Ronin (film)
Encyclopedia
Ronin is a 1998 action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer
and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet
. It stars Robert De Niro
and Jean Reno
as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties and alliances. The film is noted for its car chases through Nice
and Paris
.
, Deirdre (Natascha McElhone
), a young Irish woman who is a member of the Provisional IRA, meets with former special forces
soldiers and intelligence operatives
—Spence (Sean Bean
), Larry (Skipp Sudduth
), Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård
), Vincent (Jean Reno
), and Sam (Robert De Niro
). Deirdre briefs the men on their mission, attacking a heavily armed convoy and stealing a briefcase, its contents unknown. Following the briefing, the team begins assembling their equipment, and Deirdre meets with her handler, Seamus O'Rourke (Jonathan Pryce
), who reveals that Russia
n gangsters are bidding for the case so the team must act quickly to intercept it. Later, Spence is exposed as a fraud and summarily released from the team. The others depart for Nice
where, over several days, they observe the convoy and form an ambush plan. The team ambushes the convoy and pursues the survivors through the surrounding countryside. After a lengthy car chase and gun battle, Gregor steals the case, tries to kill the team, and disappears.
Gregor first tries to sell the case to the Russians, but his contact betrays him, and Gregor shoots him. He next contacts Mikhi (Féodor Atkine
), the leader of the gangsters, and threatens to sell the case to the IRA unless Mikhi pays a grossly inflated price for the case; Mikhi agrees. Meanwhile, the rest of the team track Gregor through one of Sam's old CIA contacts and corner him in the Roman arena
in Arles
. Following a tense standoff and hectic firefight, Gregor flees Sam and Vincent but is captured by Seamus, who kills Larry and escapes with Deirdre just as Sam and Vincent emerge from the coliseum. Sam, wounded from the fight, is taken by Vincent to his friend Jean-Pierre (Michael Lonsdale
) in a villa in rural France. After removing the bullet and allowing Sam time to recuperate, Vincent asks Jean-Pierre to help him locate Gregor, Deirdre, and Seamus. Meanwhile, in Seamus' hideout, Gregor admits he mailed the case to himself. Days later, as they retrieve the case, they are ambushed by Vincent and Sam. Sam confronts Deirdre, who is waiting for Seamus and Gregor outside the post office. Realizing that Sam has feelings for her and will not shoot her, she speeds off. Following a high-speed chase through the streets and tunnels of Paris, Vincent shoots out Dierdre's tires and sends her car over a highway overpass. Gregor emerges from the car with the briefcase and once again escapes, while Deirdre and Seamus are rescued from the burning car by construction workers.
Vincent and Sam, pondering their options, discover that the case is a type used by figure skaters. Intelligence gleaned from Jean-Pierre's contacts also suggest the Russians are involved with figure skater Natacha Kirilova (Katarina Witt
), Mikhi's protégé, who is appearing in a show at the local arena. Vincent and Sam appear at the arena as Mikhi, in the audience watching Natacha, receives a call and reluctantly goes backstage. At the meet, Mikhi exchanges money for the case when Gregor, preparing to leave, reveals there is a sniper somewhere in the arena who will shoot Natacha if Mikhi betrays him. Mikhi shoots Gregor anyway, the sniper shoots Natacha, and Mikhi leaves with the case and the money. Meanwhile, Vincent and Sam follow the panicked crowd out of the arena in time to see Seamus ambush and shoot Mikhi before stealing the case. Sam runs ahead of Seamus and finds Deirdre sitting in the getaway car. He urges her to leave, revealing himself as a CIA agent pursuing Seamus, not the briefcase. Seamus shoots his way past the crowd, wounding Vincent, back to the arena, with Sam in pursuit. In the final gunfight, Seamus wounds Sam and is about to kill him when Vincent fatally shoots him from the scaffolding and collapses.
