The Saint (2017 film)

The Saint
Written by	Characters: Leslie Charteris Writer: Jesse Alexander Tony Giglio
Directed by	Ernie Barbarash[1]
Starring	Adam Rayner Enrique Murciano Eliza Dushku Sir Roger Moore
Music by	Neal Acree
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Jesse Alexander Emily Beddard Zach Bradshaw Kyle A. Clark Alexandre Coscas Mick Davis Ian Dickerson Laurence Ducceschi Francisco Gonzalez Eric Jarboe Brad Krevoy Jim Martin Geoffrey Moore Roger Moore Andy Novak Jib Polhemus Louisa Spring Jimmy Townsend Roman Viaris-de-Lesegno Simon West Lina Wong
Cinematography	Paul M. Sommers
Editor(s)	Michael Purl Heath Ryan Henk Van Eeghen
Running time	116 minutes
Production company(s)	Motion Picture Corporation of America Silver Screen Pictures
Distributor	20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release
Original release	July 11, 2017 (2017-07-11)

The Saint is a 2017 espionage thriller TV movie directed by Ernie Barbarash^[1] and starring Adam Rayner in the title role of Simon Templar, created by Leslie Charteris. This was Sir Roger Moore's final film appearance and the film was dedicated to his memory; Moore portrayed Templar in a 1960s TV series of the same title. Filmed in 2013 as a television pilot for a proposed TV series, the film was not originally intended for release when the series was not picked up. It eventually saw release direct-to-video in 2017 when it was released in tribute to Moore following his death. Ian Ogilvy, who portrayed Templar in a 1970s TV series titled Return of the Saint, also appears.

Plot

Terrorists meet with Russian army officers in Moscow to trade gold for bombs. Simon Templar, disguised as a Russian officer, spikes their drinks to knock them out, collects most of the gold and escapes from the remaining Russians as well as Agent Cooper of the FBI, who had been monitoring the meeting, leaving behind his calling card as The Saint.

Nigerian President Ezekiel Ibaka secures $2.5 billion in private aid for his country but a mysterious man (Ian Ogilvy) has the funds stolen from the bank account online by his associate Arnie Valecross. He gives Valecross a Knights Templar ring, stating that it is a family heirloom he took from someone pathetic. In Bucharest, Templar takes the gold from the Moscow heist to an old friend with instructions on how to distribute the proceeds among various humanitarian aid organizations.

Meanwhile, in his Los Angeles mansion, Valecross diverts the funds to one of his own accounts and anonymously requests protection from the FBI, but in retaliation the mysterious man sends his henchman, Rayt Marius, to kidnap Arnie's daughter Zooey and gives Arnie 48 hours to return the money. The Saint, whilst in Paris, finds out about the money and decides to take the case. Simon's friend Patricia Holm and the FBI use their own differing methods to quickly identify the thief as Arnie Valecross, a notoriously shady private banker, and they both track him to the Grand Del Mar Resort in San Diego.

Special Agent John Henry Fernack, a man who has been pursuing The Saint for years, gets to Valecross' suite before Simon and attempts to question him, but Valecross refuses. The Saint then uses the adjoining room to break into Valecross' suite, but he is discovered. Valecross uses the opportunity to ask The Saint for help. Rayt Marius flies up to the room's window and tries to kill Templar. Templar manages to shoot down the helicopter, but not before Valecross is fatally wounded. With his dying breath, Valecross tells Templar "the account numbers are in your ring, the key is in the nomad".

Simon, Patricia and Doyle Cosentino make their way back to an apartment in LA to think up the next stage of their plan now that Valecross is out of the picture, and while there, it is revealed that Simon originally met Patricia in Iraq when escaping from the Russian heist. They head to the Valecross home in order to search for the "nomad" that Valecross mentioned just before he died. When they get there, Mrs Valecross immediately recognizes Templar and they decide to call Rayt Marius, who, it is revealed, has a history with Patricia.

Special Agent Fernack approaches the LAPD for help in finding and catching The Saint and they temporarily loan him Detective Garces (Greg Grunberg). The two nearly catch Simon when he, Patricia and Doyle leave the Valecross home. However, they notice the pair on their tail and make a run for it. Fernack catches up to Templar on a Funicular railway car in a busy retail area. Simon overpowers him and handcuffs him inside the cable car, escaping by jumping onto the other car moving in the opposite direction. Simon, together with Patricia and Doyle, visit former counterfeiter Sonali Alves in her MMA fighting ring and gambling den hidden behind a butcher's counter, for help with breaking into Arnold Valecross' data storage facility where she forces him to battle the Rhinoceros (a fighter) in the ring while handcuffed in exchange for providing the heist gear he needs. During the fight Rhinoceros inadvertently breaks the handcuffs and is punched out by Simon.

They head to the data center to steal the ransom money, where Patricia knocks out the guards and instructs Simon through his headset as he picks the lock on one door, cuts through the metal on the next security door, and freezes the pressure-sensitive tiles on the floor to slide across. There he puts on a glove that emulates the fingerprints of an employee to use the control panel to open the door to the computer server room, where he begins fishing for the account data. Inspector Fernack arrives but Simon escapes with the data and locks him in the server room behind security doors. Outside he finds that Fernack's associate Detective Garces has been shot and that Rayt Marius has taken Patricia.

Fernack agrees to work with Simon to rescue Patricia and Zooey. They drive to the boat where they are being held and overpower the armed guards. He hands the diamond over to Rayt, who reveals that Patricia is his ex-wife and that he is working for the mysterious man who killed Simon's parents and stole the family ring. Fernack rescues Zooey from below but is captured by her stepmother Katherine, who is working with Rayt. Rayt holds a knife to Zooey's throat but is shot in the shoulder by Simon and then punched onto his back by Patricia. Even after his capture Rayt refuses to reveal the name of the man who murdered Simon's parents. Zooey returns the money to President Ibaka and Simon disappears from Fernack's clutches.

The mysterious man calls for help from a member of the Brotherhood (Sir Roger Moore), who refuses and leaves him to take the fall for the failed theft alone. Simon catches him leaving his house and recognises him as the man who killed his parents because of the unique tattoo on his arm of a dagger with a snake coiled around it. He further realises that the man is Xander, who was hired by Simon's father to train Simon to fight as a child. Simon refrains from killing Xander and allows him to be arrested by Agent Cooper and Agent Dora Lee. They explain their plans to imprison him indefinitely on terrorism charges, not noticing as Simon once again disappears from sight.

Cast

Production

The film was produced as a pilot for a potential TV series in 2013 but was not picked up and was instead released digitally on July 11, 2017, and on manufacture-on-demand DVD, in tribute to Roger Moore, who had recently died.^[1]

The pilot was based upon the character created by Leslie Charteris in 1928, and although the plot of the film has no relation to any of Charteris' stories, the villain, Rayt Marius, was a recurring presence in the early Saint novels, and was the central villain of the 1930 novel The Last Hero.

Although the character of Patricia Holm was a regular presence in the Saint novels from the 1920s through to the early 1940s, this was only the second production (after the 1943 film The Saint Meets the Tiger) in which she appeared.

References

External links

• The Saint on IMDb