
Cold fusion
Cold fusion, also called low-energy nuclear reaction , refers to the hypothesis that nuclear fusion might explain the results of a group of experiments conducted at ordinary temperatures . Both the experimental results and the hypothesis are disputed...
reactor is successfully initiated, Tretiak is exposed as a fraud and arrested. He is also revealed to have caused the oil shortage by illegally stockpiling vast amounts of oil.
Some time later, at a news conference at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, Emma presents her cold fusion formula to the world. Simon attends the conference in disguise and once again avoids being captured by Inspectors Teal and Rabineau when they spot him in the crowd. As he drives away, he listens to a news radio broadcast (voiced by Sir Roger Moore) reporting that $3 billion was recently donated to the Red Cross, Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
and the United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...
. The implication being that Simon, who had access to Tretiak's accounts, donated the money anonymously. Furthermore, a non-profit foundation led by Dr. Botkin is being established to develop the cold fusion technology.
Cast
- Val KilmerVal KilmerVal Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
as Simon TemplarSimon TemplarSimon Templar is a British fictional character known as The Saint featured in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris’s... - Elisabeth ShueElisabeth ShueElisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
as Dr. Emma Russell - Rade ŠerbedžijaRade ŠerbedžijaRade Šerbedžija , occasionally credited as Rade Sherbedgia in some English-language productions, is a Croatian actor, director and musician of Serb origin. He was one of the most popular Yugoslav actors in the 1970s and 1980s. He is now internationally known mainly for his supporting roles in...
as Ivan Tretiak - Valery NikolaevValery NikolaevValery Valeryevich Nikolaev is a Russian actor. He performed in more than thirty films since 1977.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
as Ilya Tretiak - Henry GoodmanHenry GoodmanHenry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning. He played character roles in episodes of the popular UK police drama The Bill...
as Dr. Lev Botvin - Alun ArmstrongAlun Armstrong (actor)Alun Armstrong is a prolific British character actor. Armstrong grew up in County Durham in North East England. He first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began in the early 1970s, he has played, in his words, "the full spectrum of...
as Inspector TealClaud Eustace TealClaud Eustace Teal is a fictional character who made many appearances in a series of novels, novellas and short stories by Leslie Charteris entitled The Saint, starting in 1929... - Michael ByrneMichael Byrne (actor)Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
as Vereshagin - Yevgeni Nikolayevich Lazarev as President Karpov
- Irina ApeksimovaIrina ApeksimovaIrina Apeksimova is a Russian stage and screen actress.Apeksimova was the child of classical musicians, Victor Nikolaevich Apeksimova and Svetlana Yakivna Apeksimova...
as Frankie - Lev Prygunov as General Sklarov
- Charlotte CornwellCharlotte Cornwell-Life and career:Cornwell was born in Marylebone, London, England, the daughter of Ronald Cornwell. She is the half-sister of spy novelist John le Carré . She describes him as "the best brother a girl could have"...
as Inspector Rabineau - Tommy FlanganTommy Flanagan (actor)Tommy Flanagan is a Scottish film and television actor.Flanagan was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the 3rd of five children. Flanagan's first television roles were in Screen One, 1992 and Taggart in 1993. Flanagan worked in Robert Carlyle's Raindog Theatre for three years before being cast in Braveheart...
as Scarface - Adam Smithas Young Simon Templar
- Roger MooreRoger MooreSir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
as Radio Announcer Voice - David SchneiderDavid SchneiderDavid Schneider may refer to:*David Schneider , English actor and comedian*David Schneider , American film writer , director and actor*David Schneider , former pro tennis player...
as Bar Waiter - William HopeWilliam Hope (actor)William "Bill" Hope is a Canadian stage, film, television and voice actor.-Career:Most of Hope's stage work has been leading roles in a wide variety of regional, touring and West End theatres in England....
as State Department Official
Production
Film adaptations of Leslie Charteris' anti-hero Simon Templar (The Saint) date back to the late 1930s when RKO Radio Pictures launched a popular series of B-movies with a succession of different actors playing the lead role. After that, save for two unsuccessful French attempts at launching new film series, the character was confined to television: The SaintThe Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, a 1960s series starring Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
; Return of the Saint
Return of the Saint
Return of the Saint was a British action-adventure television series that aired for one season in 1978 and 1979 in Britain on ITV, and was also broadcast on CBS in the United States...