Days later, in a Parisian cafe, Sam and Vincent talk over radio broadcasts revealing a peace agreement reached between Sinn Féin
and the British, partly as a result of Seamus's death. They part as friends, and Sam drives off with his CIA contact. Vincent pays the bill and leaves, disappearing into gloomy Paris. The contents of the case are never revealed
.
who call her a traitor. Sam and Vincent finish their conversation and depart, unaware of what has just happened to Deirdre.
The title is derived from the Japan
ese term ronin
, used for samurai
who have no master and whose motivations are largely based on money and survival instead of honour and duty. Many of the characters in the film are unemployed agents set adrift by the end of the Cold War
. The film also makes a lengthy reference to the classic Japanese story, the 47 Ronin, further alluding to the identities of the protagonists and antagonists of the film.
According to Frankenheimer's recollections on the DVD, there were 2,200 shots used to film the story. He also notes that the film is unusual in containing no wipes, dissolves
or similar techniques; all scene transitions are handled with suitably paced cuts.
Ronin is notable for a number of car chases, the last being a particularly lengthy one through the streets and tunnels of Paris
; some scenes used up to 300 stunt drivers according to the DVD director commentary. Car work has been a specialty of Frankenheimer, a former amateur racing driver, ever since his 1966 film, Grand Prix. Although action sequences are often shot by a second unit director, Frankenheimer did all these himself, and sometimes rode along. While he was aware of the many innovations in digital special effects since then, he elected to film all these sequences live, to obtain the maximum level of authenticity. To further this, many of the high-speed shots have the actual actors in the cars. Skipp Sudduth
did nearly all of his own driving, while other cars were right hand drive models with stunt drivers driving - crashes were handled by a stuntman. To lend additional authenticity, the sound recordist re-recorded many of the vehicles in the chases to ensure that during the editing, the right sounds were dubbed in for each vehicle. The chases are also notable for their lack of musical score accompaniment, unusual in modern films, though the last chase ends with syncopated, non-melodic music. The choice of non-melodic music was easier to edit to, and has since become fashionable in film and television.
Several cars are used in the chases, including an Audi S8 D2
, a Peugeot 406
, three Peugeot 605
s, a Citroën Xantia
and XM
, a BMW M5 E34
and Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9
, a rare Mercedes-Benz W116
variant with a high-powered engine, as noted by Frankenheimer in the DVD. Most famously, a 1998 Audi S8 quattro, portrayed as stolen to order and then fitted with a nitrous
oxide power-booster, is chosen for its bulk, grip and torque and driven in Paris and Nice by Sudduth's character. As a result the car is rated 9th in Car magazine's Top 40 Coolest Movie Cars. The Frankenheimer DVD commentary indicates that the cars were towed through the streets of France at high speed, not simulated, by a Mercedes-Benz 500E
.
The final scene at the Paris Zénith
had 2,000 extras, according to Frankenheimer.
The contents of the metal case are never revealed. Mamet has written that he believes revealing such details can be anticlimactic, that a director is wiser to allow the audience's imagination to answer the question. This is a technique Mamet has used repeatedly in his films. In fact, in earlier versions of the script, the briefcase is destroyed at the climax. Sam observes that only the top men in the Russian mob and the IRA
, plus a handful of men in the CIA, knew what was in the case. The briefcase is itself a plot device known as a MacGuffin
. Its contents are unknown but serve as the motivation that drives the film. Its use is very similar to the MacGuffin that is a part of the film Pulp Fiction
. The plot device in that film is, indeed, a briefcase with unknown contents. In the DVD's director's commentary, Frankenheimer says that in the film, Seamus is the only person who actually needs to know what the case contains. As an aside, on the film's web site when Ronin was in theatres, the public could suggest and vote for what they thought could be in the case. Other popular suggestions is that it contained a nuclear weapon initiator, which increases the yield of a thermo-nuclear weapon; hence the Russians were keen to get their hands on it.
