Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Assault in Paradise

Original title: The Ransom
  • 1977
  • PG
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
5.1/10
631
YOUR RATING
Assault in Paradise (1977)
CrimeThriller

A Native American travels around a resort town, murdering cops and rich people with a high-powered crossbow, while demanding that the town's richest residents pay him money to stop the killi... Read allA Native American travels around a resort town, murdering cops and rich people with a high-powered crossbow, while demanding that the town's richest residents pay him money to stop the killings.A Native American travels around a resort town, murdering cops and rich people with a high-powered crossbow, while demanding that the town's richest residents pay him money to stop the killings.

  • Director
    • Richard Compton
  • Writers
    • John C. Broderick
    • Ronald Silkosky
  • Stars
    • Oliver Reed
    • Deborah Raffin
    • James Mitchum
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    5.1/10
    631
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Richard Compton
    • Writers
      • John C. Broderick
      • Ronald Silkosky
    • Stars
      • Oliver Reed
      • Deborah Raffin
      • James Mitchum
    • 16User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos37

    Oliver Reed and James Mitchum in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Stuart Whitman in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Deborah Raffin in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Oliver Reed in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Oliver Reed and Deborah Raffin in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Stuart Whitman in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Oliver Reed in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Stuart Whitman in Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Oliver Reed and John Ireland in Assault in Paradise (1977)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Oliver Reed
    Oliver Reed
    • Nick McCormick
    Deborah Raffin
    Deborah Raffin
    • Cindy Simmons
    James Mitchum
    James Mitchum
    • Tracker
    • (as Jim Mitchum)
    Stuart Whitman
    Stuart Whitman
    • William Whitaker
    John Ireland
    John Ireland
    • Chief Haliburton
    Paul Koslo
    Paul Koslo
    • Victor
    Arch Archambault
    • Insp. Davey
    Robert Lussier
    • Wolf
    Dennis Redfield
    Dennis Redfield
    • Jackson
    Kipp Whitman
    • Officer Steiner
    Bill Allen
    • Carson the Butler
    Daniel Knapp
    • T.J. Caulfield
    Shatka Bearstep
    • Red Sky
    • (as Shatka Bear-Step)
    Richard Michael Alexander
    • Larry Owens
    Richard Ellman Kennedy
    • Texan
    Julienne Wells
    • Floozy
    • (as Julian Wells)
    Thomas J. Conlan
    • Mayor of Paradise
    Paul Roland
    • Barney
    • Director
      • Richard Compton
    • Writers
      • John C. Broderick
      • Ronald Silkosky
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Violent City
    6.2
    Violent City
    Tenement
    5.6
    Tenement
    The Mad Bomber
    5.7
    The Mad Bomber
    Rats: Night of Terror
    4.6
    Rats: Night of Terror
    Moon of the Wolf
    5.0
    Moon of the Wolf
    The Fourth Victim
    5.7
    The Fourth Victim
    Don't Make Waves
    5.8
    Don't Make Waves
    House of 1,000 Dolls
    4.9
    House of 1,000 Dolls
    Blue Monkey
    4.8
    Blue Monkey
    Vigil
    6.8
    Vigil
    Born for Hell
    5.1
    Born for Hell
    Contraband
    6.5
    Contraband

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      A year later Oliver Reed would work with James Mitchum's dad Robert in The Big Sleep.
    • Alternate versions
      When New World Pictures picked up the film for distribution, they added a prologue scene that had nothing to do with the actual movie. A masked gunman, who looks nothing like the Paul Koslo character, appears behind a convertible at a drive-in movie, where a couple are making out and groping each other. He takes his gun out and shoots both of them.
    • Connections
      Featured in Paul Koslo on 'Maniac!' (2016)
    • Soundtracks
      Victor's Theme: 'Shoot Him'
      Performed and Written by Roger McGuinn and Patrick Ferrell

      Produced by Roger McGuinn and Patrick Ferrell

    User reviews16

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    An okay action programmer.
    An American Indian named Victor (Paul Koslo, "The Stone Killer") is running around an Arizona town picking off people with his trusty crossbow. What he wants is for all the local fat cats to pay him a million to make him stop the killings. The richest jerk in the area, William Whitaker (Stuart Whitman, "The Comancheros"), hires a mercenary, Nick McCormick (Oliver Reed, "The Devils") to work on behalf of him and his peers. Since these particular fat cats are by and large a corrupt bunch, they would rather not use the regular legal channels. John Ireland ("I Saw What You Did") is the rather useless sheriff, Jim Mitchum ("Trackdown") a local hired for his tracking skills, and Deborah Raffin ("Death Wish 3") the reporter who takes a shine to gruff stranger-in-town Reed.

    Directed by the late cult filmmaker Richard Compton ("Macon County Line"), "The Ransom" (also known as "Maniac!" and "Assault on Paradise") is decent entertainment, as far as it goes. There's nothing particularly interesting or different about it, it just tells a passable, routine story in capable fashion. It does have some good set pieces, whether they be vehicular chases or a stalking / suspense sequence set at Whitakers' estate. It is rather amusing, and ridiculous, how Victor is almost always way ahead of everybody else. He seems to have little trouble infiltrating defences and acquiring excellent vantage points. Nicely photographed (by Charles Correll) in scope, and scored (by Don Ellis), it moves along pretty well, but never gives us much info about, or insight into, the characters. Most of them are ciphers. And very little is done with many of the plot details.

    Still, it's a treat to see Reed do just about anything, and here he gets to be moderately badass and try out an American accent. Raffins' reporter is a largely useless character, but Whitman is fun as the cranky moneybags who becomes increasingly frustrated over Victors' success and McCormicks' insistence on doing things his way.

    Overall, a reasonable way to kill an hour and a half, with a fairly high body count but not much in the way of gore.

    Six out of 10.
    helpful•0
    0
    • Hey_Sweden
    • Jul 8, 2018

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 1977 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Ransom
    • Filming locations
      • Superstition Mountains, Arizona, USA
    • Production companies
      • Inter-Ocean Films
      • Sunset Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Assault in Paradise (1977)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Assault in Paradise (1977) officially released in India in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.