| Kings and Desperate Men | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alexis Kanner |
| Written by | Edmund Ward Alexis Kanner |
| Produced by | Alexis Kanner |
| Starring | Patrick McGoohan Alexis Kanner Margaret Trudeau Andrea Marcovicci Robin Spry Budd Knapp Jean-Pierre Brown |
| Cinematography | Alexis Kanner Paul Van der Linden |
| Edited by | Alexis Kanner |
| Music by | Pierre F. Brault Michel Robidoux |
| Distributed by | Magnum Entertainment |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | 1.2 million |
Kings and Desperate Men is a 1981 Canadian hostage drama film directed, co-written and produced by Alexis Kanner. The film stars Patrick McGoohan as radio talk show host John Kingsley, Margaret Trudeau as his wife Elizabeth, and Kanner with Andrea Marcovicci as terrorists. The story is set within one day during Christmas Eve. The movie was made on a budget of 1.2 million and was filmed in Montreal.[1] Its title is derived from a line in John Donne's poem "Death Be Not Proud" (Holy Sonnet X): "Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men."[2]
Film director Kanner later took legal action against the film producers of Die Hard in the late 1980s, alleging the producers stole the idea for Die Hard from his film Kings and Desperate Men.[3] Kanner lost his case.
- ^ Cochrane, Felicity (1978). Margaret Trudeau: The Prime Minister's runaway wife (1 ed.). Signet Books. p. 170. ISBN 0-451-08210-9.
- ^ Puchalski, Steven (1989). "Kings and Desperate Men". Shock Cinema. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ^ Horowitz, Joy (1992-03-15). "New York Times: Hollywood Law: Whose idea is it anyway?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-02.