Porn star Ron Jeremy
had a small role playing a fishmonger
in Paris whose stall is demolished during the chase, but his scene was cut by the studio when audiences laughed as he was recognized. He is credited as "Ron Hiatt", which is similar to his surname by birth, "Hyatt".
The DVD's paper insert includes excerpts from a Frankenheimer interview in which he discusses the chase through a Paris tunnel that is remarkably similar to the site of Princess Diana's death on 31 August 1997. The filming took place in a different tunnel, however. "Paris has a lot of tunnels," Frankenheimer commented. "That’s part of the thing about the city I wanted people to see. A crash in a tunnel in Paris is about as likely as someone having a crash on a freeway here. It happens all the time." (Rocky Mountain News, September 27, 1998).
The US edition of the original DVD release has several navigational hooks to DVD-ROM content, which were taken advantage of several weeks after the original release of the DVD, on MGM's website during a special 'RONIN' event where viewers would be taken on a guided tour of the making of RONIN. Making-of scenes shot during filming are hidden on the DVD, since they are not present on the main menu of the DVD you can only access them on a computer using the DVD-ROM program that is on the disc or using a DVD viewing program that allows you navigate through the titles of the disc manually. A "Gold Edition" was briefly introduced on the market by MGM, however is no longer in production.
On October 11, 2004 a two-disc Special Edition of the film was released in the US. This new version contains the same material as the old single-disc version on disc one and on disc two there are supplemental material about the film: one documentary, six featurettes, and a picture gallery.
A Blu-ray Disc edition was made available in 2008, which does not include any of the extras on the DVD versions.
John Frankenheimer
John Michael Frankenheimer was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films...
and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
. It stars Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
and Jean Reno
Jean Reno
Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...
as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties and alliances. The film is noted for its car chases through Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Plot
In a warehouse on the outskirts of ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Deirdre (Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone
Natascha McElhone is an English actress of stage, screen and television, best known for her roles in Ronin, The Truman Show and Solaris. McElhone also plays a leading role in the Showtime series Californication....
), a young Irish woman who is a member of the Provisional IRA, meets with former special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
soldiers and intelligence operatives
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
—Spence (Sean Bean
Sean Bean
Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...
), Larry (Skipp Sudduth
Skipp Sudduth
Robert Lee Sudduth IV , generally known by his stage name Skipp Sudduth, is an American theater, film, and TV actor. Sudduth is perhaps best known for his role in the movie Ronin and his lead in the TV drama Third Watch....
), Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
), Vincent (Jean Reno
Jean Reno
Jean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...
), and Sam (Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
). Deirdre briefs the men on their mission, attacking a heavily armed convoy and stealing a briefcase, its contents unknown. Following the briefing, the team begins assembling their equipment, and Deirdre meets with her handler, Seamus O'Rourke (Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
), who reveals that Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n gangsters are bidding for the case so the team must act quickly to intercept it. Later, Spence is exposed as a fraud and summarily released from the team. The others depart for Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
where, over several days, they observe the convoy and form an ambush plan. The team ambushes the convoy and pursues the survivors through the surrounding countryside. After a lengthy car chase and gun battle, Gregor steals the case, tries to kill the team, and disappears.
Gregor first tries to sell the case to the Russians, but his contact betrays him, and Gregor shoots him. He next contacts Mikhi (Féodor Atkine
Féodor Atkine
Féodor Atkine is a French actor.Born in Paris of Russian-Polish descent, he has had a career in European cinema and television since the early 1970s, and made occasional appearances in English-language films, notably as the Russian gangster "Mikhi" in Ronin, as Woody Allen's brother in Love and...
