Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 20 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
60/100
National Post's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Historically, the ‘70s was the era of the hostage, including the kidnapping of Patty Hearst (1974), the attempted bank robbery in Stockholm that supposedly birthed the concept of Stockholm Syndrome (1973) and the Iran hostage crisis (1979-81).
asserted
that → include → Syndrome
One is reminded of this when watching the new MGM+ series American Hostage (streaming on Crave), a retelling of an actual hostage-taking in Indianapolis in which an apparent madman kidnapped the scion of a local mortgage brokerage and demanded the local radio station broadcast an interview between himself and a revered local radio journalist.
asserted
station → remind → himself
The same incident was recounted in the Gus Van Sant film Dead Man’s Wire (also streaming on Crave).
asserted
incident → recount → Crave
But the eight-part miniseries, created for television by Shawn Ryan and Eileen Myers, allows a more in-depth look at the impact of the 63-hour emergency — not just focusing on kidnapper Tony Kiritsis (Giovanni Ribisi) and his victim Dick Hall (Kristoffer Polaha) but on their families, attendant cops and lawyers, and radio host Fred Heckman (Jon Hamm).
asserted
miniseries → create → families
As voluble as he is volatile, Kiritsis is on a mission of vengeance, having gone into hock to the Meridian Mortgage Company only to decide the company has conned him.
asserted
company → go → him
He enlists Heckman, who does indeed investigate Meridian’s sketchy practises but also Kiritsis’s own troubled past.
asserted
who → enlist → practises
Still, Heckman’s role takes him into progressively tricky territory, where he becomes part of the story instead of merely covering it.
asserted
he → take → it
With episodes directed by either Adam Arkin or Nina Lopez-Corrado (The Last of Us), the show allows a sense of absurdity: Two lives are on the line, and the radio station manager (Joe Cobden) is frantic about the fines levied by the FCC every time Kiritsis utters an expletive on the air.
asserted
Kiritsis → direct → air
It gets a little tricky straddling comedy, drama and absurdity over eight episodes.
asserted
It → get → episodes
Fortunately, the dramatic stuff ultimately holds it together.
asserted
stuff → hold → it
If the ‘70s was a banner year for hostage crises, it was also a great decade for hostage movies, including Steven Spielberg’s second feature, The Sugarland Express (1975, available to rent on Prime.)
asserted
it → include → Prime
Another movie inspired by a stranger-than-fiction true story, the film stars Al Pacino and John Cazale as novice bank robbers who hit a Brooklyn bank and botch things up, discovering the bank is surrounded by police mid-heist.
asserted
bank → inspire → heist
Pacino’s Sonny takes charge, alternately threatening and calming the hostages.
asserted
Sonny → take → hostages
Sonny’s motivations for scoring the money are revealed to be romantic: He wants to fund a sex change for his lover Leon (Chris Sarandon), a reveal that panics Cazale’s Sal, who feels compelled to tell the world he’s straight.
asserted
he → score → world
Lumet crafts the best possible answer to the question: What were the ‘70s really like?
asserted
‘ → craft → What
Another New York-flavoured drama to answer to that question is The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974, on Tubi), director Joseph Sargent’s nail-biter about a seemingly insane scheme: Four armed men take over a New York City subway car and demand the city pay them a million dollars in cash or they will start killing one hostage per minute.
asserted
they → flavour → minute
Walter Matthau is his magnificent hangdog self as Garber, the transit cop who negotiates with the leader Mr. Blue (Robert Shaw).
asserted
who → negotiate → leader
Three: Matthau and Jerry Stiller (as Garber’s partner Patrone) have screen chemistry to rival Tracy and Hepburn.
asserted
Matthau → have → Tracy
The movie was so good, it was remade twice.
asserted
it → remake → ?
You should stick with the original.
asserted
You → stick → original
The Aporia