, a 1970s updating starring Ian Ogilvy
Ian Ogilvy
Ian Raymond Ogilvy is an English film and television actor.-Early life:He was born in Woking, Surrey, England, the son of advertising executive Francis Ogilvy and actress Aileen Raymond .He was educated at Sunningdale School, Eton College and at the Royal Academy of...
; a failed 1987 pilot for American TV, The Saint in Manhattan starring Andrew Clarke
Andrew Clarke (actor)
Andrew Clarke in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, is an Australian actor most known for his television work. Andrew Clarke was one of the most popular Australian actors in the 1980s and 1990s. He is also a two-time Logie winner.-Career:...
; and a set of feature-length made-for-television adventures produced in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1989 starring Simon Dutton
Simon Dutton
Simon Dutton is a British actor, best known for playing the title role of Simon Templar in a series of Australian-produced television films in 1989. In 2007, he joined the cast of British sitcom Not Going Out as recurring character Guy, but was written out at the end of season 2.Dutton was...
. Of these, the Moore series remained the definitive television adaptation.
In the mid-1980s, tabloid gossip newspapers such as the National Enquirer reported that Moore was planning to produce a new Saint movie, with Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan, OBE is an Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist. After leaving school at 16, Brosnan began training in commercial illustration, but trained at the Drama Centre in London for three years...
(then known for playing the Templar-influenced character Remington Steele
Remington Steele
Remington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
on TV) being considered for the role, though nothing came of this project.
The reference work The Saint: A Complete History by Burl Barer
Burl Barer
Burl Barer is an American author and literary historian. He is best known for his fiction and non-fiction writings about the character Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint".-The Saint:...
(McFarland 1992) was written at a time when another set of plans were under way to launch a new Saint film series, which would have been faithful to the original writings of Leslie Charteris and feature characters from the original books. This project also failed.
A few years later, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
' attempt to make a film of The Saint started with the powerhouse above-the-line team of Robert Evans
Robert Evans (film producer)
Robert Evans is an American film producer, best known for his work on Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, and Chinatown.-Early life and acting career:...
as producer, Steven Zaillian
Steven Zaillian
Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian is an American screenwriter, film director, film editor, producer, and founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Schindler's List and he has been nominated two times for Awakenings and Gangs of New York...
as writer and Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
as director. Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
— hot from Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
and Quiz Show — was offered $1 million for the lead, but eventually passed. In a 1994 interview for Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
magazine, Fiennes said the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
— racing fast cars, breaking into Swiss banks — was nothing he hadn't seen before.
Robert Evans left the project — although, contractually, his name remains on the final film's credits — and David Brown
David Brown (producer)
David Brown was an American film producer.-Early life and career:Brown was born in New York City, the son of Lillian and Edward Fisher Brown. He was best known as the producing partner of Richard D. Zanuck. They were jointly awarded the Irving G...
(Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...
) took over. A new story was commissioned from Jonathan Hensleigh
Jonathan Hensleigh
Jonathan Blair Hensleigh is an American screenwriter and film director, working primarily in the action/adventure genre of films.-Early life:...
(Die Hard with a Vengeance), which cast Simon Templar as a mercenary hired by a billionaire Russian oil and gas tycoon to steal the secret of cold fusion from an eccentric but beautiful American scientist. The story would take place in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Upstate New York, St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Setpiece
Setpiece
In film production, a setpiece is a scene or sequence of scenes the execution of which requires serious logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money. The term setpiece is often used more broadly to describe any important dramatic or comedic highpoint in a film or story, particularly...
s included Dr. Russell skydiving while strapped into a wheelchair and a plane landing in Red Square
Red Square
Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
. Darwin Mayflower described it as one of the top unproduced screenplays. Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce is an Australian film director.-Life and career:Noyce was born in Griffith, New South Wales, attended Barker College, Sydney, and began making short films at the age of 18, starting with Better to Reign in Hell, using his friends as the cast...
was hired to direct.