), the leader of the gangsters, and threatens to sell the case to the IRA unless Mikhi pays a grossly inflated price for the case; Mikhi agrees. Meanwhile, the rest of the team track Gregor through one of Sam's old CIA contacts and corner him in the Roman arena
Arles Amphitheatre
The Arles Amphitheatre is a Roman amphitheatre in the southern French town of Arles. This two-tiered Roman Amphitheatre is probably the most prominent tourist attraction in the city of Arles, which thrived in Roman times....
in Arles
Arles
Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
. Following a tense standoff and hectic firefight, Gregor flees Sam and Vincent but is captured by Seamus, who kills Larry and escapes with Deirdre just as Sam and Vincent emerge from the coliseum. Sam, wounded from the fight, is taken by Vincent to his friend Jean-Pierre (Michael Lonsdale
Michael Lonsdale
Michael Lonsdale , sometimes billed as Michel Lonsdale, is a French actor who has appeared in over 180 films and television shows....
) in a villa in rural France. After removing the bullet and allowing Sam time to recuperate, Vincent asks Jean-Pierre to help him locate Gregor, Deirdre, and Seamus. Meanwhile, in Seamus' hideout, Gregor admits he mailed the case to himself. Days later, as they retrieve the case, they are ambushed by Vincent and Sam. Sam confronts Deirdre, who is waiting for Seamus and Gregor outside the post office. Realizing that Sam has feelings for her and will not shoot her, she speeds off. Following a high-speed chase through the streets and tunnels of Paris, Vincent shoots out Dierdre's tires and sends her car over a highway overpass. Gregor emerges from the car with the briefcase and once again escapes, while Deirdre and Seamus are rescued from the burning car by construction workers.
Vincent and Sam, pondering their options, discover that the case is a type used by figure skaters. Intelligence gleaned from Jean-Pierre's contacts also suggest the Russians are involved with figure skater Natacha Kirilova (Katarina Witt
Katarina Witt
Katarina Witt is a German figure skater and model. In Germany she was commonly called "Kati" in the past, but today her full name is used more often....
), Mikhi's protégé, who is appearing in a show at the local arena. Vincent and Sam appear at the arena as Mikhi, in the audience watching Natacha, receives a call and reluctantly goes backstage. At the meet, Mikhi exchanges money for the case when Gregor, preparing to leave, reveals there is a sniper somewhere in the arena who will shoot Natacha if Mikhi betrays him. Mikhi shoots Gregor anyway, the sniper shoots Natacha, and Mikhi leaves with the case and the money. Meanwhile, Vincent and Sam follow the panicked crowd out of the arena in time to see Seamus ambush and shoot Mikhi before stealing the case. Sam runs ahead of Seamus and finds Deirdre sitting in the getaway car. He urges her to leave, revealing himself as a CIA agent pursuing Seamus, not the briefcase. Seamus shoots his way past the crowd, wounding Vincent, back to the arena, with Sam in pursuit. In the final gunfight, Seamus wounds Sam and is about to kill him when Vincent fatally shoots him from the scaffolding and collapses.
Days later, in a Parisian cafe, Sam and Vincent talk over radio broadcasts revealing a peace agreement reached between Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
and the British, partly as a result of Seamus's death. They part as friends, and Sam drives off with his CIA contact. Vincent pays the bill and leaves, disappearing into gloomy Paris. The contents of the case are never revealed
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
.
Alternate ending
In the commercial version of the film, Deirdre is last seen leaving the arena, her future uncertain. In an alternative ending on the DVD, she is seen on the stairs next to the café, apparently considering joining Sam and Vincent, but she does not and walks up the stairs. As she gets into her car, she is snatched into a van by men in the IRAProvisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
who call her a traitor. Sam and Vincent finish their conversation and depart, unaware of what has just happened to Deirdre.
