AllMovie

This 1974 entry from the Shaw Brothers studios presents a unique, Hong Kong-styled take on the crime-noir genre. Despite the credits' claim that this tale is fictional, Kidnap was actually inspired by the real-life story of "the Three Wolves," a legendary trio of criminals who received the final death sentences issued in Hong Kong. The film stars Lo Lieh as a gas station attendant who decides to kidnap his arrogant boss (Lau Dan) for a hefty ransom after becoming infuriated by his own lack of wealth. He puts together a mismatched team of accomplices and pulls off the kidnapping, only to discover that even the simplest crime rarely works out the way it is planned. The quartet of amateur-night crooks takes desperate measures when their plot goes awry, sparking a turn of events that leads the story in a tragic direction. Writer/director Cheng Kang's work on this film won a lot of attention for its unusual, visually inventive style and Kidnap was later remade by Taylor Wong Tai-loi as Sentenced to Hang in 1989.