Providing a link to both the 1960s The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
TV series and the later Return of the Saint
Return of the Saint
Return of the Saint was a British action-adventure television series that aired for one season in 1978 and 1979 in Britain on ITV, and was also broadcast on CBS in the United States...
revival of the 1970s, Robert S. Baker
Robert S. Baker
Robert Sidney Baker was a British film and television producer, who at times was also a cinematographer and director.- Movie career :...
, the producer of both series, was brought in an executive producer of the film.
In a 1997 interview with Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor, CBE is an English comedian and singer. A former talkshow host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years...
for his ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
show, Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
says he passed on the role after a meeting with Noyce because he didn't like the director's approach to the character. Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
, and Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
all refused the role. Schwarzenegger later said he was sorry he did not do it. Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
was cast after rejecting to reprise the role of Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
/Bruce Wayne in Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...
's Batman & Robin and the script was rewritten by Wesley Strick
Wesley Strick
Wesley Strick is an American screenwriter who has written such films as the comic-horror hit Arachnophobia, the Martin Scorsese remake of Cape Fear and the videogame adaptation Doom.-Life and career:...
to suit his style.
Strick's rewrite relocated the action to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and merged two villains together by having Tretiak running for president himself rather than endorsing a puppet candidate. Kilmer was constantly pressing for more disguises in the film, although Paramount wanted to keep that idea for their Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
franchise. The Saint, as devised by Charteris in the 1930s, used crude disguises instead of the sophisticated ones shown in this film.
Unusually for an action star of the time (as in heroes played by Seagal
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
, Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
or Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
), this Saint refrained from killing and even the main villains live to stand trial. Charteris' version had no qualms about taking another life.
The name Leslie Charteris is noticeably absent from the opening credits of the film, upsetting fans of the writer.
When the final film was test screened, audiences reacted badly to the death of Dr. Emma Russell.
In the original version of the film — as in the original Jonathan Hensleigh script — Dr. Russell, having escaped Russia via the American embassy, collapses while giving a lecture and dies in the Saint's arms. Watching the videotape back, he sees Tretiak Jr. stabbing her in the leg with the tip of his cane. The final half-hour has the Saint returning to Moscow to destroy the villains' plans and avenge her death. With Dr. Botvin's help, he switches the formulas around and humiliates Tretiak during his show trial of the Russian president. The Tretiaks shoot their way out of the crowd and escape back to their mansion, with the Saint and the Russian army in pursuit. Tretiak shoots the treacherous Dr. Botvin. The Saint arrives and finds the bodies of Botvin and Tretiak, killed by his own son. The Saint battles Dr. Russell's killer on the stairwell as Russian tanks pound the mansion walls, exposing and setting fire to the vast stockpile of heating oil in the basement. With the stairwell disintegrating around them, the fight spills out on to the chandelier, suspended above the blazing oil. The Saint teases Treatiak Jr. with the disc containing the formula for cold fusion. As he reaches out for it, the Saint cuts the rope and Tretiak Jr. plummets to a fiery death. Returning to Dr. Russell's home, the Saint finds a letter from her, a tear fills his eye and he vows from now on to use his skills only for good.
Test audiences didn't like that Dr. Russell died three-quarters of the way into the film; it was confusing as to what had happened to her. The novelization features an alternate version in which Dr. Russell lives and the Saint and Tretiak Jr. still battle on the chandelier. In the end the producers decided to cut Dr. Russell's death scene, chopped off the action-packed climax, inserted footage of the Tretiak's being arrested and filmed a new epilogue at Oxford. (Footage from the original ending features prominently in the film's trailer.) Director Phillip Noyce hopes one day to be able to restore the original version for DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
The Saint featured the Volvo C70
Volvo C70
The Volvo C70 is a luxury automobile manufactured by Volvo Cars in two generations: the first from model years 1997-2002 as coupé and from 1999 to 2006 as a softtop convertible...