Cast
- Robert De NiroRobert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
as Sam - Jean RenoJean RenoJean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...
as Vincent - Jonathan PryceJonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
as Seamus O'Rourke - Natascha McElhoneNatascha McElhoneNatascha McElhone is an English actress of stage, screen and television, best known for her roles in Ronin, The Truman Show and Solaris. McElhone also plays a leading role in the Showtime series Californication....
as Deirdre - Stellan SkarsgårdStellan SkarsgårdStellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
as Gregor - Sean BeanSean BeanShaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...
as Spence - Skipp SudduthSkipp SudduthRobert Lee Sudduth IV , generally known by his stage name Skipp Sudduth, is an American theater, film, and TV actor. Sudduth is perhaps best known for his role in the movie Ronin and his lead in the TV drama Third Watch....
as Larry - Michael LonsdaleMichael LonsdaleMichael Lonsdale , sometimes billed as Michel Lonsdale, is a French actor who has appeared in over 180 films and television shows....
as Jean-Pierre - Jan TriskaJan TrískaJan Triska or Jan Tříska is a Czech-American actor.-Early life and career:He was born in Prague. Before his emigration he performed in the theater and had many roles in movies, the movie version of Radúz a Mahulena and in the communist propaganda piece 30 Cases of Major Zeman...
as Dapper Gent - Féodor AtkineFéodor AtkineFéodor Atkine is a French actor.Born in Paris of Russian-Polish descent, he has had a career in European cinema and television since the early 1970s, and made occasional appearances in English-language films, notably as the Russian gangster "Mikhi" in Ronin, as Woody Allen's brother in Love and...
as Mikhi - Katarina WittKatarina WittKatarina Witt is a German figure skater and model. In Germany she was commonly called "Kati" in the past, but today her full name is used more often....
as Natacha Kirilova - Bernard BlochBernard Bloch (actor)Bernard Bloch is a French actor.- Filmography :* 1972 : Albert Einstein : Un membre de l'académie d'Olympia* 1974 : Histoire de Paul : L'harmonica* 1980 : Fernand : Fernand...
as Sergi
Production
Writer David Mamet is credited as "Richard Weisz", reportedly due to disappointment at having to share credit with Zeik (the originating writer). According to Zeik's lawyer, Mamet's contributions were "minor", limited to adding the character Deirdre and most of De Niro's scenes. According to Frankenheimer, however, "The credits should read: Story by J.D. Zeik, screenplay by David Mamet. We didn't shoot a line of Zeik's script." This is confirmed by a copy of Zeik's original script, which shows his very minor contributions.The title is derived from the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese term ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
, used for samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
who have no master and whose motivations are largely based on money and survival instead of honour and duty. Many of the characters in the film are unemployed agents set adrift by the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The film also makes a lengthy reference to the classic Japanese story, the 47 Ronin, further alluding to the identities of the protagonists and antagonists of the film.
According to Frankenheimer's recollections on the DVD, there were 2,200 shots used to film the story. He also notes that the film is unusual in containing no wipes, dissolves
Dissolve (film)
In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. The terms fade-out and fade-in and are used to describe a transition to and from a blank image. This is in contrast to a cut where there is no such transition. A dissolve...
or similar techniques; all scene transitions are handled with suitably paced cuts.
Ronin is notable for a number of car chases, the last being a particularly lengthy one through the streets and tunnels of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; some scenes used up to 300 stunt drivers according to the DVD director commentary. Car work has been a specialty of Frankenheimer, a former amateur racing driver, ever since his 1966 film, Grand Prix. Although action sequences are often shot by a second unit director, Frankenheimer did all these himself, and sometimes rode along. While he was aware of the many innovations in digital special effects since then, he elected to film all these sequences live, to obtain the maximum level of authenticity. To further this, many of the high-speed shots have the actual actors in the cars. Skipp Sudduth
Skipp Sudduth
Robert Lee Sudduth IV , generally known by his stage name Skipp Sudduth, is an American theater, film, and TV actor. Sudduth is perhaps best known for his role in the movie Ronin and his lead in the TV drama Third Watch....
did nearly all of his own driving, while other cars were right hand drive models with stunt drivers driving - crashes were handled by a stuntman. To lend additional authenticity, the sound recordist re-recorded many of the vehicles in the chases to ensure that during the editing, the right sounds were dubbed in for each vehicle. The chases are also notable for their lack of musical score accompaniment, unusual in modern films, though the last chase ends with syncopated, non-melodic music. The choice of non-melodic music was easier to edit to, and has since become fashionable in film and television.
Several cars are used in the chases, including an Audi S8 D2
Audi S8
The Audi S8 quattro is a high-performance version of the German luxury automaker Audi's flagship car, the full-size Audi A8. The S8 is produced at Audi's Neckarsulm 'aluminium plant', and it was introduced in September 1994...
, a Peugeot 406
Peugeot 406
The Peugeot 406 was a large family car made by the French automaker Peugeot from 1995 to 2004. Available in saloon, estate and coupé bodystyles with a choice of petrol or turbodiesel engines, the 406 replaced the Peugeot 405 in Peugeot's lineup, and was itself replaced by the Peugeot 407...
, three Peugeot 605
Peugeot 605
The Peugeot 605 is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot between 1989 and 1999, with a facelift in 1995.-History:The 605 was a saloon/sedan built on the same platform as the Citroën XM, and was successor to the unsuccessful Peugeot 604 which went out of production 4 years...
s, a Citroën Xantia
Citroën Xantia
The Citroën Xantia, pronounced 'Zan-tia' is a large family car produced by the French automaker Citroën. First seen at the end of 1992, the car was produced between 1993 and 2001, with a facelift in 1998. Citroën sold over 1.2 million Xantias during its 8 years of production...
and XM
Citroën XM
The Citroën XM is an executive car that was produced by the French automaker Citroën between 1989 and 2000. Citroën sold 333,775 XMs during the model's 11 years of production...
, a BMW M5 E34
BMW M5
The first BMW M5, based on the E28 5 Series, made its debut at Amsterdam Motor Show in February 1984. It was the product of demand for an automobile with the carrying capacity of a saloon , but the overall performance of a sports car. It utilized the 535i chassis and an evolution of the engine from...
and Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9
Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9
The Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 is a high-performance version of the S-Class luxury saloon. It was built on its own assembly line by Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart, Germany and based on the long-wheelbase version of the W116 chassis introduced in 1972...
, a rare Mercedes-Benz W116
Mercedes-Benz W116
The Mercedes-Benz W116 was a series of flagship vehicles produced from September 1972 through 1979. The W116 automobiles were the first Mercedes-Benz models to be officially called S-Class, although earlier sedan models had already unofficially been designated with the letter 'S' - for...
variant with a high-powered engine, as noted by Frankenheimer in the DVD. Most famously, a 1998 Audi S8 quattro, portrayed as stolen to order and then fitted with a nitrous
Nitrous
Nitrous oxide is a chemical compound used as an oxidizing agent to increase an internal combustion engine's power output by allowing more fuel to be burned than would normally be the case.-Nitrous and NOS:...
oxide power-booster, is chosen for its bulk, grip and torque and driven in Paris and Nice by Sudduth's character. As a result the car is rated 9th in Car magazine's Top 40 Coolest Movie Cars. The Frankenheimer DVD commentary indicates that the cars were towed through the streets of France at high speed, not simulated, by a Mercedes-Benz 500E
Mercedes-Benz 500E
From 1990 to 1994 , Mercedes-Benz sold a high performance version of the W124, the Mercedes-Benz 500 E . The 500 E was created in close cooperation with Porsche; each 500 E was hand-built by Porsche, being transported back and forth between the Mercedes plant and Porsche's Rossle-Bau...
.
The final scene at the Paris Zénith
Zénith de Paris
The Zénith de Paris is a concert hall in Paris, located in the Parc de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement on the edge of the Canal de l'Ourcq. Its ability to seat approximately 6,300 people makes it one of the largest venues in Paris...
had 2,000 extras, according to Frankenheimer.