, a nod to the Volvo P1800
Volvo P1800
-History:The project was started in 1957 because Volvo wanted a sports car, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had been a disaster, with only 68 cars sold. The man behind the project was an engineering consultant to Volvo, Helmer Petterson, who in the 1940s was responsible for...
of the original series.
Novelization
A novelization based upon the film script was written by Burl BarerBurl Barer
Burl Barer is an American author and literary historian. He is best known for his fiction and non-fiction writings about the character Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint".-The Saint:...
, a noted expert on the history of Simon Templar and Leslie Charteris.
Soundtrack
The songs "Out of My Mind" by Duran DuranDuran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
and "6 Underground
6 Underground
"6 Underground" is a song by the British band Sneaker Pimps, from their 1996 album Becoming X. First released as a single in the UK in October 1996, the song reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart and had moderate radio airplay in the United States...
" by the Sneaker Pimps
Sneaker Pimps
Sneaker Pimps were a British trip-hop band formed in Hartlepool, England in 1994. They are best known for their first album Becoming X and particularly the singles "6 Underground", "Spin Spin Sugar", and "Tesko Suicide" from the same album...
were played during the credits, and released as single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
s to promote the movie.
The Saint
The Saint (soundtrack)
The Saint: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack was the soundtrack to the 1997 movie The Saint.This soundtrack featuring Duran Duran, Sneaker Pimps, Orbital, Moby, Fluke, Luscious Jackson, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Daft Punk, David Bowie, Superior, Dreadzone, Duncan Sheik, and...
soundtrack album, The Saint: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack included many songs from the electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
age. Aside from Duran Duran and the Sneaker Pimps, recording artists included Orbital
Orbital (band)
Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo from Sevenoaks, England consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Their career initially ran from 1989 until 2004, but in 2009 they announced that they would be reforming and headlining The Big Chill, in addition to a number of other live shows...
, Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
, Fluke
Fluke (band)
Fluke are an English electronic music group formed in the late 1980s by Mike Bryant, Jon Fugler and Mike Tournier with Julian Nugent as the band's manager...
, Luscious Jackson
Luscious Jackson
Luscious Jackson are an alternative rock group formed in 1991. The band's name was inspired by now-retired American basketball player Lucious Jackson....
, The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are a British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in Manchester in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.- Background...
, Underworld
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
, Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Dreadzone
Dreadzone
Dreadzone are a British band whose music is an eclectic fusion of dub, reggae, techno, folk and rock. They have so far produced six studio albums and two live albums.-Career:...
, Duncan Sheik
Duncan Sheik
Duncan Scott Sheik is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik initially found success as a singer, most notably for his 1996 debut single "Barely Breathing". He later expanded his work to include compositions for motion pictures and the Broadway stage, leading him to involvement in the...
,The Smashing Pumpkins, Everything but the Girl
Everything but the Girl
Everything but the Girl was a two-person English band, formed in Hull during 1981, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, and singer Ben Watt . They are currently inactive although vocalist Tracey Thorn hinted that they may reform someday...
and the theme "Polaroid Millenium" by British musician Su Goodacre (alias "Superior") which also played during the final credits.
Box office
The Saint earned $16,278,873 on opening weekend at 2,307 theaters in the United States. With a domestic gross of $61,363,304, the $70 million film was considered a flop in the U.S.Internationally the film earned $56,700,000 bringing the overall total to $118,063,304.
Critical response
Critically, the film received mostly negative reviews. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 30% based reviews from 44 critics.
Todd McCarthy of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called it "a generic suspenser that doesn't taste bad at first bite but becomes increasingly hard to swallow".
Janet Maslin of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
cited it as "loud, frantic, ridiculously overproduced and featuring a preening performance by Val Kilmer as a supposedly brilliant master of disguise, The Saint is sheer overkill".
Tom Long of the Detroit News described the film as "a piece of mass-market movie bubblegum that stretches incredulity and then snaps apart".