The contents of the metal case are never revealed. Mamet has written that he believes revealing such details can be anticlimactic, that a director is wiser to allow the audience's imagination to answer the question. This is a technique Mamet has used repeatedly in his films. In fact, in earlier versions of the script, the briefcase is destroyed at the climax. Sam observes that only the top men in the Russian mob and the IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
, plus a handful of men in the CIA, knew what was in the case. The briefcase is itself a plot device known as a MacGuffin
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
. Its contents are unknown but serve as the motivation that drives the film. Its use is very similar to the MacGuffin that is a part of the film Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
. The plot device in that film is, indeed, a briefcase with unknown contents. In the DVD's director's commentary, Frankenheimer says that in the film, Seamus is the only person who actually needs to know what the case contains. As an aside, on the film's web site when Ronin was in theatres, the public could suggest and vote for what they thought could be in the case. Other popular suggestions is that it contained a nuclear weapon initiator, which increases the yield of a thermo-nuclear weapon; hence the Russians were keen to get their hands on it.
Porn star Ron Jeremy
Ron Jeremy
Ronald Jeremy Hyatt , usually called Ron Jeremy, is an American pornographic actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", he was ranked by AVN at number one in their "The 50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list...
had a small role playing a fishmonger
Fishmonger
A fishmonger is someone who sells fish and seafood...
in Paris whose stall is demolished during the chase, but his scene was cut by the studio when audiences laughed as he was recognized. He is credited as "Ron Hiatt", which is similar to his surname by birth, "Hyatt".
DVD and Blu-ray release
The DVD release has an extensive, detailed commentary about the making of the film by Frankenheimer, where he explains the production techniques used to realize the high speed chases.The DVD's paper insert includes excerpts from a Frankenheimer interview in which he discusses the chase through a Paris tunnel that is remarkably similar to the site of Princess Diana's death on 31 August 1997. The filming took place in a different tunnel, however. "Paris has a lot of tunnels," Frankenheimer commented. "That’s part of the thing about the city I wanted people to see. A crash in a tunnel in Paris is about as likely as someone having a crash on a freeway here. It happens all the time." (Rocky Mountain News, September 27, 1998).
The US edition of the original DVD release has several navigational hooks to DVD-ROM content, which were taken advantage of several weeks after the original release of the DVD, on MGM's website during a special 'RONIN' event where viewers would be taken on a guided tour of the making of RONIN. Making-of scenes shot during filming are hidden on the DVD, since they are not present on the main menu of the DVD you can only access them on a computer using the DVD-ROM program that is on the disc or using a DVD viewing program that allows you navigate through the titles of the disc manually. A "Gold Edition" was briefly introduced on the market by MGM, however is no longer in production.
On October 11, 2004 a two-disc Special Edition of the film was released in the US. This new version contains the same material as the old single-disc version on disc one and on disc two there are supplemental material about the film: one documentary, six featurettes, and a picture gallery.
A Blu-ray Disc edition was made available in 2008, which does not include any of the extras on the DVD versions.
Locations
- The "Bar MontmartreMontmartreMontmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
" used for the opening scenes with De Niro, is actually http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=Rue+des+Trois+Fr%C3%A8res,+75018+Paris,+%C3%8Ele-de-France,+France&ie=UTF8&cd=3&geocode=FfDs6QIdebYjAA&split=0&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=6.881357,14.941406&ll=48.888875,2.344551&spn=0,359.978456&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=48.884958,2.340533&panoid=KdnhOFXA5wfDeXs4wGWdug&cbp=12,327.46,,0,14.25The Blue Sky Restaurant on Rue des Trois Frères, Montmartre] - The shooting scene at the harbour of Nice was shot in front of the Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation AudiovisuelleEcole Supérieure de Réalisation AudiovisuelleEcole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle is a French educational academy which specialises in the training of cinema, television, photography, sound engineering and digital art through the Desra diploma.ESRA was created in 1972 in Paris by Max Azoulay.In 2007 the school created a fourth year...
.